TRADESCANTIA. 



. ceous plants, fome annual, others perennial, none of them 

 natives of Europe. Their leaves are alternate, fheathing, 

 fimple, entire, - ith parallel ribs. Floiuers cluftered, fhort- 

 lived, ufually purplifli, differing from thofe of Commelina, 

 (fee that article,) in being regular, with almoft univerfally 

 fix perfedl anthers. Mr. Brown propofes to feparate, into 

 a diftinft genus, certain fpecies, the claws of whofe petals 

 sre united, and whofe two feeds, in each cell, are direfted 

 in a contrai-y manner, one upward, the other downward. 

 The fear of thefe feeds, moreover, is faid to be at the bafe, 

 their embryo at the oppofite extremity. In this predica- 

 ment are 7". axillaris, crijlata, and fome unpublirtied fpecies. 

 We proceed to augment Willdenow's lift with fome new 

 fpecies, rnoft of them recently publifhed by Mr. Kunth, 

 among the difcoveries of thofe illuftrious travellers Baron 

 Humboldt and M. Bonpland. 



1. T. •virginica. Common Virginian Spider-wort. Linn. 

 Sp.Pl.411. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. Purfh n. I. Curt. 

 Mag. t. 105. Sowerb. Drawing-book t. 6. Redout. 

 Liliac. t. 95. (Phalangium ephemerum virginianum ; Park. 

 Parad. 152. t. 151. f. 4.) — Stem ereft. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, fmooth. Flowers numerous, in a fort of terminal fef- 

 file umbel. Calyx hairy. — This, the original fpecies of its 

 genus, was brought from Virginia by the younger Trades- 

 cant, (fee that article,) before the year 1629, as appears 

 by Parkinfon's Paradifus ; and is now one of the moft com- 

 mon hardy perennials of every country garden, blolfoming 

 copioufly throughout fummer and autumn. Purlh fays it 

 occurs in fliady woods, from Pennfylvania to Carolina, 

 flowering in May and June. The plant is readily increafed, 

 by parting its long fibrous roots, and thrives particularly 

 well in Ihade and moifture. The Jlems are eighteen inches 

 high, round, leafy, fcareely branched. Leaves Iheathing, 

 concave, taper-pointsd, of a dark ftiining green. Flowers 

 large, of a rich violet blue, each lafting but a day, or rather 

 a few hours in the early part of a day, after which they roll 

 up into a liquefying pulpy mafs ; but there being a great 

 number in each umbel, or tuft, there is a long fucceffion. 

 The fix golden anthers are brilliantly contrailed with the 

 dark purple (liaggy Jilaments, 



2. T. rofea. Rofy-flowered Spider-wort. Venten. 

 Hort. Celf. t. 24. Ait. n. 2. Purfh n. 2. Redout. 

 Liliac. t. 94 Stem ere£t. Leaves linear -lanceolate, elon- 

 gated. Umbels ilalked, of few flowers. Calyx fmooth. — 

 Native of wet fandy fields, in Carolina and Georgia, flower- 

 ing in June and July. Root perennial. Flowers rofe- 

 coloured, fmall, but very handfome. Purjh. The whole 

 plant is of a much more flender habit than the laft. Leaves 

 grafly, fringed. Umbels on long ftalks, often rifing above 

 the uppermoft leaves. 



3. T. fubafpera. Roughifli Spider-wort. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 1597. Ait. Epit. 375. (T. criftata; Walt. Carol. 

 119.) — Stem ereft. Leaves ovato-lanceolate, recurved, 

 rough-edged. Umbels lateral and terminal, many-flowered. 



Calyx hairy Native of North America, from whence it is 



reported to have been brought by Mr. Lyon in 1812. The 

 plant is a hardy perennial with us, flowering from June to 

 September, but has little fuperiority to claim over 7". vir- 

 ginica, except what arifes from novelty. The foliage is 

 broader, and more divaricated, than in that fpecies, as well 

 as wavy and roughifh, efpecially at the edge. Flower-Jlalks 

 reddifli or purple, becoming wrinkled as the flowers fade. 



4. T. craJJifoUa. Thick-leaved Spider-wort. Cavan. 

 Ic. v. I. 54. t. 75. Willd. n. 2. Kunth. n. 5. Curt. 

