RUB1A. 



gles. Leaves fprcading, acute, an inch and half long, 

 roughifh above, narrowed at the bale into a Ihort, broad 

 footitalk ; at the margin and back of the rib rough with 

 fpines, which for the moll part point backwards, but in a 

 contrary way toward? the tip. Flowers yellowifh-green, in 

 axillary, terminal, trichotomous, leafy or bra&eated, rough 

 panicles, longer than the leaves. Berries dark-purple. 



The cultivation of this ufeful plant in Great Britain by no 

 means keeps pace with the demand for it. That grown in 

 Holland is the moil efteemed by our dyers and calico- 

 printers. Dr. Sibthorp tells us it is much cultivated in the 

 neighbourhood of Athens. — Madder has the property of 

 tinging, with its bright colour, not only the milk, but 

 even the bones of fuch animals as feed upon it. 



2. R. chilenjis. Chili Madder. Willd. n. 2. " Molina 

 Nat. Hilt. Chili. 118." (Rubiaflrum, Cruciatx folio et 

 facie, vulgo Relbun ; Feuillee Peruv. 60. t. 45.) — Leaves 

 annual, four is a whorl. Stalks axillary, folitary, (ingle- 

 flowered. Stem fmooth. — Native of Chili, on mountains. 

 Root perennial, much dividend and fpreading, affording a 

 dye like the lall. Stems round, (lender, fomewhat creeping. 

 Leaves ovate, four together, forming a crofs, rough and 

 iticking to the clothes. Flowers axillary, folitary, flalked, 

 white. Berries roundifh, red. 



3. R. peregrina. Wild Englifh Madder. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 158. Fl. Brit. n. I. Engl. Bot. t. 851. — Leaves about 

 four in a whorl, elliptical ; fhining and frnooth on their 

 upper fide. Flowers five-cleft. Not uncommon in the 

 fouth-weft of England, among bulhes, on a rich loamy 

 foil, flowering in July, and ripening its berries about Octo- 

 ber. — Roc! perennial, red, or orange-coloured. Stems 

 branched, diffufe, fquare, rough at the angles, perennial. 

 Leaves four, rarely fix together, evergreen, pointed, rough, 

 with teeth at the margin, and nerves on the under fide. 

 Flowers in forked panicles, terminal, yellowifh, always 

 five-cleft and pentandrous, without a calyx. Berries black, 

 one of them generally abortive. 



It is remarked in the Flora Britannica, that Rubia, n. 708 

 of Haller, which has been confounded with this fpecies, 

 is unqueftionably R. tinSorum of Linmus, having ovato- 

 lanceolate leaves, rough on the upper fide, and flowers 

 which are mollly four-cleft, deltitute of a calyx. 



4. R. lucida. Shining-leaved Madder. Linn. Syft. 

 Nat. ed. 12. v. 2. 732. Willd. n. 4. Sm. Fl. Gric. 

 Sibth. t. 142. — Leaves elliptical, evergreen, fix in a whorl, 

 fmooth at the keel. Stem without prickles. Native of 

 Majorca, and the iflands of Zante and Cyprus. It flowers 

 in July. Root perennial, branched, much divided at the 

 crown. Stems rather fhrubby, a little fpreading, much 

 branched, unarmed, clothed with roughifh down ; jointed, 

 roundifli, leaflefs and grey in the lower part ; leafy and 

 fquare in the upper. Leaves fpreading, recurved, half an 

 inch long, fefiile, pointed, fmooth on both fides, thickened 

 at the margin, rough with fpines pointing forwards. 

 Flowering in axillary, numerous, trichotomous panicles, of 

 a yellowifh-green. 



5. R. frutkofa. Prickly-leaved Madder. Willd. n. 5. 

 Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 2J. — Leaves evergreen, elliptical, cari- 

 nated ; prickly at the margin. Stem ihrubby, rough. — 

 Native of the Canary iflands, and flowering at Kew in Sep- 

 tember. — Stem v.-oody, round, much branched, of a greyifh- 

 brown colour ; the younger branches angular, very rough, 

 green. Leaves from three to feven together, fmooth, ex- 

 cept at the edges and back of the rib. Flowers on axillary, 

 ihort ftalks, folitary or three together, pale yellow. Ber- 

 ries roundifh, black, with purple pulp. 



