114 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



CLETHRA. 



DECANDRIA MONOGYN1A. 



THE Clethra Arborea, or Tree Clethra, will require 

 shelter from the winter cold, in our climate : it should be 

 housed about the middle or end of September, according 

 as the weather is more or less mild ; and, during this season, 

 should be watered about twice a week ; in the summer, 

 when the weather is dry, it should be watered once in a 

 day, or in two days, in proportion to the heat of the sun, 

 or the plant's exposure to it. The earth should not be suf- 

 fered to become parched. It is a native of Madeira. 



COLCHICUM. 



COLCHICACE^E. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



So called from Colchis, a city of Arminia, where this plant is sup- 

 posed to have been very common. The English name of meadow 

 saffron is from its common place of growth, and its resemblance to 

 the crocus, or saffron flower. 



THE Autumnal Colchicum, or Common Meadow Saf- 

 fron, is named in French, tue chien, mort au Men, both 

 signifying dog poison; in the villages, bovet ; in Italian, 

 colchico ; and has many varieties : the Yellow-flowered or 

 Crocus Colchicum, the Purple, Red, White, Rosy, Rosy-va- 

 riegated, Purple-variegated, and Double. The flowers ap- 

 pear in autumn, the leaves not till the following March ; for 

 which reason the country people call them Naked Ladies, 

 an appellation bestowed upon many flowers which blow 

 before they are in leaf. The leaves are of a fine glowing 

 green, and very luxuriant. 



There are several other species, requiring the same treat- 

 ment as this. The roots are bulbous, and a new one is 

 formed every year, as the old one decays. The leaves 



