OF GARDE NIN G. 
231 
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an. giving them Air when it can be fafely admitted. 
—— They will thus make a great Progrefs and beau- 
Eesha Fi igure ; and with due Management, in Re- Jan. 
{pect of Air and Water, will flower. 
a, bie te PP LE. Bet ie be erga 
Plate. Speaking of Things commonly known, we 
XX. give them, at the Head of the Account, their 
Fig. 2. common Name; tho’ we afterwards inform the 
Student of the more proper. 
No Plant is more regarded, or deferves i it more 
than this. The Singularity . of the Fruit ‘would 
The Root is thick, and fends out pay {cat- 
tered Fibres, 
The Leaves are Jong and narrow, fharp-pointed, 
and of a pale: green, with a Tinge of blueith. 
So'much is-certain; and we may add, that there 
ftand naturally many weak Prickles at their 
not fail to recommend it to the Curious, did not 
its delicious Tafte abforb all-other Merit; ren- 
dering it the Delight of our ‘Tables ; and. there- 
fore the firft Article of Care among Exotic . 
Plants. 
We have not very long had Knowledge: of. it in 
Europe; and what we at firft obtain’d concerning the 
Plant was very imperfed: this may | be well conjec- 
tur’d from Caspar BauHine’s Name, which re- 
duces it to the Rank of Thiftle, he calls it Car- 
duus Brafilianus foliis Alves.: the Aloe-leav’d Bra- 
filian Thiftle. 
Since our better Knowledge, it has been 
univerfally call’d Ananas and Nanas, f 
tranfcrib’d | _by CoMMELINE, and. others, from 
Acosta. : 
_ Our common Englifb Mice pores i 
‘pees given it from fome exterior Refemblance be-_ 
tween the Fruit and the Cone of the Fir and Pine 
Kinds, call’d by the Vulgar Pine-Apples. 
Linngzvs entitles the Genus Bromelia; and 
adds, as the diftin@ive Character. of this Species, 
foliis Spinal 5 fructibus connatis caulem cingen- 
— ‘tibus: Prickly-leav’d Bromelia, with Fruit clu- 
fter’d together round the Stalk : And, in his lateft 
Works, Bromelia folits ciliato Lpinafs. a5. mucronatis 
_fpica comofa. | 
That this Author, has “conneéted other Species 
with the: Ananas or Pine- Apple, under the Gene- | 
rical Name Bromelia, the Student will underitand, 
by his adding fo careful a diftingtive Character ; 
but let him beware that * does pre take the, Su- 
e3/ wwe 
Pine- Astle ‘of Diu ENIUS, | as odes § Species, 
tho’ Writers: enumerate, t them as fuch. 7 
Tt feems Prumrer has. given | Occafion of Error ' 
in fome of the Plants call’d Bromelia : but. ‘thefe 
which we havé here nam’d are onlyVarieties, the Off- 
fpring of Accident and Culture: nor are ‘they 
the only Varieties we haye from, the fame Source, 
or will there be any End of new ones. 
“All thefe ‘however the judicious Botanift fees | 
as they are; as accidental Changes from the Wild- : “Matasiy. 
nefs of Nature, under the Hands of . Culture ; 
and he will underftand the Plant to be.one and 
the fame in its original Species, tho” “they be 
‘multiply’d to a Number, equalling 1 the : ‘ulips and 
Carnations of our Florifts. 
“The Plant is robuft, and two. Foot. and ey half , 
‘ high. 
pointed : 
cle of the general’ F ruit: 
Edges ; but in this Refpeét the Plant varies from 
Culture, as much as’ in the Shape and Bignels of 
_ the Fruit: o> yt | . 
In the Centre of the Clufter of Leaves “rifes 
the Stalk, round, thick, robuft, and of a pale 
| green; with two or three little Leaves upon it. 
On its Top is plac’d an oval pyramidal flefhy 
Subftance, form’d of many clufter’d Tubercles, 
‘ fupporting the Flowers ; ; and after them the Seeds. 
This, at its firft Appearance, is green, and, in 
one of the Varieties from Culture, continues fo when 
-fipe 5 at which Time, in fome of thefe Varieties, 
it is oval, in others roundifh, and in others 
in fome the Flefh is white, in others 
yellow. hag As eg ag 
Whatever be its Colour and‘Form, the Species 
is originally ‘the fame : the Flowers and Seeds 
ripen upon it without Variation : and on its Summit 
ftands a Crown of clufter’d Leaves. Nothing 
can exceed the Singularity of its Afpect, nothing 
| its Fragrance, when ripe, except the T afte, 
The Flowers appear fingly, one on each Tuber- 
their Colour is a blue- 
ifh purple, and the Buttons upon their F ilaments 
are. gold yellow. The Seeds are oblong, nume- 
rous, incumbent, and obtufe. -_ 
To know the Clafs to which the Plant belongs, | 
one of thefe F lowers is to be examined, 
Tt will. 
be found plac’d in a fall Cup, which refts upon 
the’'Rudiment, and is of 3 three-corner’d Shape, 
and divided at the Top into three oval Segments. 
. The Body of the Flower is compos’d of three 
Petals, which are of an oblong Figure, lanceo- 
-Jated, and longer than the Segments of the Cup. 
Thefe ftand ereét ; and there is plac’d among them 
a Neétarium of three Parts, inferted a little above 
the Bafe of the Petals, with convergent Points. 
In the Midtt of this Flower ftand fix fhort F ila- 
| ments; each crown’d with j its Button, of an Arrow- 
headed ‘Shape 5 ; pegs in ae Midi of thele a fingle 
Style. om 
As thefe Parts fade when they have Beto talty 
their Office, the Seeds ripen, and the Body | of the 
Fruit | fwells, and obtains, by Degrees, its full 
The young Botanift counting the Number of 
thefe Filaments in the Flower, will be at no Lofs 
to ‘underftand the Clafs to which the Plant ‘be- : 
longs. ‘It is one of the Hexandria, and the fine 
gle Style fhews it alfo to be one of the Monogynia ; 
the fir SeGtion under that Clafs. 
Culture 
, 
