638 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICF.TUM. 



'ART III. 



shrub, with persistent leaves, seldom exceeding 1 ft. in height. After the 

 leaflets drop off, the petioles become indurated, so as to give the plant 

 the appearance of being densely covered with spines. It is a native of 

 Marseilles and Narbonne, in sandy places, as well as of Corsica and 

 Mauritania, and was introduced in 1640. It was treated by Miller as a 

 distinct genus, under its old name of 7Vagacantha; and he describes 

 four species ; one of which was a native of Marseilles and Italy, with large 

 white flowers, which appears to be Lamarck's A. massiliensis ; a second, a 

 native of Majorca and Minorca, and a third, a native of the islands 

 of the Archipelago, also with white flowers ; and a fourth, a native 

 of Spain, with flowers of a dirty white. None of these, it would ap- 

 pear, are the same as the species now before us, which has decidedly 

 purplish flowers. It is stated in Thompson's Dispensatory, and in 

 books generally, that the ylstragalus TVagacantha produces the gum 

 tragacanth ; but the accounts respecting the production of the gum by 

 this plant are so unsatisfactory, that it is impossible to give credence to 

 them. Tournefort says that he examined the plants which produce the gum 

 tragacanth upon Mount Ida ; and from his remarks it may be concluded that 

 the gum is obtained from A. TVagacantha and A. creticus (fig. 321.); which 



last has not yet been introduced into Eng- 

 land ; but Siebuhr, in his Voyage de Crete, 



321 



could not find any proof that the A. creti- 

 cus produced any gum. La Billardiere, 

 who visited Mount Lebanon, says that 

 the gum is there obtained from a species 

 which he calls A. gummifer, and that the 

 shepherds go in search of it during night, 

 or after a heavy dew ; whereas Tournefort 

 says that it can only be collected during 

 the great heats of the day. On the whole, 

 the subject of the gum appears involved in a degree of uncertainty not 

 less than that of the species. All that we can state with certainty is. 

 that there is a plant bearing the name of Astragalus TVagacantha in British 

 gardens, and that it merits a place in collections, as a very curious little 

 shrub. It is generally propagated by seeds, which it sometimes ripens in 

 England, or by cuttings. It requires a dry soil, and a sunny situation. 



App. i. Other ligneous Species of Astragalus in Cultivation. 



In our Hortus Britannicus will be found above a ,lozen other species of ^ 

 Astragalus, marked as technically ligneous ; but they are of such low 

 growth, as to be much more n't for cultivating as herbaceous plants, than 



as shrubs. If we were 



to admit them, we should 



be compelled to admit 



the common pink and 



carnation, and, indeed, 



all those herbaceous 



plants which retain their 



leaves during winter. On 



rockwork some of them 



may be introduced ; and 



among these we may 



mention, as to be pro- 

 cured from Loddiges's 



arboretum, A. altuicus 



Lodd. Cab. ; A arislatus 



L'Herit. Stirp., 170., with yellow flowers, which is figured in Bot. Cab. t. 1278., and our fig. 322.; 

 A. brcvtfdlnis, with a purplish flower, figured in Hot. Cab., t 1388., and our Jig. 323. ; and A. mas- 

 siJii-nsis Lam., which is probably, as we have already stated, a variety of A. 7'raguc;'mtha, with white- 

 flowers instead of purplish ones. 



App. ii. Hardy Species of Astragalus not yet introduced. 



A. aborigindrum Richards in Franklin's Journ. Append., p. 746. Plant sufTYuticose, erect. Leaves 

 with ~> pairs of lanceolate-linear hoary-pubescent leaflets. Racemes axillary, loose, extending beyond 

 the leaves. Native of arctic America. Flowers white or bluish. The keel decidedly blue. Roots 

 long and yellow, like those of liquorice; and gathered in the spring, bv the Crop and Stone Indians, 

 as an article of food. ; /)on'.v Mill.. '2. p. 2fi8.) 