 Mag. t. 1 598 — Stem ereft, woolly. Leaves ovate, coria- 

 ceous ; filky at the margin and imder fide ; with very fhort 

 Iheaths. Umbels terminal, hairy Native of New Spain, 



flowering in September. A ftove plant in England, mtro- 

 duced by the late marchionefs of Bute. The root is tuberous, 

 perennial. Mr. Ker Bellenden defcribes the Jlem as pro- 

 cumbent, but by every other account it is ereft. The 

 broad thick ovate leaves, denfely filky with white hairs at 

 the margin, as well as beneath, diftinguiih this fpecies from 

 all the foregoing. The flowers are of a pale violet, ex- 

 panded but for three or four hours in a morning ; their fize 

 equal to our firft and third fpecies. Calyx hairy. 



5. T. fpeciofa. Beautiful Mexican Spider-wort. Kunth 

 n. 6. — " Stem ereft, branched. Leaves oblong, acute, 

 fmooth on both fides ; woolly at the margin. Umbels ter- 

 minal and axillary, feflil», many-flowered. Calyx woolly." 

 — Native of the elevated plains of Mexico, near Chapol- 

 tepec, flowering in May. Perennial. Stem ftriated, fpar- 

 ingly clothed with white woolly pubcfcence. Leaves 

 lanceolate-oblong, membranous, fomewhat channelled, three 

 inches long, hardly one broad. Sheaths (hort, lax, ftriated, 

 woolly at the edge. Umbels of about twenty flowers, whofe 



Jlalks are divaricated, round, hairy, near an inch long. 

 Calyx tipped with purple. Petals thrice its length, purple, 

 combined at the bafe. Germen woolly. Style purplifti, 

 fmooth. Kunth. 



6. T. ereBa. Upright Racemofe Spider-wort. Cavan. 

 Ic. V. I. J3. t. 74. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 4. Jacq. Ic. 

 Rar. t. 354. Redout. Lihac. t. 239. (T. bifida; Roth 

 Catal. V. 1.42.) — Stem ereft, fmooth. Leaves elliptical, 

 acute at each end, fmooth. Clufters terminal. — Native of 

 Mexico. A hardy annual in our gardens, introduced by 

 fir Jofeph Banks, in 1794, flowering in July and Auguft. 

 Stem a yard high, or more, branched, leafy. Leaves three 

 or four inches long, pale or glaucous beneath, each tapering 

 at the bafe into a ftiort flieath. Cluflers folitary or in pairs, 

 gradually elongated, of many fliy-blue flowers, fcareely 

 half the fize of T. virginica. 



7. T. undata. Wavy Racemofe Spider-wort. Kunth 

 n. 7. Willd. Enum. 347. — Stem ereft, with a hairy lateral 

 line. Leaves oblong, acute at each end, wavy, rough on 

 the upper fide and margin, with fringed ftieaths. Clufters 

 terminal, in pairs. — Native of the floping fides of hills in 

 Cumana, flowering in September. An annual plant, very 

 nearly related to the laft, but more tender, and with reddifh- 

 purple /?0TOfrj. 



8. T. Zanonia- Gentian-leaved Spider-wort. Swartz 

 Ind. Occ. V. I. 604. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 5. (Com- 

 melina Zanonia; Linn. Sp. PI. 61. Redout. Lihac. 

 t. 192. Campelia Zanonia ; Kunth 264. Zanonia graminea 

 perfohata ; Plum. Gen. 38. t. 38. Periclymenum reftura 

 herbaceum, gentianae folio, folii pediculo caulem ambiente ; 

 Sloane Jam. v. i. 243. t. 147. f. i.) — Stem ereft. Leaves 

 elliptical, tapering at each end. Flowers capitate, on long, 

 lateral, fohtary ftalks, jointed in the middle, with a pair of 

 brafteas. Capfule clothed with the permanent pulpy co- 

 rolla. — Native of woods in the Weft Indies and South 

 America, flowering in autumn. A not unfrequent ftove- 

 plant in Europe, though Ijfs remarkable for the beauty of 

 its flowers, which are i'mall ?jid white, than for the peculi- 

 arity of its dark-purple juicy fruit, formed of the thickened 

 and enlarged corolla, which completely invefts the capfule. 

 The root is perennial. Stem two or three feet high, moftly 

 branched, fmooth, juicy, leafy in the upper part. Leaves 

 near a foot long, downy beneath, fringed at the bafe, often 

 red at the edges ; their flieaths tumid, denfely fringed. 

 Flowerflalk^s oppofite to each leaf, and nearly as long, with 

 a flieath in the middle, and two ovate, fpreading, leafy 

 braatas at the top, accompanying a head of eight or ten 



flowers. 



9. T. 



