O R N 



O R O 



pressed bulbous roof, from \\lilch come out 

 many long, narrow, keeled leaves ot a Jark green 

 colour . tiie stalks are very thick and succulent, 

 about a foot higli, sustaining ten or twelve 

 flowers in a loose spike, each hanging on a 

 footstalk an inch long. It is a native of Italy, 

 flowering in April and May. 



The ninth has an irrecular tuberous root, 

 varying!; greatly in form and size, covered with 

 a dark brown skin, from which spring several 

 leaves, upon pretty long footstalks, having several 

 loniiitudinal veins : the flower-stalks are slender, 

 naked, and about a foot high, sustaining several 

 small greenish-white flowers, formed in a loose 

 spike, standing upon long slender pedicels : they 

 come out in November. It is a native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



The tenth has a whitish bulb, from which 

 spring three or four smooth, somewhat fleshy, 

 upright, dark green leaves, about half an nich 

 wide, and three or four inches long, edged with 

 white, and, if magnified, appearing fringed with 

 very fine villose hairs: the stalk is naked, from 

 eight to twelve inches high, supporting many 

 flovi'ers, which spring from the axils of large, 

 hollow, pointed bractes, and, opening one after 

 another, keep the plant a considerable time in 

 flower ; they are usually of a bright orange or 

 gold colour, but sometimes paler. It is a native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope, flowering in 

 January and February. 



Culture. — All the sorts are capable of being 

 increased by planting the strong ofi-sets from 

 the old roots in the latter end of the summer 

 season, when their leaves and stems begin to de- 

 cay, either in beds or the borders ; the old roots 

 may either be immediately replanted or kept out 

 of the ground some time, but they flower much 

 stronger when put into the ground in autumn, 

 than if ke))t out till the spring. The small off- 

 set bulbs should be planted out in nursery rows 

 in beds for some time, till sufficiently large to be 

 finally set out where they are to grow. They 

 sihould have a light sandy soil, little manured. 



They afterwards require the same mangement 

 as other hardy bulbs. SeeBuLB; but thev should 

 be removed every other year, as when let remain 

 longer they become weak. 



The two last sorts should have tlie off"-scts or 

 slips planted in separate pnls, at the same time 

 with the above, filled with good light earth, 

 placing them under a hot-bed frame, so as to be 

 protected from wet during the winter season, 

 giving them full air in the summer. ^ he old 

 roots may be taken up in the autumn as in the 

 other sorts, and after being kept a little while out 

 of the ground, be replanted in the beginning of 

 the autumn. 



The hardy sorts are all highly ornamental 

 among other flowering bulbous-rooted plants, in 

 the borders, clumpis, &c. 



And the two last kinds afford variety in the 

 collections of potted plants of the flowering 

 bulbous rooted sorts. 



OROBUS, a genus containing plants of the 

 hardy herbaceous fibrous-rooted perennial flowery 

 kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia 

 Dc'cnnJria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Piipilioriaccce or Legumlnosce, 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthium, tubular, blunt at the base : 

 mouth oblique, five-toothed, very short; the three 

 lower toothlets sharper ; the two upper shorter, 

 more deeply and bluntly divided : shrivelling: 

 the corolla is papihonaceous : banner obcordale, 

 reflex at the tip and sides, longer: wings two, 

 oblong, almost the length of the banner, rising, 

 with the edges converging : keel manifestly bifid 

 below, acuminate, rising; with the edges con- 

 verging, parallel, compressed ; the bottom ventri- 

 cose : the stamina have diadelphous filaments, 

 (simple and nine-cleft), ascending: anthers 

 roundish : the pistillum is a cylindrical germ, 

 compressed: style filiform, bent upwards, erect: 

 stigma linear, pubescent on the inner side from 

 the middle to the top : the pericarpium is a round 

 legume, long, acuminate, and ascending at the 

 end, one-celled, two-valved : the seeds very many 

 and roundish. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . O. lalhyroides. 

 Upright Bitter-Vetch ; 2. 0. luteus, Yellow 

 Bitter- Vetch; 3. 0. wr«2/5. Spring Bitter-Vetch; 

 4. 0. tuberosus, Tuberous Bitter-Vetch ; 5. 0. 

 niger, Black Bitter-Vetch ; 6. 0. Pi/renaiais, 

 I'yrenean Bitter- Vetch. 



The first has a perennial root : the stalks three 

 or four, branching, about a foot high : the leaf- 

 lets smooth, stiff, of a lucid green: the flowers 

 in close spikes on short peduncles, from the axils 

 of the leaves at the top of the stalks, where are 

 generally three or four of these spikes standing 

 together: the corolla is of a fine blue colour: 

 the flowers appear in June. It is a native of 

 Siberia. 



The second species has a very thick root, often 

 transverse, hard, with the fibres widely diffused : 

 the stem is afoot high and more, straight, angular, 

 striated, smooth : the leal'ets four or five pairs, 

 entire, veined on both sides, netted, smooth, 

 whitish underneath, terminated by a bristle; 

 sometimes there is an odd leaflet : the stipules 

 semisagittate, entire, or obscurely serrate with 

 distant teeth, of the same colour with the leaves : 

 peduncles angular, striated, smooth, naked, twice 

 as long as the leaves : the flowers in loose spikes. 



