X E K 



X E R 



the keel ; inner lanceolate, fpreading. Crown of the feed 

 lanceolate, fliorter than the calyx. — Native of drj' hilly 

 ground in Auftria, Hungary, France, Italy, and Greece ; 

 I? is found in Switzerland, Spain, and Germany. This 

 fpecies is a hardy annual, common in our gardens, ever 

 fince the time of Gerarde and Lobel, flowering in July and 

 Auguft. The firft variety, and efpecially the femidouble 

 kind, figured by Philip Miller in his Icones, is preferred for 

 cultivation. The flowers with their llalks, dried quickly, 

 preferve their (hining purple colour very long, and make 

 part of the winter decorations of a chimney-piece ; but for 

 this purpofe, the back of every coloured fcale of the calyx 

 (hould be drawn, while frefh, over the edge of a blunt 

 knife, to keep the flower open after it is dried. The Jlem 

 is ereft, branching, bearing linear-lanceolate, white, cottony 

 leaves, and numerous Jloivers, an inch or more in diameter. 

 The outer calyx-fcales are membranous and ihining, pale, 

 quite fmooth, each with a red or browni(h mid-rib, moft 

 confpicuous upwards, and terminating in a fmall awn-like 

 point. 



In the variety /3 the Jloiuers are of a fmaller diameter, 

 and the calyx fpreads lefs ; but we do not find that its outer 

 fcales are more acute, though fomewhat variable in that 

 refpeft ; the inner are lefs ftrikingly purple, and turn 

 browner as they fade. This variety we have from the 

 Valais, as the undoubted plant of Haller, fent by the late 

 Mr. Davall. Both kinds have a pleafant aromatic fcent, 

 different from the ftrong odour of the following. 



2. X. cylindraceum. Cyhndrical Xeranthemum. Sm. 

 Prodr. Fl. Grsec. n.' 2046. (X. orientale, flore minimo, 

 calyce cylindraceo ; Tourn. Cor. 38. X. oleas folio capi- 

 tulis fimplicibus, incanum, foetens, flore purpurafcente 

 minore ; Morif. v. 3. 43. feft. 6. t. 12. f. i.) — Outer 

 calyx-fcales eUiptical, pointlefs, woolly at the keel ; inner 

 lanceolate, ereft. — Native of Germany and Afia Minor. 

 Gathered by Dr. Sibthorp on the Bithynian Olympus, or 

 in its neighbourhood. Seeds of this fpecies were given to 

 Mr. Davall by profeflbr Lachenal at Bafle, for the common 

 X. annuum, as figured by Haller ; but on feeing the real 

 plant of that author, above defcribed, from the country of 

 the Valais, he allowed them to be diftinft. Mr. Davall firft 

 detefted the true fpecific difference, in the woolly fcales of 

 the calyx, whichi moreover, want the red mid-rib of the 

 preceding fpecies. Morifon indeed defcribes this mid-rib, 

 which proves that he confounded X. annuum 8, as many 

 other people have done, with our cylindraceum ; for Mr. 

 Davall obferved the ftrong difagreeable fmell in his fpeci- 

 mens, by which Morifon charafterizes the plant before us. 



3. X. orientale. Oriental Xeranthemum. Willd. n. 3. 

 Ait. n. 3. (X. annuum y ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1201. X. ori- 

 entale, fruftu maximo ; Tourn. Cor. 38. X. oleae folio, 

 capitulis compaftis ; Morif. v. 3. 44. feft. 6. t. 12. f. 4. 

 Jaceai ole^ foho, capitulis compaftis ; Bauh. Pin. 272. J. 

 incana, folio olex ;- Dalech. Hift. 1 193. Lob. Ic. 545. 

 f. I.) — Outer calyx-fcales roundifh, membranous; inner 

 ovate, pointed, ereft. Crown of the feed ovate, awned, 

 longer than the calyx. — Native of Armenia and Syria. 

