Culture of this SEM®ECIO. 
it is a Native of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
was firft known in Europe in the Dutch Gardens. 
It is a perennial Plant; and improves in Beaut 
each Year; Out it requires good Care. 
| The Cuttings take Root freely: or it may be 
rais’d from Seed. In either'Cafe, the proper Corm- 
A COMPLEA 
HK PB GD Y 
j ufual Way ; and thé Cuttings muft be planted in Feb, 
Pots of this Mixture, and plung’d in a Bark-Bed, 
to promote their Rooting, = 
_ Which ever Way it is rdis’d, it muft be fet out 
among other Exotics, in’ Summer, and hous’d 
y early in Autumn. After this, the great Care it 
requires is Cleanlinefs , for no Plant is fo apt to be 
over-run with Filth; and this quickly kills it. 
The Gardener muft wath off Mouldinefs or In- 
poit is an equal Quantity of Garden Mould and | feéts wherever he finds them; and this Way the 
trefh Pafture-Earth. * — 
| & ; 
The Seeds are to be rais’\d in a Hot-Bed in the 
Plant will produce its beautiful Flowers all 
Winter. 
BoC RAMSON OX ALIS. 
Plate 
Fig. 4. ing Branches, covers the Surface of its Pot with 
vatt Flowers of the livelieft Crimfon, at a Seafon 
when the other Plants in general, which have fi 
ered thro’ Winter, are decaying. se figs 
 Thofe who have written.on the African Herbs, 
have celebrated this elegant Species largely ; and. 
all have refered it: to the proper Genus: the 
Marks indeed, are imprefied.too ftrongly to be 
miftaken, or paffed unheeded. >; - 
_ Breynrvs indeed calls it, Oxahdi affinis bulbofa 
Africana. —Burman, Oxys bulbofa hirfuta —He 
- makes the F lowers white; but we know how eafy. 
Accident occafions that light Change. The Plant. 
remains the fame. | 
Linn us, more correct than all, diftinguifhes 
it by the Title, Oxalis [capo unifloro foliis ternatis, 
radice bulbofa: Ternate-leav’d bulbous Oxys, with 
one Flower on each Stalk. 
_ The Root is roundith and of a brown Colour, 
of the Bignefs of a Hazel-Nut, and compos’d 
OW- 
of three. or more oblong diftinct Parts,. wrapp’a | 
' in feveral Rinds. 
_. From the Bottom of the general Root rife 
many Fibres; and from the Top of each parti- 
cular Part feveral Stalks, fome fupporting Leaves, 
fome Flowers. ge rs 
The Leaves are very numerous when the Plant 
has flood fome Time, and they are themflves of 
very fingular Beauty. Three grow together upon 
every Footftalk. a 
__ Their Colour is.a frefh and elegant green on the 
“upper Side, and the fame lively ‘Tinét, cover’d 
with a filvery grey, underneath: they are large 
and rounded at the End. 
The Footftalks are long, moderately thick, 
and of a beautiful red. : 
_ The Flowers are in Number equal almoft 
to the Leaves, and the | 
ver: pale flefhy red; and the | 
Flower itfelf of the moft lively Crimfon. Before 
they are fully open’d, they curl in the Manner of 
f I 
A mort Singular and handforne Green-houfe 
XXIV. Plant; which with no Length of Stalk, or fpread- 
the Flowers of fome of the Biiid-weeds ; and they 
have, when. newly open’d, a light F ragrance at 
Evening: 902 3 Oo MENS 
- The Cup .in which this Flower is plac’d, is 
{mall and permanent: it. is form’d of a fingle 
Piece, divided lightly into five Segments. . 
_ The Body of the Flower is compos’d of five 
elegant Petals, broadeft at the Extremity, where 
they are ufually dented in the Middle; and very 
narrow at the Bottom, where they cohere by the 
Bafes. 
- In the Centre rife ten F ilaments, the outer ones 
fomewhat fhorter than the others ; 
thefe five Styles. — 
. The Seed-veffel is. oblong 
burfts with Violence. 
The Student needs not be now inform’d, ‘that 
a Plant with ten Filaments and five Styles, is one 
of the Decandria Pentagynia of Linnaeus; the 
tenth Clafs and its firft Se@ion, = 
and among’ 
3 and, when ripe, 
Culture of this Oxatts. 
The Plant. is a Native of Africa, where it 
fringes the Edges of thofe little Brooks that run 
down fhadowy Hills. It loves a rhoift rich Farthe 
but is kill’d even where native, if too much within. 
the Influence of the Water. | nea 
With us it may be rais’d from Seeds, or from 
the parted Roots; for when the Plant has {tood 
a few Years, it encreafes by thefe abundantly. 
In which ever Way it is rais’d, let the follow- 
ing Soil be prepar’d for it : | 
Mix equal Parts of black Meadow-Earth and 
carefully, till well rooted in the new Soil, and 
then treated as the other Greenhoufe Plants. They 
will flower the fucceeding Spring, as early as this 
Time, | 
