147 
ILLICIUM FLORIDANUM. 
(FLORIDA ANISEED-TREE.) ' , 
CLASS. ORDER. 
POLYANDRIi^. POLYGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER, 
MAGNOLIACE^. 
Generic Character. — Calyx of three to six petal-like sepals. Carpels stellately disposed, capsular 
opening on the under side, one-seeded. Seeds shining. Don's Gard.' and Botany. 
Specific Character — Leaves petiolate, broadly ovate, acute, partially reclinate. Petals twenty-seven 
to thirty, dark purple, outer oblong, inner ones lanceolate, usually curved inwards at their extremities 
The principal merit of the plant represented in the accompanying plate, is the 
delightful fragrance resident in its leaves and flowers, and which is possessed to so 
great a degree as to ohtain for it a generic appellation which signifies " to attract/' 
or "to allure." Its foliage and flowers, however, are by no means destitute of 
other attractions, for the bold and handsome character of the former, together with 
the fine pendent clusters of dark-purple double blossoms, constitute it an ornamental 
as well as a fragrant species, and prove that it possesses charms and allurements 
for the organs of vision, in conjunction with its recommendations to the olfactory 
sense. 
This species has been known in this country for more than seventy years, having 
been introduced in the year 1766 ; notwithstanding which, it is far less common 
than many plants of recent introduction, and is not usually well cultivated. It 
appears to us to require nearly the same treatment as the genus Camellia ; that is, 
so far as relates to light, moisture, and soil, not needing the change of temperature 
which is usually given to that genus. A situation in a house with a western 
aspect, an abundant supply of moisture, both to the roots and also over the leaves 
and branches, during the growing season, and a compost of loam and heath- 
soil, in which the latter should predominate, with careful attention to potting and 
drainage, would doubtless tend much to the improvement of this plant, and also to 
