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NUMBER xxv... 
i “Yor the Later Bad of FEBRUARY. 
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SECTION 
“FLORA or the: 
x 
J. i : ‘ 4 
8 
2 
Putasure- GarpE® 
ages A Diath 
a 
Flowers and curious Plants now tn their’ Perfection, 
f 
DIAMOND 
HILE this was new in- che Euro- 
> pean Gardens, none caus’d more Ad- 
_ ¥ ~ ypiration ;.or more worthily : a large 
Plant {preading its Branches every Way in a wild 
* and pleafing Irregularity ; and covered, Branches 
and Leaves all with Gems, might well attract the 
‘Eye, and fill the Mind with. Wonder. Cuftom 
and Familiarity have render’d it lefs regarded by 
— the common Obferver ; but he who fearches into 
e ac 
wa ‘ 
Bed & 
the Caufes of Things, mutt. underftand it more 
before he ceafes to ES | | 
The Spangles with which, it is adousds er 
caver it with a glofly Whitenefs in the Shade, | 
and glitter i in the Sun, have caus’d it to be call’d 
after various fuppos’d. Refemblances; and even its 
proper | Generical Name has:not been fettled till of 
late Time ; Linn aus having eftablitiet: the’ di- 
{tinctive Charaéters. need 
The Vulgar call it the Ice Plems,. Zz the Au- 
thors who, firft named it, ’ts entitled the Silvery 
Ficoides ; and our Gardeners of later Time, from 
its full Luaftre under an improv’d Culture, have 
nam’d it the Diamond Ficoides; In uinilind it is 
~ ealbd the Cryftalline Ficoides: 
DiLLENIuUS names it Bef hen yore 
—& inum plantaginis folio undulato, in his Account of 
the Eltham Garden: And Linn.evs, to the fame 
Numb. XXV. 
- Generical Name, addi, ‘folits alierhits ovatis, obitsf is 
‘MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, 
undulatis : Mefembryantbemum, with oval, abtuke, . - i 
and-undulated- Leaves, -plac’d alternately. 
The Root is hung with innumerable Fibres. - 
The Stalks fpread themfelves every Way; lean: 7 
ing upon the Ground, and forming, when thé 
Root ig well nourith’d, a Circle of vety confi- 
derable ae na from four to fix Fo oot in Dia- 
meter. 
The Stalked themfelves ate thick, “Penna: “and 
full of Juice; and every one fends Branches off in 
great Number and with perfect Irregularity. 
~The Leaves are oblong, thick, juicy, obtufe at 
the End; and diridblated, and often rais’d at the 
Edges. In thofe Plants which flower freely they 
are fmaller; in fuch as do not, they are three 
Inches long, and two in Breadth.’ 
The Colour of ‘the Stalks and Leaved is a very 
fine green ; and they are ‘covered thick with fhine- 
ing Particles, refetnbling; according’ td the diffe- 
rent Vigour of the’ Plant, and the Light wherein 
itis view'd, ‘Spangles of Silver, -Flakes of. Ice, 
Fragments of Cryftal, or. ‘Sparks of Diamonds. . 
They ate perfectly tranfparent and colourlefs ; and. 
of uncertain Form. Thefe give a ‘glorious Lu- 
- ftre to. thie Plant; and often pele is, befide this, 
{ fome Variety of Colouring, even before it flowers; 
aE | the 
