Sept. 
PL.IV. 
Fig. 1. 
ComMPLEAT Bopy of GARDENING. 
NUMBER 
a a aaa a : 
IV. 
For the Middle of SEPTEMBER. 
| LALLA LAAAATARIRLAOARAERARAReRIeRneARseaarnargnararanomans 
Sidi GUT | Li@aNy vd 
- iG Bde 
the Pi LEASURE-GARDBN.. . , 
~ Curious Plants and Flowers now in their Per fettion. 
Te true ACANTHUS. 
| : “HIS Plant demands wie iccabhan of rhe] 
Curious, for a fingular Reafon, not for — 
the Beauty-of its Flowers (tho’ the whole 
| Arrangement of them is not unhandfome) but 
‘for its Leaf. 
This has been celebrated fa the Gracefulnefs of 
its Form in all antient Time; and gave a Grecian « 
_ Sculptor the Idea of that elegant Part of regular 
Architeéture, the Capital of the Corinthian Order. 
Its vulgar Name is Bears-sreecu. Authors, 
in general, call it Acantuus, Acanthus: mollis, 
and Acanthus Virgilti; {ome Branca Urfina; but 
that Name is lefs known: 
Acanthus foliis finuofis ‘inermikus ; 
diftinguith’d from all other Species. 
It is a wild Plant of Greece and ej) and 
will grow freely in good Soils with us; without 
any particular Care or Culture. | 
“The Root is thick and full of F ‘brs. The 
"Stale is flefhy, round, purplith or pale green, not 
much branched, and about a Yard high. The 
Leaves are long, and moderately ‘broad ; their | 
Colour is a frefh and lively green, with paler 
Ribss- and they are wav’d and indented at the 
Edges in a regular Manner, and with unequal’d 
Beauty. ‘The Flowers adorn the Top a Foot in 
Length, cluftering: along’ the Stalk’ in a thick 
. Spike. Singly they are fmall they are plac’d ina 
kind of triple ogi and are fucceeded by a dry 
Capfule. 
To know the Clafs, the Flower is to be exa- 
~ Numb. IV, 
its proper Title is, | 
by which it is 
re furiGhly § y andl we are to caution the Student. 
that.he be.not rafh in:determining concerning it, 
He will firft find the Appearance of a Claf 
_ he knows very well ; 
but better Examination will 
fhew him, that it belongs to one with which he is 
not yet fufficiently acquainted., Firft, let him ob- 
ferve the Flower, whofe Stru@ure is very fingular. 
It is of the labiated Kind, or thofe which open 
with a’ Mouth, but it wants the upper Lip. It is 
form’d of a fingle Petal, tubular at the Bafe, with 
a kind of Beard, which ‘clofes the Hollow: the 
Jower Lip is very broad, and divided deeply. This 
Struature of the Flower abundantly diftinguithes it 
-and in the 
fromall the Plants of the fame Clafs - 
internal Parts is to be found the Charaéter. 
We mutt’ remind the Student now of what we 
ave’ told: him before. That the Number of 
Filaments in a Flower, never is the Mark of a 
Clafs thence named, unlefs they are equal in 
Length and Difpofition. On infpecting the inner 
Part of this, he will find four F ilaments. — He 
would be right in referring the Plant to’ the 
! Trerranpria, if thefe were equal; but, ona nice 
| Infpection, he will ‘perceive that two are longer 
than the others: this fhews it to belong to the Dr- 
| Dynamia ; thofe in whofe Flowers there are two 
. Filaments longer than the reft, and therefore un- 
derftood’ to be ‘more efficacious, that being the 
| Senfe of the Term. 
This ‘Clafs is divided into two Sections; and 
the DiftinGtions of thefe are not founded, as ufual, 
L upon 
Sept. 