 The leaves of this fpecies appear to be broader and more 

 elliptical than either of the foregoing. But its moft ftriking 

 difference is vifible in the ovate fcales, forming the crown of 

 the feeds, each of them ending in a long point, far over- 

 topping the upright radiant Icales of the calyx. We have 

 never feen a fpecimen, but the figures above cited render 

 the plant fufiiciently intelligible. Willdenow defcribes the 



Jloiuers the fize of X. annuum, or larger. Surely Lamarck's 

 t. 692. f. 2. cannot be intended for this plant T We know 

 nothing anfwerable to that figure. 



Xeranthemunt, in Gardening, contains plants of tht 

 herbaceous, flowering, annual kinds, in which the fpecies 

 cultivated are, the annual xeranthemum, or common eternal 

 flower (X. annuum) ; the reflexed-leaved eternal flower (X. 

 retortum) ; the golden eternal flower (X. fpeciofiffimum) ; the 

 filvery eternal flower ( X. fefamoides ) ; the prohferous eternal 

 flower ( X. proliferum ) ; the leafy-flowered eternal flower ( X. 

 veftitum ) ; and the imbricated eternal flower ( X. imbricatum ) . 

 As to the fpecies of Xeranthemum, fee the preceding article. 

 The firft is an herbaceous flowering plant, of which there 

 are varieties with large white flowers, with double white 

 flowers, with double purple flowers, and with double violet- 

 coloured flowers. 



Method of Culture In the firft fort and varieties, the 



culture is readily effefted by fowing the feeds in pots of 

 light frefh mould, in the autumn or fpring, or at other fea- 

 fons for a fucceffion, plunging them in a moderate hot-bed, 

 to bring forward the plants. In the fpring they may alfo 

 be fown in patches where they are to remain, or in beds to 

 be afterwards removed. When the plants have a few inches 

 growth, they fhould be pricked out in rows a foot apart on 

 beds, or into the borders, clumps, or other places where 

 they are to grow. They fhould afterwards be kept clean 

 from weeds, and have occafional waterings immediately after 

 pricking out, and afterwards in dry weather. 



The other forts are raifed by planting cuttings of the 

 young fhoots in the fummer, in pots filled with light mould, 

 giving them a little water and fhade ; or, which is better, 

 plunging them into a hot-bed, and covering them with 

 hand-glaffes. When they are become firmly eftablifhed in 

 the autumn, they fhould be carefully removed into feparate 

 pots, being replaced in the hot-bed till re-rooted, after 

 which they (hould have the management of other Ihrubby 

 green-houfe plants. 



The firft fort produces a fine effeft in the borders, 

 clumps, &c. while growing, as well as in pots when the 

 flowers are taken off ; and the other forts afford variety in 

 green-houfe coUeftions, among other potted plants of the 

 fame kind. 



XERASIA, in Medicine, the name of a difeafe, a fpecies 

 of alopecia, in which the hair falls off through a drynefs of 

 the part, and want of due nourifhment. 



Xerasia, in Animals, denotes a certain kind of difeafed 

 ftate, which confifts in a drynefs of the hairs, caufed by the 

 want of due and fufiicient nourifhment and fupport, from 

 which they decay and fall off. It is met with in fuch animals 

 as have been ftarved, and kept and fed in a ftinted manner 

 only on poor forts of food. It is to be removed by a better 

 and more full kind of fodder, and other forts of keep, and 

 by being turned into a good falt-marfh pafture. See 

 Surfeit. 



XEREQUARO, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in 

 the province of Mechoacan ; 45 miles N.E. of Mechoacan. 



XERES, a town of South America, in Paraguay, now 

 in ruins. S. lat. 20° 5'. 



Xeres de Badajos, or Xeres de los Cahalleros, a town of 

 Spain, in Eftremadura ; 72 miles N.N.W. of Seville. N. 

 lat. 38^17'. W. long. 6° 52'. 



Xeres de la Frontera, a town of Spain, in the province 

 of Seville, on the Guadalete ; near which a battle was 

 fought between the Moors and Goths, in the year 712, in 

 which Roderick, the laft king of the Goths, loft his life. 

 The environs are celebrated for that excellent wine cor- 

 ruptly called flierry. The beft and richell fort of fherry is 

 called " pagarette," from the Spanifh wotA pago, a diftrift,. 

 and particularly applied to this vintage. In one aranzado 

 (an acre of vineyard) they plant i8co vines at regular dif- 



tances. 



