444 
The Cjarden of flea) ant Hovers. 
Chap. CXXIIII. 
Periploca recta Pirgmitna. Virginian Silke. 
L Eft this ftranger (hould finde no hofpitality with vs, being fo beautifull a plant, 
or not finde place in this Garden, let him be here receiued , although with the 
laft, rather then not at all. It rifethvp with one or more ftrong and round 
ftalkes, three or foure foote high , whereon are fetat the feucrall ioynts thereof two 
faire, long, and broad leaues , round pointed, with many veincs therein, growing 
clofe totheftemme, without any foote-ftalke : at the tops of the ftalkes , andfome- 
titnes at the ioynts of the leaues, groweth forth a great bulh of flowers out ofa 
thinneskinne, to the number of twenty, andfometimes thirty or forty, eueryone 
with a long foote-ftalke, hanging downe their heads for the moftpart, efpecially 
thofe that are ourermoft, eueryone (landing within a fmall huske of greene leaues, 
turned to the ftalkeward , like vnto the Lyfimachia flower of Virginia before dc- 
feribed, and each of them confining of fiue finall leaues a peece, of a pale pur- 
plilh colour on the vpperfide, a mof a p ileyellowifli purple vnderneath, both fides 
of each leafe being as it *uc folded together, making them feeme hollow and 
pointed, witha few (hort chiues in (he middle : after which come long and crooked 
pointed cods (landing vpright , wherein arc contained flat brownifh feede, difper- 
fedly lying within a great deale of fine, fofc, and whitilh brownefilke, very likevnro 
the cods, (cede, and fi Ike of -Afclepias, or Swallow- wort, but that the cods are greater 
and more crooked, and harder alfo in the outer fhell : thcroote is longand white, of 
the bi gnelfe of a mans thumbe, running vnder ground very far , and lhootingwp in di- 
uers places, the heads being fet full of fmall white grumes or knots , yeelding forth 
many branches, if it ftand anytime in a place : the whole plant, as wellleaues as 
ftalkes, being broken, yeeld a pale railke. 
The Place. 
Itcameto me from Virginia, where itgroweth aboundantly, being rai- 
fed vp from the feede I receiued. 
The Time. 
It flowreth in Iuly, andthc feede is ripe in Auguft. 
TheNames. 
It may feeme very probable to many, that this plant is the fame that Pro- 
fper Alpinus in the twenty fift Chapter of his Booke of Egyptian plants, 
nameth 2 eidet/ar ; and Honorius Bellus in his third and fourth Epiftles vn- 
to Clufius (which arc at the end of his Hiftory of plants) callerh OJ[ar fru- 
tex : And Clufius himfelfe in the fame Booke calleth Apecyattm Syriacum, 
PaUHioum, and JEgyptUcum , becaufe this agreeth with theirs in very many 
and notable parts ; yet verily I thinke this plant is not the fame , but rather 
another kinde of it felfe : Firft, becaufc it is not frutex, a fnrubar wooddy 
plant, nor kcepeth his leaues all the yeare, but lofeth both leaues and ftalks 
dying down to the ground euery yeare: Secondly, the milke is not caufticke 
or violent, as Alpinus and Bellus lay OJfar is : Thirdly , the cods are more 
crooked then thofe of Clufius, or of Alpinus, which Honorius Bellus ac- 
knowledgeth to be right, although greater then thofe he had out of Egypt : 
And laftly, the rootes of thefe doe runne, where of none of them make any 
mention. Gerard in his rlerba!l giueth a rude figure of the plant , but a very 
true figure of the cods with lecde , ind f m h the Virginians call ir wifauck, 
and relerreth it to the ^Ajciepm , for thel ' "V "" -e cods fluffed with 
filken 
