EHEETIACEiE. 



209 



segments as the calyx. Stamens alternate with the segments of 

 the corolla, and equal in number. Leaves simple. — Trees, or 

 shrubs, or herbaceous plants, covered with a harsh down ; natives 

 mostly of the tropics, with some medicinal properties. 



HELIOTROPIUM. (Turnsole.) 



Gen. Char. (Pentandria Monogynia!) Calyx five-parted ; co- 

 rolla salver-shaped, orifice without teeth, limb five-cleft, folds 

 plaited, simple or toothed ; stamens included ; stigma peltate ; 

 nuts four, cohering, without a common receptacle. 



Named from the Greek for sun and to turn, as the 

 flowers turn to the sun ; Turnsole has the same meaning. 

 H. Peruvianum, the favourite Heliotrope of our gardens, is in 

 the winter an inhabitant of the frame or greenhouse, as it 

 is killed by the frosts out-of-doors ; after the shelter it has 

 received, it amply rewards us by its sweet-scented flowers 

 in the warm weather, and it is perhaps worth while to retain 

 several pots of it to decorate the greenhouse at a time 

 when it is comparatively empty. These plants are easily 

 increased by cuttings taken in September (if they are re- 

 quired for planting out the following summer), and kept in 

 the frame or greenhouse ; but if it is thought desirable to 

 have some in flower in the winter months, which is a great 

 advantage, the cuttings must be put in during May, June, 



VOL. II. p 



