R U D 



RUM 



stifl", and slightly indenlcd at their points : the 

 disk is very nromiiien;, and of a dark purple co- 

 lour. The flowers will continue six weeks, and 

 there is a succession of them from the middle of 

 July, till the frost puts a stop to theui. it is a 

 native of Virginia. 



Tne fonrlhspecies is a perennial plant like the 

 third. The leaves are longer and broader, arc 

 smooth, and have three veins : the peduncles arc 

 taller, and have two or three narrow leaves on 

 each, placed alternately: on the top is one flower, 

 with long narrow, reflexed, peach-coloured 

 florets in "the ray : the disk is very prominent, 

 and of a dark purple colour : it flowers at the 

 same time with the third, but the flowers are of 

 not so long duration. It is a native of Carolina 

 and Virginia. 



The fifth has the root perennial : the stalks 

 four or five feet high : the kaves narrow, smooth, 

 opposite : the florets in the ray of the flower 

 yellow, long, twelve in number: disk dark 

 red : the scales of the calyx spreading and al- 

 most awl-shaped. It is a native of Virginia, 

 flowering in August and September. 



The sixth species is biennial : the lower leaves 

 are divided into three lobes, but those upon the 

 stalks are undivided ; they are hairy, and shaped 

 like those of the first sort : the stalks branch out 

 on their sides, and are better furnished with 

 leaves than the others : the flowers are very like 

 those of the first sort, but smaller. It grows 

 naturally in several parts of North America. 



Culture. — All the sorts of these plants may be 

 increased by offsets, parting the roots and seeds. 



The offsets in the perennial sorts should be 

 taken off and planted out in the early autumn : 

 when the stems decay the roots may also be di- 

 vided and planted out at the same time, or in the 

 early spring months. 



As these plants are often liable to go off soon, 

 some should be frequently raised to keep up the 

 stock ; and as others have a tendency to become 

 biennial, and decay without increasing the root, 

 they should have the flower-stems cut down in 

 tJie earlv summer, to encourage the growth of 

 the root offsets, for slipping in the following 

 autumn. 



All the sorts may he raised from seed, and the 

 biennial sorts must always be raised annually in 

 tiiat wav ; likewise such of the perennial kind 

 as are biennially inclined, sowing the seeds in 

 April, in a border of light earth, raking them 

 in; and when the plants are two or three inches 

 high, pricking them cut in nursery-rows till 

 autumn, then planting them out where they 

 are to remain. They should have a ligiit dry 

 soil and rather warm situation. 



They afl'ord much ornament and variety in 



the borders and clumps, among other flowering 

 plants. 



RUE. See Rcta. 



RUMEX, a genus containing; plants of the 

 herbaceous perennial and woody evergreen kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Hexandria 

 Tri^ijfiia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Hoioracece. 



The characters are : that that the calyx is a 

 three-leaved perianth : leaflets obtuse, reflex, 

 permanent : the corolla has three ovate petals, 

 biaeer than the calyx, and like it, converging, 

 permanent: the stamina have six capillary fila- 

 ments, very short : anthers erect, twin : the 

 pistillum is a turbinate-three-sided germ : styles 

 three, capillary, reflexed, standing out between 

 the cleits of the converging petals : stigmas 

 large, laciniate : there is no pericarpium ; co- 

 rolla converging, three-sided, inclosing the 

 seed : the seed single, three-sided. 



The species cultivated are: 1. R. acetosa, 

 Common Sorrel ; 2. R. sctitalvs, French Sorrel ; 



3. R. Patient la, Patience Dock, or Rhubarb; 



4. R. sangnmeiis, Bloody-veined Dock, or Blood- 

 wort ; 5. R. Lvnaria, Tree Sorrel. 



The first has a perennial root, running deep 

 into the earth : the stem mostly simple, erect, 

 round, deeply striated, leafy, from one to two 

 feet high : the radical and lower stem-leaves on 

 long foot-stalks, with a membranous cylindrical 

 sheathing stipule embracing the stem and torn 

 at the top ; these leaves are arrow-shaped, blunt, 

 entire or but little waved in iheir sides, but at 

 the base cut into two or three large sharpish 

 teeth pointing backwards, and not, as in some 

 of the species, divaricated into a right angle 

 with the outline of the leaf: the upper leaves 

 sessile, gradually more entire, embracing, acute, 

 a little rolled back ; those at the top of the stem 

 only slightly crisped at their base: a compound 

 sort of whorled spike or branched panicle termi- 

 nates the stem; its branches alternate and nearly 

 erect : the barren flowers are on a separate plant 

 from the fertile ones. 



The whole herb is acid, with a degree of 

 astringency, not unpleasant or unwholesome. 

 It is often cultivated as a culinarv herb. 



There is a variety with broad leaves, termed 

 Great Mountain Sorrel. 



The second species has a hard, fibrous, peren- 

 nial root: the stem from a foot to ciohteen 

 inches in height, very slightly angular, glaucous, 

 smooth, dividing into alternate spreading branch- 

 es : the leaves are cordate or hastate, glaucous, 

 smooth, soft, fleshy, blunt, entire, an inch and 

 half in length and breadth, on [letioles two or 

 three inches long, channelled within : the flow- 

 ers in a sort of whorls, forming all too-ether 