6. R. angujlijolia. Narrow-leaved Madder. Linn. 



Mant. 39. Willd. n. 6. — Leaves evergreen, linear, fmooth 

 on the upper fide. — Native of Minorca, and introduced at 

 Kew, in 1772, by M. Richard, where it flowers in Julvaud 

 Augufl. — Stems diffufe, very rough, fquare. Leaves four 

 or lix in a whorl, linear, acute, their keel and margin 

 fringed with fmall prickles, and rugged along the rib of the 

 upper lurface. Flowers yellow, flat, five-cleft. 



7. R. cordifolia. Heart-leaved Madder. Linn. Mant. 

 197. " Pallas. It. v. 3. 715. t. L. f. I." (R. cordata ; 

 Thunb. Japon. 60.) — Leaves perennial, four in a whorl* 

 heart-fhaped. — Native of the Cape of Good Hope, Siberia, 

 China, and Japan ; flowering at Kew in July. — Whole herbdil- 

 fufe, or flightly climbing. Stem fquare, branched, with 

 recurved prickles at the angles. Leaves four, rarely fix, 

 together, ovate, acute, revolute at the edge, rugged all 

 over and dotted, on quadrangular llalks. Flowers white, 

 in fpreading, axillary, terminal panicles. Thunberg in- 

 forms us that this fpecies is ufed in Japan for dyeing. 



8. R. Brownei. Brownean Madder. Michaux Boreal- 

 Amer. v. 1. 81. Purfh 102. ( R. peregrina; Walt. Fl. 

 Carol. 86. — R. fubhirfuta fcandens vol reclinata, fohis cru- 

 ciatis floribus lingularibus ad alas ; Brown Jam. 141. — Va- 

 lantia hypocarpa ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1491.) — Leaves four in a 

 whorl, oval. Flowers on ftalks, folitary. — Found in fhady 

 woods from Carolina to Florida, and on the cool mountains 

 of Jamaica. Stem herbaceous, from one to three feet high, 

 loofe, branched, grooved, rugged. Leaves fefiile, fmall, entire, 

 convex, hilpid with hairs, on ihort downy llalks. Flowers 

 axillary, fmall, yellow, like thofe of a Galium. Berries 

 minute, tawny, or purplilh, fingle-feeded. 



Rlbia, in Gardening, contains plants of the hardy, 

 herbaceous, perennial kind, of which the fpecies mollly 

 cultivated is the dyer's madder (R. tindlorum). 



It may be noticed, that madder is fo efiential to dyerj and 

 calico-printers, that thefe buiinefles cannot be carried on 

 without it. 



Method of Culture. — The young plants of this kind are 

 increafed by off-sets or fuckers, from the roots of the old 

 plants in the fpring, as April or the following month ; which 

 fhould be flipped off foon after they appear above ground, 

 by opening the earth round the roots, and taking off the 

 fide tuckers with as much root-part and fibres to each as 

 pofiible, prelerving the tops entire ; which fhould be planted 

 directly, in the manner directed below. The ground being 

 well prepared by frequent deep ploughing, or trenching 

 over, and the proper quantity of fets or fuckers provided, 

 they fhould, with a dibble, be planted in rows two feet 

 afunder, and one diltant in the row, putting each plant low 

 enough in proportion to the length of its root, leaving mofl 

 of the green top out of the ground, and clofing the earth 

 well about each let, as the work proceeds. Some fet thefe 

 plants in beds, three rows length-ways, at two feet diflance, 

 with wide alleys between bed and bed, in order for lauding 

 up the crowns of the roots two or three inches deep in winter. 

 They fhoot up into ftalks the fame year in either mode, but 

 the roots require two or three years' growth before they are 

 large enough for ufe ; during which period they fhould be 

 kept clean from weeds all the fummer by broad-hoeing, in 

 dry weather ; and in autumn, when the ftalks decay, cutting 

 them down, and then flightly digging the ground between 

 the rows, railing it fomewhat ridge-ways along the rows of 

 the plants, an inch or two thick over their crowns ; or, if 

 they are in beds, they may be landed up from the alleys to 

 the fame depth ; the fame culture being repeated till the 

 autumn of the third year, when the roots will be fit for 

 taking up for ufe. This is performed by trenching the 

 ground the way of the rows, beginning at one end of it, 



and 



