Feb, ae feito Feb. 
Ss , woiiltlh PURPLE EDGED Lee is. 
Plate The Tulips will in a little while burft upon | terly diftinét; and is like this, the Source of in- 
XXVI. us with a vaft Glow of Beauty and Variety. numerable Varieties. 
Fig. 5. 
This is an early one, and claims from that Article 
a great deal of Merit: nor is it without much 
Elegance in its Simplicity: the Colours are no 
more than two, purple and white, but they are 
difpos’d happily. | oO 
The Student is to underftand that the genuine, 
diftin&, and real Species of Tulips are very few: 
Art has vary’d and multiply’d the Colouring of the » 
‘Flower almoft beyond Conception; but it is eafy 
~ to trace all thefe Varieties down to one of the two 
or three original Kinds. This is one of thofe 
which Culture has leaft alter’d. 
The Generality of Authors have named it among 
others, calling it Tulipa, and Tulipa turcarum. 
Linnzvs, T: wlipa frore erecio fols ovato lan- 
ery sk upright flower’d Tulip, with oval and | 
lanceolated Leaves. | 
The Gardeners Names for Flowers are not 
| only beneath the Notice of the Student, too low, 
too mean and vulgar, but they are too uncertain 
for any real Ufe. That which is given by one | 
of thefe Perfons, at one Time to a Flower, 
being given at another to one altogether dif- 
ferent. , = | 
- This Tulip is a Proof it was early called in 
England the Pretty Betty; and with fome ftill 
retains that Title; but others having received 
‘Roots of other Kinds, under the fame Name, 
apply it to them. — : ws 
Thus nothing is certain about fuch Denomina- 
tions: they convey no Idea of the Flower to 
which they are apply’d, and therefore may as 
well be given to one as to another. | 
_ It was to banifh fuch vague Terms Lin- 
wavs conftruéted his truly diftinétive {pecifick 
‘Names of Plants; and gave the World at once 
the Rule and the Example. ie: | 
~ Something like this may be eftablifh’d even 
with refpect to F lowers; tho’, as Varieties, they 
are not fo diftinct as Species, nor can be fo well | 
diftinguifh’d. 
_ A Name that conveys fome Idea fhould be 
apply’d to each: this we fhall attempt, and this 
will at leaft in a limited degree be ufeful. 
Thus. the Name white, purple, edg’d Tulip, 
though it does not diftinguith this Flower from 
every other Kind; nor could, unlefs lengthen’d 
beyond Breadth or Meafure, yet gives a general 
Notion of its Colours, and their Difpofition ; and 
{eparates it from many. 
The Root is a Bulb of a roundifh oval Figure, 
cover’d with a pale Rind. 
The Leaves are large, and of a greyith green. 
They are broad, hollow, and pointed. 
The Stalk is ten Inches in Height, flender, 
round, and not very robuft, but it fupports 
the Flower ereét from the Bud, not drooping as 
the little yellow Tulip, which is a Species ut- 
be 
A 26° O MPa ACT) BODY 
as in the other Tulips, naked, or without a Cup. 
‘It -is but of the middling Size among thefe 
Flowers ; and the Petals are pointed. | 
The Ground Colour is a pearly white, but 
round the Edge of each Petal is continued a 
broad Lift of elegant purple. — a 
| The Rib in the Midft of each Petal, has to- 
ward its Bafé alfo a light Tinge of purple, but 
this dies away ds it advances upward. f 
This is the natural Colouring of the Flower ; 
but the Gardeners Art enlarges its whole Form, 
diverfifies the white with more Streaks of purple 
Rounds off the Petals; and introduces other Co- 
lours. | 
What we have defcribed is its true native Co- 
louring. It fo glows in the Fields and Thickets 
of the Eaft. 
No Flower is fitter for the young Student’s 
Examination. Nature does not afford any in 
which the Filaments, their Buttons, and the Ru- 
diment, and Stigma are more diftinét than in the 
Tulip. | 
All fyftematic Botany at prefent depends on 
abfolute Beginner to take his firft Leffon of them 
here. ithe 
We have obferv’d there is no Cup. The 
Flower will give him a juft Notion of what 
is called campanulated, Bell-thap’d. It is com- 
pofed of fix Petals fo arrane’d, that they form 
a hollow Body, fomewhat widening at the 
Mouth. : 
- The Filaments are fix, and they have large, 
oblong, upright, {quared Buttons, placed free, 
and diftant. 
The middle Part is occupy’d by the Female 
Organs; and in thefe the Stigma is very confpi- 
cuous, altho’ the Style is wanting. That Part 
ufually rifes from the Rudiment of the Seed Vet. 
fel, and fupports the Stigma, but here that effen- 
tial Organ refts on the Summit of the Rudiment 
itfelf. | 
This is very large, oblong, rounded, but 
mark’d with three high Ridgés; and the Stigma _ 
which crowns its Top is of a triangular Form, 
and compos’d of three united Parts. 
The Angles are furrow’d and fplit, and the 
whole remains, crowning the Seed Veffel to Ma- 
turity; when it is divided into three Cells with- 
in; and contains in each a ereat Number of 
Seeds, femicircular, plain, and placed in double 
Series, feparated by chaffy Subftances, refembling 
them in Form. . 
The Number of Filaments, fix, fhew that the 
Tulip is of the fixth Clafs in the Linnaan 
Syftem, the Hexandria ; and the fingle Stigma, 
for that is to be counted where there is no 
Style, 
On the Summit of the Stalk ftands the Flower, 
thefe Parts, and it will be very proper for the. 
