XYLOPHYLLA. 



lays a ftrefs on the powers being polygamous in latifolla, 

 monoecious in Arhufcula ; but nothing is more variable than 

 this circumtlanee. It is difficult to fay which of the two 

 Schncevoght's figure reprefents. 



4. X. falcata. Sickle-leaved Sea-fide Laurel. Swartz 

 Prodr. 28. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 2. Andr. Repof. t. 331. 

 ( Phyllanthus Epiphyllanthus ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1392. Ph. 

 americana planta, flores e fingulis foliorum crenis proferens ; 

 Comm. Hort. v. I. 199. t. 102.) — Leaves fcattered, linear- 

 lanceolate, fomewhat falcate, diftantly toothed. Flowers 



nearly feffile, many together at each tooth Native of the 



Bahama iflands. Cultivated for above 120 years paft in 

 the ftoves of England and Holland, flowering in July and 

 Augull. They/^TO is five or fix feet high, flirubby, with 

 round branches. Leaves not pinnate, with a flat ftalk, as in 

 the two laft, but fcattered irregularly over the branches, 

 each proceeding from a fcaly bud, fimple, five or fix inches 

 long, one-third of an inch wide, rigid, ftriated, taper- 

 ing at each end ; entire towards the bafe ; alternately 

 toothed in the upper part, the teeth an inch or more 

 afunder. Flowers crimfon, on (hort ftalks, fome male and 

 feme female in each tuft ; the latter feweft. 



5. X. angujlifolia. Narrow-leaved Sea-fide Laurel. 

 Swartz Prodr. 28. Willd. n. 5. Ait. n. 3. (X. elon- 

 gata ; Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 53. t. 348. Poiret 

 n. 7. Phyllanthus n. 2; Browne Jam. 188. Ph. ame- 

 ricana, anguftiori et longiori folio, ramofa, caulefcens ; 

 Pluk. Phyt. t. 247. f. 4. Ph. anguftifolia ; Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. I III.) — Leaves pinnate, linear-lanceolate, rather dif- 

 tantly toothed, fcarcely curved. Flowers on fiiort ftalks, 

 polygamous, one or more from each tooth.— ^Native of 

 ftony rocky fituations, in the weftern part of Jamaica. 

 Swartz. Cultivated in the Englifh itoves before 1789, 

 flowering in July and Auguft. Alton. This agrees with 

 our fecond and third fpecies, in having feveral alternate 

 leajlets, on a flat or channelled, bordered common Jlalk ; but 

 fcarcely half fo many on each ftalk as in thofe ; and of a 

 longer narrower form, not copioufly crenate, but fparingly 

 and rather diftantly toothed, more in the manner of X. fal- 

 cata. The Jlem is only two feet high. The Jlowers are 

 lefs copious than in the laft-raentioned fpecies, and, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Swartz, there are fome perfeft, intermixed with 

 the male and female ones. Their colour is red ; the male 

 ones paleft. (Jacqr.in's figure expreffes the contrary.) 

 Plukenet's engraving, fuch as it is, manifeftly agrees with 



; this fpecies, and with no other. Linnaeus, no doubt, con- 

 I tounded this, and, at one time, the latlfoUa alfo, with the 

 falcata. Browne's fynonyms are fettled by his own fpecies, 

 though unmarked. 

 j 6. X. linearis. Linear Sea-fide Laurel. fX. anguf- 

 ! tifolia ^ ; Swartz Prodr. 28. Willd. n. 5. Phyllanthus 

 linearis; Swartz Ind. Occ. 1113.) — "Leaves pinnate, 

 Ir.iear, tapering, pliant, crenate ; their common ftdk bor- 

 dered. Flowers feveral from each notch." — Native of 

 :liady ftony banks of rivers, in the weftern part of Jamaica. 

 'uart%. The ftem is fcarcely a foot high, ered, with 

 • und branches. Common footjlalhs four or five inches 

 l'>ng, fcattered, comprefled, (rather deprefied,) bordered. 

 ^. eaves linear, rather broadeft in the middle ; tapering at 

 le bafe ; ending in a very long acute point, ftriated, paler 

 neath, two inches long, of a thinner fubftance than the 

 regoing fpecies, which circumftance, added to its humbler 

 titure, and different colour, has induced Dr. Swartz to con- 

 .-.der it as diftinft. The flotuers are white, monoecious, 

 ram three to fix at each notch of the leaves, on capillary 

 Aalks, four lines in length. 



