CHAP. LVIII. umbella n ce;e. ^upleu^rum. 997 



plants growing in loamy soil, and sometimes in those growing in peaty or boggy soil. In order to 

 produce this colour, some have recommended steeping sheep's dung in the water given to the plant, 

 and others mixing the soil in which it is grown with peat ashes, wood ashes, oxide of iron, nitre, 

 alkali, or a little common salt. Neither science nor experience has hitherto, however, been able to 

 determine positively the cause of this change of colour; and, of course, nothing but experiment in 

 every particular case will decide what soil will produce it. About London, the most effectual are 

 the loams of Hampstead and Stanmore Heaths, and the peat of Wimbledon Common. About Edin- 

 burgh, the soil found in the surrounding bogs ; and about Berlin and Petersburg, also, bog earth 

 has been found to produce this colour in the hydrangea. 



Statistics. There are various instances of large hydrangeas growing in the open air recorded in 

 the Gardener's Magazine. One at Sydenham, in Devonshire, has had 1000 heads of flowers ex- 

 panded on it at one time. One at Redruth, in Cornwall, is described as being as big as a large 

 haycock. In Pembrokeshire, at Amroth Castle, a plant, 33 ft. in circumference, and 6 ft. high, 

 has had 832 heads of flowers expanded on it at once. In Sussex, at Ashburnham Place, a plant, 

 30 ft. in circumference, and 5 ft. high, produced 1072 heads of flowers in one season. In Scotland, 

 in Argyllshire, at Lochiel House, a large plant furnished from 600 to 700 flowers, all fully ex- 

 panded at the same time. At St. Mary's Isle, in the Stewartry of Kircudbright, a plant, 32 ft. in 

 circumference, produced 525 heads of flowers; and one in Fifeshire, at Dysart House, 40ft. in cir- 

 cumference, and 6 ft. high, produced 605 flowers. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 6d. to 

 Is. each ; at Bollwyller, 2 francs, and the blue from 3 to 6 francs ; at New York, 50 cents. 



Several other Species of Hydrangea, natives of Japan and Nepal, are described in Don's Miller, iii. 

 p. 233. ; but none of them, as far as we know, have been introduced. H. vestxta Wall., a native of 

 the mountains of Nepal, with large white flowers, and leaves downy beneath, would be a desirable 

 introduction ; and is, probably, the garden hydrangea of China in a wild state. H. altissima 

 Wall., according to Mr. Royle, climbs lofty trees : but this circumstance, in our opinion, ought to 

 separate it from this genus, however much it may resemble it in its flowers. 



CHAP. LVIII. 



OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE 



ORDER umbella'ce^:. 



There are very few plants belonging to this order that are truly ligneous, 

 and of these the only hardy species which it contains are comprised in the 

 genus i?upleurum. 



Genus I. 



I?UPLEU V RUM Toum. The Bupleurum, or Hare's Ear. Lin. St/st. 

 Pentandria Digynia. 



Identification. Tourn. Inst, 309. t. 163. ; Lin. Gen., 328. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 127. ; Don's Mill., 3. 



p. 296. 

 Synonymes. Tenbn'a and ^uprestis Spreng. Syst., 1. p. 880. ; Bupliore, or Oreille de Lievre Fr.\ 



Hasenohrlein, Ger. 

 Derivation. From bous, an ox, and plcuron, a side ; from the supposed quality of swelling cattle 



that feed on some of the species of the genus. The name of Hare's Ear, which is preserved in 



the French and German, has reference to the shape of the leaves. 



Gen. Char. Margin of the calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, entire, strictly 

 involute, with a broad retuse point. Fruit compressed from the 

 sides. Seed teretely convex, flatfish in front. {Don's Mill, iii. p. 296.) — 

 Smooth shrubs, evergreen, or subevergreen. Natives of Europe and Africa, 

 and some of Asia ; but none of them growing higher than 5 ft. or 6 ft. 

 Only one hardy species is in cultivation in British gardens. 



it 1. B. frutico v sum L. The shrubby Bupleurum, or Hare's Ear. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 343. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 301. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 



Synonymes. Tenbria frutiebsa Spreng. in Schultes Syst, 6. p. 376. ; i?upr£stis fruticbsa Spreng. 



Mag : S£seli EetluY.picum Bauh. Pin., 161. ; S£seli frutex Mor. Umb., 16. 

 Engravings. Sibth. Fl. Grasc, t. 263. ; Wats. Dendr. Brit., t. 14. ; Du Ham. Arb., 1. t. 43. ; Jaune 



PI. Tr., 1. t. 65. ; Mill. Icon., t. 74. ; and our Jig. 753. 



Spec. Char., $c. Shrubby, erect, branched. Leaves oblong, attenuated at 

 the base, coriaceous, 1-nerved, quite entire, sessile. Leaves of involucre 



3 u 4 



