CHAP. LXXXVII. 



rEHBENA CEM. VI TEX. 



1285 



CHAP. LXXXVil. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER FERBENA v CEjE. 



This order, which is closely allied to Labiaceae, consists chiefly of plants 

 natives of tropical countries; and, among these, the most remarkable is the 

 Tectona grandis L., or teak tree, the oak of India. This tree, Mr. Royle informs 

 us, has been planted as far north as Saharunpore, lat. 29° 57' n., or about 

 the parallel of the Canary Islands ; from which we should think it might be 

 grown in the south of England against a wall. 



Genus I. 



JTTEX //. The Chaste Tree. Lin. Syst. Didynamia Angiospermia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 790. ; Reich , No. 853. ; Schreb., No. 1060. ; Tourn., t. 37 

 Ga-rtn., t. 56. j Mill. Icon., t. 275. ; N. Du Ham., 6. p. 115. ; Lindl. Nat. Syst. But, 



13. ; Juss.,107. ; 

 p. 278. ; Don's 

 Mill., 4. 

 Synonymes. Gatilier, Fr. ; Kcnschbaum, Ger. 

 Derivation. From vieo, to bind, as with an osier; in reference to the flexibility of the shoots. 



Gen. Char., fyc. Calyx short, 5-toothed. Corolla bilabiate; upper lip bifid, 

 lower one trifid ; middle segment of the lower lip the largest. ' Stamens 4. 

 didynamous, ascending. Stigma bifid. Drupe containing a 4-celled nut. 

 Cells 1 -seeded. (Don's Mill., iv.) — Deciduous shrubs and trees, natives of 

 the south of Europe, India, China, and North America. The only hardy 

 species is a native of Sicily. 



stt 1. V. ^4'gnus ca'stus L. The officinal, or true, Chaste Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 890. 5 Lam. Diet, 2. p. 611. ; Don's Mill., 4. 



Synonymes. .Eleagnum TheophrasU Lob Icon., 2. 138. ; J'gnus castus Blackw. ; Arbre au Poivre, 



Poivre sauvage, Fr. 

 Engravings. Blackw. Herb., t. 129. ; N. Du Ham., 6. t. 35. ; and ourjig. 1152. 



Spec. Char., Sec. Leaves opposite, digitate, 7 — 5-lobed : leaflets lanceolate, 

 mostly quite entire, hoary beneath. Racemes terminal, panicled. Flowers 

 verticillate. (Don's Mill.,iv.) A shrub, of the height of 5 ft. or 6 ft., which 

 produces its white, bluish white, and sometimes red- 

 dish white, flowers in September. It is a native of 

 Sicily, Naples, the north of Africa, and Egypt, and 

 has been in cultivation since 1570. In favourable 

 situations, in the neighbourhood of London, it 

 grows to the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft. The flowers 

 are produced in spikes at the extremities of the 

 branches, from 7 in. to 15 in. in length. In fine 

 seasons, they appear in September, but in bad 

 autumns not till October ; and then they never ex- 

 pand freely. Its flowers have an agreeable odour ; 

 but the leaves have an unpleasant smell, although 

 aromatic. No seeds are produced in England. 

 The plant received the name of chaste from the 

 Greeks; because, according to Pliny, the Athenian 

 matrons, during the festival in honour of Ceres, called 

 Thesmophoria, when they were dressed in white 

 robes, and enjoined to preserve the strictest chastity, * * 5 *~ 

 strewed their beds with it. The seeds Bergius states to be carminative ; 

 and those of Vitex trifolia L., a native of India and China, are much used, 

 on this account, by Indian practitioners. The plant grows freely in any soil 

 that is tolerably dry ; and it is readily propagated by cuttings, put in in 

 autumn, and protected with a hand-glass. Price of plants, in the London 

 nurseries, 1*. 6rf.; at Bollwyller, 1 franc 50 cents; and at New York, 50 cents. 



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