7. X. montana. Mountain Sea-fide Laurel. Swartz 

 Vol. XXXIX. 



Prodr. 28. Willd. d. 6. ( Phyllanthus montana ; Swartz 

 Ind. Occ. 1117.) — Leaves fomewhat two-ranked, elliptic- 

 lanceolate, coriaceous, deeply crenate. Flowers nearly fef- 

 file, many from each notch. Branches round ; two-edged 

 at the extremity. — Found on lime-ftone rocks, in the 

 weftern part of Jamaica. Afirub, fix feet high, much and 

 irregularly branched ; the branches often forked, round, 

 nearly ereft, with annular fears ; ultimate ones permanent, 

 glaucous alhcoloured, compreffed and two-edged at the 

 fummit. Leaves alternate, imperfeftly two-ranked, nearly 

 feflile, either blunt or acute, obliquely ftriated, rigid, 

 brownifti-green, fmooth, with deep many-flowered notches. 

 Floivers monoecious ; the males eight or ten, pale red ; 

 females folitary among the males, deep purple. Clearly 

 dilbnguilhable from all the fpecies which it otherwife re- 

 fembles, by the permanency, and woody texture, of the 

 ultimate branches. Szvartz. 



8. X. ramiflora. Siberian Sea-fide Laurel, Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. ed. I. v. I. 376. ed. 2. n. 4. Wi'ld. n. 7. (Phar- 

 naceum ? fuffruticofum ; Pallas It. v. 3. 716. t. E. f. 2.) — 

 Leaves elliptical, ftalked. Flowers axTiUary. — Native of 

 the defarts of Siberia, from whence it was procured for 

 the Englifli gardens, in 1783, by the late Mr. Bell. It is 

 a hardy flirub, flowering in July and Auguft. Pallas, who 

 never faw the plant alive, merely guefled at its genus. By 

 his figure, its habit is altogether that of a Phyllanthus. 

 The flem is bufhy, with many ftraight, wand-like, leafy 

 branches, each a fpan long. Leaves fcattered, thin, hardly 

 an inch in length, blunt, crenate, or fomewhat wavy. 

 Flowers fix or eight together, making a little axillary tuft, 

 accompanied by minute reAflipulas, or braBeas. Segments 

 of the calyx five, concave, white, with a coloured margin. 

 Anthers five, thick, obtufe, furrowed at the outfide. 

 Germen in the fame flower, as we prefume from Pallas's 

 defcription, very fmall. Styles three, thread-lhaped, fimple, 

 the length of the flamens. The genus of this fpecies is, at 

 beft, very doubtful, as Willdenow has already remarked. 



Phyllanthus and Xylophylla are fo totally different in habit, 

 and the latter is, in this refpeft, fo very peculiar, that a 

 clear charafter between them is much to be defired. The 

 true XylophylU are all of Weft Indian origin. The tropical 

 Phyllanthi are natives of the Eaft Indies ; a few hardy fpecies 

 grow in North America. 



XvLOPHYLLA, in Gardening, contains plants of the tender 

 exotic kind for the ftove, in which the fpecies cultivated 

 are, the long-leaved love flower (X. longifolia), the 

 broad-leaved love flower (X. latifolia), and the falcated 

 love flower (X. falcata). 



The firft is a branching angular plant, but the fecond 

 has round branches ; and the laft is woody in the ftems and 

 branches. 



Method of Culture. — Thefe plants are increafed by lowing 

 the feeds in pots in the early fpring, and plunging them in 

 a hot-bed : when the plants are come up two or tlu-ee inches 

 in growth, they fiiould be pricked out in feparate pots, re- 

 plunging them in the bark-bed : they may afterwards be 

 managed as other ftove-plants of a fimilar growth. 



They are alfo, fome of them, capable of being raifed by 

 off-fets, flips, and Cuttings, affifted by a hot-bed in the fame 

 manner. 



They require the conftant proteftion of the ftove in 

 winter, but in the hot fummer months may be fet out in 

 their pots in a Ibeltered fituation, being taken in on the 

 approach of cold nights. 



They afford variety, and are curious in ftove colleftions 

 amonij other plants of fimilar provrths. 



E XYLOPIA, 



