- Feb.. 
 pand with their firft Vigour. 
~ bent Buttons. 
Style. 
Touch with the Hand, or only on the Motion 
- of the Air in an Approach toward touching it, 
they collapfe and as it were fade. = 
- After a little Time of Reft the Ribs rife to 
their proper Places again; and the Leaves ex- 
The Flowers are numerous, and they are col- 
lected into a kind of round Heads, placed on 
flender Footftalks at the Extrernities of * the 
Branches. They are of a greenifh white at 
firft, but afterwards they acquire a Tinge of 
, purple. 
- Each has its {mall Cup, form’d of a fingle 
- Piece, and divided by three irregular Indentings 
at the Rim: this forms the Body of the Flower, 
for there is no Petal. | eee os 
The Filaments are only four, very long, and 
very flender ; and they are terminated’ by incum- 
In the Midft of thefe rifes a fingle 
The Number of Filaments in other of the 
Mimofe is much ereater ; and refers the Student, 
thus far inftruéted in the Science, to their Ori- [| 
gin, for the finding its Clafs. They rife from 
the Receptacle, and he is therefore to refer the 
Plant to the Polyandria; the fingle Style fhews 
it one of the firft Seétion of that Clafs, the Mo- 
nOgyuIA. i 
‘Lhis, if the frid& Rule of Science be obferv'd, 
does not belong to the fame Clafs with them: 
Linn us has, however, placed it among the 
others, confidering the general Agreement of Parts, 
asa Mark of its being a Mimo/a, altho’ it differs 
from them ina Point fo-effential. It agrees in- 
deed neither-with the eftablifh’d Character of 
the Clafs or Genus in which this Author has 
placed it. | | 
Culture of this Sensitive PLant. 
It is a Native of the Brazils; and with us re- 
quires a Stove: but with due Care it will rife to 
full Perfection. | 
In favourable Summers it. will indeed live | 
many Months in the open Air; but there are 
two very fubftantial Reafons why the Gardener | 
culty in keeping it alive through the Winter after 
Feb. 
this Expofare tovthe Air; and it will lofe in a~—~— 
ereat Meafure the wonderful Quality for which 
itis rais’d, that of drawirig in its Leaves on the 
Touch. ng 
This in a great Meafure deperids upon its Teri- 
dernefs, and when harden’d by the cool Air, and 
accuftom’d to its Motion by the Winds, thefe 
Things will have lefs Effect upon it. 
For this Reafon let not the Gardener try how 
much Cold the Plant will bear; but keep it in 
a State of delicate Senfibility. 
It muft be raifed from Seeds; and the beft 
are thofe brought from South America ; but when 
fuch cannot be had, it will grow freely enough 
from fuch as are ripen’d in our own Stoves. 
Early in Spring let fome of thefe be fown 
upon a common Hot-bed, cover’d four Inches 
with rich Garden Mould. | | 
When the Plants appear, let them be thin’d 
where they grow too clofe; and only as many 
left as are intended to be raifed; befide a few for 
Cafualties. — 7 | i 
When they are three Inches high, they muft 
be tranfplanted each into a {mall Pot, filled with 
the richeft Garden Mould; and when thefe have 
had a gentle Watering, they muft be fet up to the 
Let the | 
Rim in a Bark-bed of moderate Heat. 
Glafies: be cover’d with Mats, to fhade the Plants 
till they are perfectly rooted; and after this let 
them by Degrees be harden’d a little by admitting 
a {mall Quantity of Air in the Middle of a mild 
Daye? | ) a. 
_ When the Plants are grown to fome farther 
Bignefs, they muft be fhifted out of thefe Pots 
into larger, ia hacer ie 
The Way is to thake them out with the en- 
tire Lump of Mould; and trimming the ftrag- 
ling Fibres, to fet this upon a little of the frefs 
| Mould in the new Pot; and fill up with more. 
_ In thefe Pots they muft be again fet up to 
-the-Rim in the Bark-bed s and fhaded till they 
have recover’d the little Check of this Remo- 
val. They muft then be water’d at Tiines ; and 
have fome Air admitted in good Days; and 
when they have acqnir’d a handfome Size, they 
fhould not fuffer it: there will be great Difi- | 
_ and upon this fow fome Seeds of Annuals. 
are to. be removed into. the Stove. 
pyle Week let a warm and well fhelter’d | will have no Check of Removal. 
Border be dug up, and broke very’ fine; | - ‘Tranfplant into the Borders, where there is 
any Deficiency, fome Roots of Fraxinella, and 
fome'of the handfome Hieraciums, they will fuc- 
ceed perfectly well at this Seafon. 
But in all Spring Plantings of fibrous rooted 
perennial Plants, let the Gardener obferve to ma- 
hage 
There is not a Certainty of their Succefs,° but 
if the Weather prove favourable, it is not impro- 
bable they may rife; and they-will flower {trong ; 
and ripen their Seeds in. Time, becaufe they 
ie 
