OF GARDENING 
Octob. thofe who delight in thefe Curiofities of Na- 
ture. 
The external pete Mince it bears to our A- 
rum, has led moft Authors to call it by that 
Name; but we fhall thew, in the Examination of 
the Flower, with how fufficient Reafon thofe of 
later Time, and more correct Enquiry, have fe- 
parated it from that Genus, and join’d it with 
fome others under a diftinét Denomination. 
Comme.ine, following the Afpect of the 
Plant, has call’d it Arum Atbiopicum, flore alba 
_ edorato. ar 
Linnavus makes it a - Species of Caria, and 
diftinguifhes it by the Title of Calla foliis fagit- 
tato-cordatis [patha cucullata, [padice fuperne maf- 
culo: Catia, with Arrow-headed and Heart-like 
Leaves, with.a hooded Spatha, and with the Spa- 
dix containing male Parts on its upper End. 
This Nene of Linn us is conceiv’d in Terms 
which will feem {trange to the Student’s Ear; 
but that is owing to ‘the fingular Struéture of 
the Plant, and they will become eafy with the Af- 
fiftance of our Figure and the Defcription. 
The Root is eee: and large, brown on the — 
Outfide, white within, and of a tender Subftance, 
‘rom this run feveral thick white Fibres. _ 
The Leaves rife many together, and they have 
great Beauty : 
{talks ; 
glofly green. 
They are long, 
indented in a Heart-like Manner at the Bafe, 
tremely fmall Point, which is fometimes’ fingle, 
fJometimes fplit, and mon turns in the Manner 
of a Tendnl. * 
The Stalk rifes in the mid of thefe, vee it is 
glofiy green. 
On the Summit of this Stalk grows a iain 
Flower, unlike every Thing, except the’ 4rum 
‘Kind, in general; and in the moft effential Parti- 
is ‘general Form is | 
culars different from soni 
this, 
hollowleafy Sheath orCafe; open, and whitewithin ; 
and in the Centie of this ftands up an oblong 
Club, refembling that of Arum, and in Colour — 
yellow. Upon this are plac’d the Flowers, which 
are minute and whitith;, and, when they are 
fallen, there come Berries, which, when ripe, are 
red. 
fum’d, and fomewhat refembling Mufk., . 
Its Tafte is acrid, and there is one extremely 
fingular Circurnftance attending it: this is, the 
Way in which it vifibly difcharges abundant Wa-_ 
ter. If too much be given it at a Time, the 
twining Extremities of the Leaves grow damp, 
and afterwards throw out the wet in Drops: it 
comes from them clear, but it taftes ftrongly of 
the Plant. This is a Singularity firit obferv’diby 
ComMELine, and it may ibe of great Ufe in ex- 
plaining Vetegation. ° 
_ The young Student,will be at a Lofs where to 
ZN® 2 
they are plac’d'on long thick Foot- _ 
and they are very large, and of a fine | oe becomes the Charaéter of a diftin@ Genus. © 
= moderately broad, deeply | 
The whole Flower, when it is in Perfection, 
has at Evening a very fweet Smell, perfectly per- 
72 
tails £5 the Wlaeiaene of edete ‘Pier or mies to ey 
| determine concerning it: but when we have led him - 
thro’ this Difficulty, he will have very.nearly maf- 
| ter’d all the LINN ZAN Syftem. 
The great hollow Sheath or Cafe, he. is only to 
| cantidan: as the Cup of the Flowers; and the Club 
- itfelf as deftin’d for the Bitecpsien of the Organs 
| Of Impregnation. The Flowers are very minute, 
| they have no Petals: and they mutt be carefully 
| taken off, and examined feparately. They will 
be found of two Kinds, fome confifting of Fila. 
ments, and their Buttons or Anthers, others only 
| of a Rudiment of the Fruit with its Style. 
They ftand fomewhat confufedly on the Club ; 
but, in general, the male Flowers, that is, thofe 
confifting of Filaments, are plac’d on the uppers 
and the female on the lower Part, 
Such is the Stru€ture of this fingular Frutifica- 
tion, in which, as there are neither a particular 
Cup nor Petal to each Flower, it is not eafy to 
fay how many of the Filaments conftitute one ; 
but the beft Obfervation, and the Analogy of 
Nature, ufually obferv’d in thefe Things, feems 
— to fix it at fix. 
The young Botanift is not, for this Reafon, 
rafhly to refer the Plant to the Lexandrous or fixth 
Clafs; for when there is any thing fo extremely 
remarkable in their Difpofition, ‘as in this Inftance, 
_ He finds them here plac’d upon the Club which 
Linn aus confiders as the general female Part 
of the Fru@tification, it ee sagt for the 
wav'd at the Edges, and terminated by an ex- — Support of the Berries. 
This makes a peculiar Mark, and arranges the 
Plant under a diftiné&t Clafs. It is his Twen- 
tieth: the Title Gynandria, a Term form’d, as 
| the others, of two Greek Words, and expreffing 
robuft, upright, thick, two Foot pci and of a — 
Plants i in which the Filaments or male Parts, grow 
upon the female, or when they are plac’d in an_ 
| irregular Manner together. 
The effential Diftinction between the Calla and, 
Arum is, that in the Arum the Body of the Club 
is naked, and the male and female Parts are ar- 
| rang’d at its Bafe ; but i in the Calla they cover the 
_ There grows Sacd the Head of the Stalk a leneiel : “Whole, 
Cutiure of the Catia, 
This Plant is worth any ie not only for its 
Singularity and F ragrance, but for the Article of 
its dropping Water. We have feen it fail, and 
fhall therefore be the more particular in, liver ing 
its true Culture. 
It is a Native of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
’tis beft to get the Roots thence, 
The Leaves and Stalk decay as foon as the Ber- 
ries have ripen’d, and the Roots fhould then be 
taken out of the Ground. ‘Being carefully ty’d 
up in Bags, ‘they will keep many Months out of 
the Earth without Damage; and as foon ‘aS YE. 
ceiv’d, they muft be planted in the following 
Manner : 
\Mix together one Buthel of old and well- 
| wrought Garden-Mould, two Bufhels of Earth 
from under a Wood-Pile, and half a Bufhel of 
| Sand, work thefe well together, and they will 
x ~ make 
