about an inch and a half long, and half an inch broad, 
fa wed on the edges toward the end : the flowers 
come out in final! bunches from the fide of the ftalk-, 
they are of a pale Straw -colour, and appear in May 
and June thefe are frequently fucceeded by feeds, 
which ripen the latter part of Auguft. 
The fifth fort feldom rifes more than two feet high, 
with a foft ligneous ftalk, fending out fiender irregular 
branches, garnifhed with oblong, oval, woolly leaves, 
Handing upon pretty long footftalks •, the flowers are 
produced in loofe fpikes at the end of the brandies *, 
thefe are, at their firft appearance, of a gold colour, 
but after they have been home days open, they change 
to yellow. This flowers in June and July. 
The fixth fort rifes with a fhrubby ftalk near three 
feet high, fending out many flender branches, covered 
with a reddifh bark, garnifhed with narrow wing T 
pointed leaves •, the flowers come out from the fide 
of the branches in l’mall clufters •, they are final!, and 
of a deep yellow colour. This flowers in June and 
July. 
The feventh fort hath fhrubby branching ftalks, 
which are very bufhy, but feldom rife more than a 
foot and a half high •, the branches are very flender, 
and garnifhed with hairy, pale, green leaves of dif- 
ferent flzes j fome of them are two inches long, and 
one broad at their, ends ; but their common fize is fel- 
dom more than one inch long, and half an inch broad 
at their points they are entire, and fit pretty clofe 
to the branches i the flowers come out from the flde 
of the ftalk fingly, they are ftnall, and of a yellow 
colour. This fort flowers moft part of fummer. 
The eighth fort I railed from feeds which came 
from the Cape of Good Hope. This rifes with a 
fhrubby hairy ftalk about two feet high, fending out 
many fide branches, which grow more eredt than thofe 
of the former, garnifhed with oblong, veined, hairy 
leaves, which are fometimes Angle, and at other 
times come out by threes, the middle one being the 
largeft j the flowers are produced toward the end 
of the branches ; they are large, and of a deep yel- 
low colour, with large, fwollen, hairy empalements. 
This fort continues flowering moft part of fummer. 
All the fpecies of this genus yet known, are natives 
of the country about the Cape of Good Hope, from 
whence moft of them were brought to the gardens in 
Holland, where they have been propagated and fpread 
through moft parts of Europe. 
The plants are all propagated by planting cuttings of 
them during any of the fummer months, in a bed of 
frefh earth, obferving to water and lhade them until 
they are well rooted, which will be in about fix 
weeks after planting •, then you fhould take them up, 
preferving a ball of earth to their roots, and plant 
them into pots filled with light frefh earth, placing 
them in a fnady fituation until they have taken frefh 
root j after which they may be expofed to the open 
air, with Myrtles, Geraniums, &c. until the middle 
of latter end of October, when they muft be removed 
into the green-houfe, obferving to place them in the 
cooleft part of the houfe, where they may have as 
much free air as poffible ; for if they are too much 
drawn in the houfe, they will appear very faint and 
fickly, and feldom produce many flowers ; whereas, 
when they are only preferved from the froft, and have 
a great fhare of free air, they will appear ftrong and 
healthy, and produce large quantities of flowers in 
April and May, during which feafon they make a very 
handfome appearance in the green-houfe : they muft 
alfo be frequently watered, and will require to be new 
potted at leaf! twice every year, i. e. in May and Sep- 
tember ; otherwife their roots will be fo matted, as to 
prevent their growth. 
