POL 



POL 



celled, two-vaU'cd : partition contrary to the 

 valves; opuning at eacli margin: the seeds so- 

 litary, ovate (with a glandular umbilicus). 



The species cultivated are : 1 . P. mi/r/ifolia, 

 Rlyrile-leaved Milk-wort; 2. P. Chamcebuxus, 

 Box-leaved Milk-wort. 



The lirst has a shrubby stem, covered with a 

 smooth lirown bark, rising four or five feet 

 high, and seadina: out several spreading branches 

 towards the top: the leaves about an inch long 

 and a ijuarter ot'au inch broad, lucid green, and 

 sessile. The flowers are produced at the ends of 

 the branches ; they are large, while on the out- 

 side, but of a bright purple within : wings ex- 

 panded wide, and standard incurved. It conti- 

 luies flowering most part of the summer : each 

 cell of the seed-vessel contains one hard smooth 

 shining seed. It grows naturally at the Cape of 

 Good Mope. 



The second species rises with a slender, 

 branching, woody stalk, about a foot high, 

 when it grows upon good ground, but on a 

 rocky soil it is seldom more than half that height. 

 The branches are closely garnished with stitf 

 smooth leaves, of a lucid green : from between 

 the leaves, towards the top of the branches, the 

 flowers come out upon very short peduncles; 

 they are white on the outside, but within are of 

 a purplish colour mixed with yellow, and have a 

 grateful odour. According to'Martyn, it is an ele- 

 gant little evergreen shrub, of low growth, with 

 leaves like those of Box, producing flowers from 

 May to October, but most plentifully in May ar.d 

 June ; each flower stands on a peduncle, pro- 

 ceeding from a kiud of tri])hyllous cup, formed 

 of floral leaves. It is a native of Austria, &c. 



Culture. — ^The first sort may be increased by 

 seeds, which should be sown in small pots, 

 filled with light loamy earth; soon after they 

 are ripe, placing them where they may have the 

 morning sun only till October, when they should 

 be placed under a hot-bed frame, and be plunged 

 into old tanners bark which has lost its heat, 

 where they may be defended from frost during 

 the winter, and in the spring the pots should be 

 plunged into a moderate hot-bed, which will 

 bring up the plants. When these appear, they 

 should not be too tenderly treated, but have 

 a large share of free air admitted to them ; 

 when they are fit to transplant, they should 

 be carefully shaken out of the pots, and sepa- 

 rated, planting each into a small pot filled 

 with soft loamy earth, and plunged into a very 

 moderate hot-bed, to forward their taking new 

 root, shading thenj from the sun, and gently re- 

 freshing them with water as they may require. 

 When they are rooted, they must be gradually 

 inured to the open air, and ui June they may be 



placed abroad in a sheltered situation, where 

 they may remain till the middle or latter end 

 of October, according as the season proves fa- 

 vourable; then they must be removed into the 

 green-house ; and treated in the same way as 

 the Orange-tree, being careful not to give them 

 too much wet during the winter season. 



The second sort was formerly thought difti- 

 cult to raise bv seeds ; but at present it is readily 

 increased by parting its creeping roots, and 

 planting them in bog earth, on a shadv border, 

 where it thrives very well, and spawns much. 



The first aflbrds variety when set out among 

 other potted plants of the erecn-house kind ; 

 and the latter, in the borders, Sec. 



POLYGONUM, a genus containing a plant 

 of the herbaceous annual kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Octa/iJr'ra 

 Trigi/iiia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Holoracfce. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a turbi- 

 nate perianth, coloured internally, iive-)3aried : 

 segments ovate, blunt, permanent: there is no 

 corolla, unless the calyx be taken for it: the 

 stamina have conmionly eight filaments, awl- 

 shaped, very short : anthers rouiidish, incum- 

 bent: the pistillum is a three-sided germ : styles 

 commonly three, filiform, very short : stigmas 

 simple: there is no pericarpium : calyx involv- 

 ing the seed : the seed single, three-sided, acute. 



The species cultivated is P. onentale, Oriental 

 Persicaria. 



It has a root composed of many strong fibres, 

 growing in tufts : the stem is jointed, eight or 

 ten feet high, the lower part becomes woody, 

 and as thick as an ordinary walking-cane, of a 

 fine green, and a little hairy : the leaves are al- 

 ternate, often a foot long, and six inches broad 

 in the middle, terminating in acute points ; 

 they have one strong midrib, and several trans- 

 verse veins, which run upwards towards the 

 point; their surfaces are a litt'e hairy, the up- 

 per of a bright green, and the under paler: 

 the petioles are broad, half embracing at their 

 base : the flowers in close terminating spikes, 

 seven or eight inches long, hanging downwards : 

 the stamens five, six or seven. The stipules 

 are deserving of notice, being unusual in their 

 form, and making the stem look as if ruftlcd. 

 Thunberg remarks that the margin of the sti- 

 pules is entire and revolute. It is a native of 

 the East Indies, l^owering from July to October. 

 There is a dvv.irf variety, and another with 

 white flowers. 



Culture. — This plant is constantly raised from 



seeds, and is said to rise from scattered seeds 



better than when sown: but where they are 



sown, it should be in autunm, soon after they 



2 K 2 



