O T IT 



O A X 



subl.iriccolalc, ihrcc-lootheJ, or shrubby; with 

 tl'ic leaves ol' ilie top lautcolate, subscssile ; 

 and with the leaves alternate, lanceolate, toolh- 

 ed. It is an extremely variable plant. 



The second epecics rises with a shrubby stalk 

 about the thickness of a man's thumb, two or 

 tliree feet high, dividing into many branches, 

 covered with a hoary down : the leaves hoary, 

 about three inches long and one broad, cut into 

 many narrow segments almost to the midrib ; 

 these segments are equal and parallel, and have 

 two or three teeth at the end : the flowers are 

 produced on long axillary peduncles towards the 

 ends of the branches ; they have large yellow 

 rays ; and are succeeded by oblong purple seeds 

 crowned with down. It llowers in May and 

 June. 



The third has a low, shrubby, branching stalk : 

 the leaves are thick, like those of Sampire, and 

 are cut into many narrow segments: the flowers 

 are produced on short peduncles at the ends of 

 the branches, are yellow, and the seeds brown. 

 It flowers from January to March. 



The fourth species rises with a shrubby stalk 

 four or live feet high, dividing into several 

 branches: the leaves grayish, placed without 

 order ; those on the lower part narrow and entire, 

 but the others indented on the edges : the flowers 

 are produced in loose umbels at the ends of the 

 branches, and are yellow. It flowers from July 

 to September. 



The fifth has a strong fibrous root, which 

 shoots deep in the ground, and sends out many 

 woody stems, which spread on every side, and 

 trail upon the ground : the leaves grayish, ses- 

 sile, and of a thick consistence, narrow at the 

 base, enlarging upwards, and broad at their 

 points, where they are rounded : the flowers are 

 produced upon long, thick, succulent, peduncles 

 at the ends of the branches, and from the axils ; 

 they are yellow, the rays sharp jointed, and not 

 much longer than the calyx, which is cut into 

 eight equal segments at top ; the disk is large, 

 and the florets as long as the calyx. It is a na- 

 tive of Africa. 



The sixth species has the height (at five years 

 of age) of one foot, with a stem the thickness 

 of a human finger, rcsenibiing Sedum arhoreacens, 

 and like that fleshy and «oody, though never so 

 tall or thick, pliant, covered with a brownish 

 ash-coloured bark, not rough hut rather smooth, 

 and having woolly tubercles scattered over it: 

 the branches also have them, and are obliquely 

 curved inwards : the ends of the branches and 

 base of the leaves have a fine wool on them, 

 not conglobated but scattered : the branches 

 are otherwise naked, somewhat woody, covered 



witli a bark like that of tlie stem, brownish green 

 towards the end, more tender and herbaceous ; 

 these leaves come out alternately at short di- 

 stances ; they are oblong, wider towards the top, 

 and blunt; contracted towards the base, green 

 on both sides, somewhat glittering, and as it were 

 mealy, like those of Auricida, flat, thickish, suc- 

 culent and smooth, veinless, with only a white 

 nerve protuberant underneath, and on the upper 

 part a little holios'.ed next the base. It is a plant 

 that makes very slow progress in this climate. 

 In August it puts out young leaves, which it 

 keeps all the winter; the heads of flowers ap- 

 pear about the end of November, and do not 

 open till the middle or end of January : in spring 

 the leaves gradually drop oflT. and the plant ap- 

 pears as if dead till the succeeding autumn. 



All the species, except the fifth, are natives of 

 the Cape. 



Culture. — ^These plants may be increased, by 

 planting slips and cuttings of the young shoots 

 or branches during the summer months, in pots 

 filled' with fine earth, plunging them in an old 

 tan hot-bed under glasses, carefully shading 

 them frojTi the heat of the sun till perfectly 

 rooted ; thci-r striking may be promoted by be- 

 ing covered with small glasses. When they are 

 become well rooted, they should be removed with 

 balls into separate pots filled with loamy iTiould, 

 placing them in a sheltered shady situatioii till 

 autumn. 



They should be preserved in a good green- 

 house m the winter, having as much free air as 

 possible, and in the summer placed in a sheltered 

 warm situation. 



The fifth sort may sometimes he preserved in 

 the open ground in such situations. 



They produce variety among other potted 

 plants of the green-house kinds. 



OXA.LIS, a genus containing plants of the 

 hardy herbaceous perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Penlagpiia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Cminales. 



The characters are : that the calvx is a five- 

 parted perianthium, acute, very short, perma- 

 nent: the corolla five-parted, often cohering by 

 the claws, erect, obtuse, emarginate: border 

 spreading: the stamina have ten capillary fila- 

 ments, (awl-shaped,) erect; theouter ones short- 

 er: anthers roundish, grooved: the piscillum 

 is a five-cornered germ, superior: styles five, fili- 

 form, the length of the stamens : stigmas blunt: 

 the pericarpium is a capsule, five-cornered, five- 

 celled, ten-valved, (Jacqu.) five-valved gaping 

 at the corners longitudinally : the seeds are round- 

 ish, flying out covered with a fleshy elastic aril. 