Thefe plants rarely produce good feeds with us, ex- 
cept the fourth and eighth lorts, which ripen their 
feeds every year in England ; the other rarely pro- 
ducing any, i fuppofe this may be accounted for by 
their having been long propagated from cuttings for 
thofe plants which I have raifed from feeds, have been 
fruitful two or three years after, but I have always 
found thofe plants which have .been propagated ■ by 
cuttings taken from thefe, have foon become barren ; 
the fame thing I have obferved in many other plants, 
therefore thofe who are defirous to continue their 
plants fruitful, , fhould conftantly raife them from 
feeds. Thefe, as alfo. thofe which are obtained from 
abroad, muft be fown upon a moderate hot-bed , 
and when the plants come up, they muft be tranf- 
pianted into final! pots, and plunged into another 
very moderate hot-bed, in order to promote their 
rooting after which they muft be hardened by de- 
grees, to endure the. open air in fummer, and may 
then be treated as the old plants. 
H E RMOD A C T Y L U S, the Herrnodaetyl, com- 
monly called Snake’s -he ad Iris. 
This genus is by Dr. Linnaeus joined to Iris, the 
charadfers of the flower agreeing pretty well with thofe 
of that genus ; from which Tournefort has feparated 
it from the difference of the root, which is not ac- 
cording to his own fyftem, where he makes the fhape 
of the petals with their number and pofition, the 
principal chara&eriftics in diftinguifhing the claffes 
and genera ; but as this plant requires a particular 
treatment, fo I have continued it under Tourneforf's 
title. 
The Characters are. 
It bath a Lily -Jh aped flower, conflflhig of one leaf. \ and 
fhaped exactly like an Iris , but has a tuberous root , di- 
vided into two or three dugs , like oblong bulbs. 
We have but one Species of this plant, viz. 
Hermodactylus {Tuber of a) folio quadrangulo. C. B. P. 
Snake' s-kead Iris , vulgd. This is alfo called Iris tti- 
berofa Belgarum, i. e. Tuberous Iris of the Dutch. 
This plant is eaflly propagated by its tubers, which 
fhould be taken off loon after the green leaves decay, 
which is the proper feafon for tranfplanting the root ; 
but they fhould not be kept long out of the ground, 
left they fhrink, which will caufe them to rot when 
they are planted. They fhould have a loamy foil, 
not too ftrong nor deep, and muft be planted to an 
eaft afpedt, where they will flower very well. The 
roots fhould not be removed oftener than once in 
three years, if you defign to increafe them ; but 
then they fhould be planted at a farther diftance from 
each other, than if they were to remain but one year ; 
and the beds fhould be kept clear from weeds, and at 
Michaelmas there fhould be fome fine earth laid over 
the beds, which will greatly ftrengthen their roots. 
The diftance which thefe plants fhould be allowed is 
fixinches fquare, and they fhould be placed three inches 
deep in the ground. Thefe produce their flowers in May, 
and their feeds are ripe in Auguft ; but as they mul- 
tiply pretty faft by their roots, few people are at the 
trouble of raifing them from feeds j but thofe who 
have an inclination fo to do, muft treat them in the 
manner directed for the bulbous Irifes. 
The roots of this plant are very apt to run deep into 
the ground, and then they feldom produce flowers ; 
and many times they fhoot fo deep as to be loft, 
elpecially where the foil is very light ; therefore to 
prevent this, it will be proper to lay a thicknefs of 
rubbifh under the border where thefe are planted, to 
hinder them from getting down. This fhould al- 
ways be praftifed in light ground, but in ftrong land 
there will be no occaflon to make ufe of this precau- 
tion, becaufe they do not fhoot downward fo freely 
in that. 
This plant has by fome botanic writers been fuppofed 
the true Hermodaftyl, but what has been long ufed 
in Europe for that is the root of a Colchicum, 
HERN ANDIA. Plum. Nov. Gen. 8. tab. 40. Lin. 
Gen. Plant. 931. Jack-in-a-Box, vulgo. 
The Characters are, 
It hath male and female flowers on . the flame plant •, the 
male flowers have a partial involucrum , compofed of flour 
oval flmall leaves , which inclofle three flowers each of 
thefe has a proper bell-Jhaped empalement of one leaf ; 
the petal is funnel-fhaped , cut into fix fegments at the 
brim •„ it hath three floort ftamina inferted in the empale- 
ment, terminated by erelf fummits. The female flowers 
