CHAP. XCFI. 



POLYGON A N CE;E. CALLl'GONUM. 



1295 



Loddiges, upwards of 2 ft. high, which was profusely covered with white 

 flowers, tinged with pink, in August, 1836. It frequently ripens seeds 

 there ; but no plants have hitherto been raised from them. There is also a 

 plant in the Chelsea Botanic Garden. It thrives best in sandy peat, and is 

 propagated by layers. So elegant and rare a plant deserves a place in every 

 choice collection. 



*- 2. A. UNDULA V TA L. The waved-leaved Atraphaxis. 



Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff, 137. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 2. p. 249. 



Engraving. Dill. Elth., t. 32. f. 36. 



Spec. Char., 8fC. It is less rigid than the A. spinbsa, and has not a spiny character. Its leaves are 

 ovate, waved at the edges, and of a greener hue. The calyx is 4-parted, and has the lobes equal, 

 ovate, and concave. Stamens lanceolate. Style bifid. Fruit roundish. (Observation, and Willd. 

 Sp. PI.) A native of the Cape of Good Hope, whence it was introduced in 1732, but is rare in 

 collections. In British green-houses, it flowers in June and July ; and, when planted out in the 

 open garden, it will produce shoots from subterraneous stolones. We have not seen the plant. 



GENUS IV. 



UfcJ 



CALLFGONUM L. THE CALLIGONUM. Lin. Syst. Dodecandria Tetra- 



gynia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 680. ; L'Heritier in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p. 177. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 2. p. 926. 

 Synonymes. Pallasm L., Pteroc6ccus Pall. 



Derivation. Kallos, beauty, gonu, a knee ; in description of the neat and jointed character of the 

 branches. 



* 1. C. PALLA'SL* L'Herit. Pallas's Calligonum. 



Identification. L'Herit. Stirp., 2. p. 37., and in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p. 177. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 2. 



p. 242. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 2. p. 927. 



Synonymes. Pteroc6ccus aphyUlus Pall. Voy., 2. p. 738. t 8. ; Callfgonum polygonoldes Pall. Itin., 

 3. p. 536. ; Pallasw caspica Lin. fil. SuppL, 252., Savigny in Encycl. ; Pallasja Pteroc6ccus Pall. 

 FL Ross., 2. p. 70. t. 77, 78. ; Caspischer Hackenknopf, Ger. 



Engravings. Lam. 111., 410. ; Pall. Itin., 2. t. 81. ; Pall. Fl. Ross., 2. t. 77, 78. ; and ouifigs. 1165, 1166. 

 Spec. Char., fyc. Fruit winged : wings membranous, curled, and toothed. (L'Herit. in Lin. Soc. 

 Trans.) A shrub, 3 ft. or 4 ft. high. Introduced in 1780, but rare in collections. In its native 

 state, on the banks of the Caspian Sea, its root is thick, woody, 1| in. in diameter, striking deep into 

 the sand, with a tuberose head. Stems numerous, about the thickness of a 

 finger, erect, branched, spreading, dichotomous, brittle, with a grey striated 

 bark. Branches alternate, round, zigzag, pointed, a little knotty; without 

 ,i ,,(. leaves; putting out every spring, at each 



10 w/ W , o,, joint, from 6 to 10 close-set, herbaceous, \ 



rush-like shoots, sometimes simple, some- 

 times branched, of a fine green and nearly 

 glaucous colour ; a few of which survive 

 the winter, and harden into branches; 

 the rest perish and leave a knotty scar. 

 Stipule membranous, obscurely trifid, 

 shriveling, surrounding the joint, as in 

 the polygonums. Leaves alternate, sessile, 

 solitary, at each joint of the herbaceous 



shoots; round, awl-shaped, fleshy, resembling the shoots; half an inch long. 

 Palla* says there are no leaves ; but L'Heritier affirms they were actually 

 present in plants cultivated by himself, which were bearing flowers and fruit. 

 Flowers numerous, in clusters, 35 in a cluster, lateral, or axillary within 

 the stipules, on the young or woody branches, as well as on the herbaceous shoots; white, with 

 a greenish tinge in the middle. Stamens 16, the length of the calyx, and withering with it 

 as the fruit increases, without falling off. Filaments bristle-shaped, thickest at the base, downy. 

 Anthers nearly globular, 2-celled. Ovary conical, 4-sided, rarely 3-sided, the bifid angles prolonged 

 so as to form the wings of the fruit. Wings somewhat oval, of a crimson colour, striated, and split 

 on the edges, spreading on each side so as to conceal the nut. Pallas describes this plant as a singu- 

 lar shrub, growing plentifully in the Desert of Naryn, and in the sandy tracts between the rivers 

 Rhymnus and Wolga, lying towards the Caspian Sea, where it frequently covers whole hills; the 

 branches attaining the height of a man, and the roots often descending upwards of 6ft. into the 

 sand. It abounds on gravelly hills near the Wolga, at Astracan, and near the mouth.s of the Cama, 

 in the deserts of Tartary. The thick part of the root being cut across in the winter season, a gum 

 exudes, having the appearance of tragacanth. Infused in water, it swells, and is changed into a 

 sweetish mucilage, which does not soon grow dry; and, if exposed to heat, ferments in a few days, 

 and acquires a vinous flavour. The wandering tribes form tobacco-pipes and spoons from the knots 

 found upon the trunk. The smoke of the wood is said to be good for sore eyes. The fruit is succu- 

 lent, acid, and excellent for quenching thirst. The flowers are produced in May, and the fruit 

 ripens in July. The nuts germinate freely when sown deeply in sand, and the two seed-leaves break 

 forth, and suddenly spring up, in one night, 1 in. in length, and thread-like and decumbent ; but 

 they become speedily erect. 



* 4- Q 



1166 



