OF ORNAMENTAL ANNCAia. 136 
GENUS Till. 
LABLAB, Adam. THE LABLAB. 
Oemekic CHiRACTEB.— Calyx tubnlar, 4-cleft, 3 lower divisions 
acnte. Vexillum with four callosities at the base. Stamens diadel- 
pbouB. Style compressed, bearded below. Liegume compressed. Seeds 
Lin. Syst. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 
separated by a cellular substance. Twining herbe, vith trifoliate 
leaves, and white or purple flowers.— (G. Don.) 
LABLAB VULGARIS, Savi. THE BLACK-SEEDED DOLICHOS, OR EGYPTIAN BEAN. 
ENORiViNGs Bot. Mag. t, 896, Bot. Reg. t. 830 ; Swt. Brit. 
Flow. Gard. 2nd Ser. t. 236 ; and out Jig. 12. in Plato 23. 
S^NONYMEs. — Dolichos I<ablab, Lin.; Lablavia vulgaris, D. Don, 
Specific CHiRAcriR. — Legumes oblong, ventricose, acinadfonn ; 
pericarp easily separated; seeds ovate, somewhat compressed; gland 
basilar, hemispherical, furrowed, — (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — This splendid plant, though frequently marked in books as a stove perennial, succeeds 
perfectly well if treated as a hardy annual. The pods are dark purple, as well as the flowers, and the seeds are 
black. There is a variety with white flowers. A native of Egypt, and also of China ; and cultivated in the 
"West Indies for its pods, which are boiled and eaten, as we eat kidney-beans. It was introduced in 1714, by 
the Duchess of Beaufort. The seeds may now be procured at any seed-shop, generally under the name of 
Dolichos Lahlah. They should be raised on a hotbed, in pots, three seeds being sown in each pot, and planted 
out in May ; care being taken to turn the earth out of the pot into a hole prepared for it without breaking the 
ball. The word Lablab signifies, in Arabic, a twining plant. 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
BALSAMINACE.^. 
EaeENTUL Chaiucteii, — Sepal8 2, small, deciduous, opposite. Petals | bearing 2-celled anthers, and the 2 upper ones 1 -celled anthers. Style 
4, cruciate ; upper one arched and emarginate ; the lower one entire none. Stigmas 5. Capsules 5-valved ; valves separating with eias- 
aud drawn out into a spur. Stamens S, hypogynous ; the 3 lower ones I ticity. Placenta central. Albumen none. — (G.Don.) 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this order are all annuals with succulent stems and showy 
flowers. They are comprised in three genera, viz : — Balsamina, the common balsam, the flowers of which are 
borne singly, each on a separate stalk ; Tytonia, the species of which are aquatic stove plants, with the flowers 
sometimes produced three on one stalk, and sometimes each on a separate stalk ; and Impatiens, the Noli- 
me-tangere of the gardens, the flower-stalks of which are branched, and many-flowered. This order, according 
to botanical arrangement, should precede TropcBolacece, to which it is very closely allied. 
GENUS I. 
BALSAMINA, Riv. THE BALSAM. 
Lin. St/It. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Charicteb. — Anthers 5, 2-celled. Stigmas 5, distinct. Valves of capsule bending inwards elastically at the apex. Peduncles 
1-flowered. — (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — A genus of showy-flowered plants, with succulent stems, mostly natives of the East 
