640 a 
Sept. 
Pls a4 
Fig 4. 
_ The Characters very diftinétly fhew it an Otbouna, 
Pl. 54. 
Fig. 4. 
rich Compotts, and it muft be raifed from the |, 
————-_ Seeds fown in a Pot, and brought to fhoot in a 
Bark-bed. 
The young Plants when three Inches high mutt 
taking them up 
with great Care, and with as much of the ori- 
Be removed into feparate Pots ; 
ginal Mould as will hang about them; and wa- 
A COMPLEAT BODY 
j 
« 
: i 
| tered catefilly. 
Thefe Pots muft be again féf up to the Rim 
in Bark, and the Glaffes fhaded till they have 
taken good Root in the new Mould: after this 
they muft at Times be allowed a little Airs; and 
when of a due Size, the fineft Plants mult be © 
taken into the Stove 
3 NARROW LEAVED OTHONNA. | 
This is a fingular and pretty Shrub; low, | 
branched, full of. Leaves, and at the Seafon over- 
fpread with Flowers. ‘The Antients were not ac- 
quainted with it; nor have thofe Writers who 
- firft named the Plant, called it by this Name. 
We have before acquainted the young. Bota- 
nift, that Linn aus feparated from among that | 
confufed Number of Plants, the Authors before 
him had called Yacobea, feveral which agreed — 
in many peculiar Characters under the Name 
Othonna; this Plant is one of them. The moft 
ftriking Diftin€tion is, that the Cup which in the 
proper Facobea is fcaly, in this Plant is formed 
- of one Leaf, and only divided by feveral Indent- 
ings at the Edge. | 
It has been with great Juftice, that Linnavs 
difperfed the Plants joined by lefs accurate Wri- 
ters, under the Name acobea, into feveral Ge- 
nera; but they all preferve that fcaly Cup, ex- 
cept thofe ranged by him as O¢honna’s. 
-Comme.ine has called this Facobea Africana 
Frutefcens lavendule folio latiore: fhrubby African 
Ragwort, with a fomewhat broad Lavender Leaf, 
and its proper Diftinction is, folzs linearibus: Lui- 
near leaved Othonna. . | 
The Root is redifh, divided, hung vile innu- 
merable Fibres, and fpreading. 
The main Stem is thick, woody, and covered 
with a pale brown Bark. ‘The Branches are pale, 
and the young Shoots green, _ . 
The Leaves are numerous, and placed irregu- 
jarly: they are long, narrow, fharp pointed, and 
of a pale green; a little hoary, and of a firm 
Subftance. 
The Flowers are ‘numerous and yellow : they 
ftand in irregular broad Tufts at the Extremities 
‘| of the Branches, and are of the compofite radiated 
Kind. | 
The Cup, as is is fingular to the Othonna, is 
fimple, compofed of one Piece, hollow at the 
Bafe, and divided into five Segments at the Rim. 
The Difk of the Flower is compofed of tubu- 
lar Flofcules : thefe are fhort, and divided at the 
Rim into five Segments; and in each there are 
five fhort Filaments with convergent Buttons fur- 
rounding a fingle Style. . | 
The Rays are about eight, but the Number is 
not certain; they are Female Flowers. Their 
Form is long and lanceolate, and they are cut 
into three Parts at the End. They have at their — 
Bafe only the Rudiment of a Seed, with a fingle 
Style terminated by a large fplit Head. 
The Seeds ftand naked in the Cup, and they 
are only.a fingle Series,.or Circle, for the Fe- 
male Flowers alone bring any to Perfeétion. 
From this the Clafs ‘aid Place of the Plant 
will be eafily known: the convergent Buttons 
declare it one of the Syngenefia, and the Seeds 
ripening only from the Rays, or Female Flowers, 
fhew it to be one of the Polygamia neceffaria. 
‘The Impregnation of the Female Flowers from 
the Buttons of the tubular Flofcules, is fuper- 
fluous, when thofe Flofcules ripen Seeds them- 
felves; but in this Cafe, if there were ‘not that | 
Provifion, there would be no ripe Seeds. 
6x OA Ads LEAVE DCO R DLA, 
The medical Reader has been accuftomed to 
hear of this Tree under another Name: it bears 
the Fruit once in frequent Ufe called Sebeften ; 
and has thence been ufually called the Sebefen, 
and the manured Sebeffen Tree, Sebeffena, and 
Sebeftina Domeftica, in Diftin&tion from the wild. 
C. Bauntne very properly joins thefe imagi- 
naty diftiné& Species under one Head, and calls | 
the Tree Sebeftena fylveftris €P domeftica: the wild 
and Garden Sebeften. Comme tne calls it Sede- 
fiena domeftica five myxa: the Garden Sebeften, or 
Myxa; and in the Hortus Malabaricus, it is called 
Vidi maram. Linnaeus refers it to his Genus 
Cordia; and adds as the Diftinction of the Spe- 
cies, foliis fubovatis ferrato dentatis: Cordia with 
oval dentated Leaves. 
It is a large Tree of irregular Growth, branch- 
ed, fpreading, and full of Leaves. 
The Bark of the Trunk is rough and brown; 
on the Branches it is paler; and on the young 
Shoots green. | 
The Leaves are very beautiful ; their Form is 
nearly oval; their Colour on the upper Side a 
deep green, and on the under paler ; and they are 
dented at the Edges, and pointed; the Ribs fink 
deep, and the whole Surface is by that rendered 
fomewhat uneven. 
The Flowers are numerous, {mall and white; 
they grow in little Clufters at the Extremities of 
the Branches, and are fucceeded by a kind of dry 
‘Berry 
Sept. 
Pe ee ae ee 
os i 
