I 
j A T 
fringing fblnes ; the flowers are produced in umbels 
at the top of the branches, Handing upon long naked 
foot-ftalks ; they are of a pure white colour, and are 
male and female in the fame umbel : the male flowers 
appear firft, which are compofedof five petals, forming 
a fhort tube at bottom, and the ftamina arife the 
length of the tube, joined in a column : the petals 
fpread open flat above, and the ftamina fills the mouth 
of the tube, {hutting it up : the female flowers are 
i mailer, but of the fame (hape, having no ftamina, 
but an oval three-cornered gerrnen, which afterwards 
becomes a capfule with three lobes, each having a 
diftincft cell, with one feed inclofed. 
The fixth fort was difcovered by the late Dr. Houf- 
toun at La Vera Cruz, where it is frequently per- 
mitted to grow about the town by way of ornament ; 
this rifes with a ftrong, brittle, ligneous (talk, ten or 
twelve feet high, covered with a gray bark, and di- 
vides into many branches, which, are gamlfhed with 
leaves, that are divided into parts like thofe of the 
common Woolfsbane, but are armed with fmall 
Hinging fpines like thofe of the Nettle ; at the end 
of the branches come out the flower-ftalks, which are 
five or fix inches long, fuftaining an umbel of white 
flowers. The male flowers are of one petal, having 
a pretty long tube, which is divided at the top into 
five fegments. The female flowers expand in form 
of a Rofe, having the germen in the center, which 
afterward becomes a globular prickly fruit with three 
lobes, opening in three cells, each containing a Angle 
feed. 
The feventh fort is now very common in moil of the 
iflands in the Weft-Indies, but was introduced from 
the continent, firft into the French iflands, and from 
thence it was brought into the Britifh iflands, where 
it is titled French Fhyfic Nut, to diftinguifli it from 
the following fort, which is called Phyfic Nut, from 
its purging quality. 
This rifes with a foft thick ftem eight or ten feet 
high, dividing into feveral branches, covered with a 
grayifli bark. The leaves come out on every fide 
the branches on ftrong foot-ftalks, which are feven 
or eight inches long ; they are divided into nine or 
ten lobes in form of a hand, which are joined at their 
bafe •, thefe are feven inches long, and about two 
inches broad, with many jagged points on their bor- 
. ders Handing oppofite. The upper fide of the leaves 
are of a lucid green, but their under fide gray, and 
a little cottony. The flowers come out upon long 
foot-ftalks from the end of the branches, formed into 
an umbel, in which there are male and female flow- 
ers, as in the other fp.ecies ; thefe umbels are large, 
and the flowers being of a bright fcarlet, they make 
a fine appearance ; and the leaves being very remark- 
able for their beauty, has occafioned the plant being 
cultivated for ornament in rnoft of the iflands of the 
Weft-Indies. 
The eighth fort grows naturally in all the iflands of 
the Weft-Indies j this rifes with a ftrong ftalk twelve 
or fourteen feet high, which divides into feveral 
branches ; thefe are garniftied with angular heart- 
ftiaped leaves, which end in acute points. The bow- 
ers come out in umbels at the end of the branches $ 
they are male and female, of an herbaceous colour, 
fo make but little appearance 5 the female flowers 
are fucceeded by oblong oval capfules with three, cells, 
each containing one oblong black feed. 
The feeds of the two laft forts have been ufed as a 
purgative by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies, but 
they operate fo violently, that now they are feldom 
ufed : three or four of thefe nuts have worked upward 
and downward near forty times, on a perfon who was 
ignorant of their effefts ^ but it is affirmed that this 
purgative quality is contained in a thin film, fituated 
in the center of the nut, which*, if taken out, the 
nuts are harmlefs, and may be eaten with fafety. 
The leaves of >the laft fort are ufed in baths and fo- 
mentations. 
The ninth fort grows naturally in all the iflands of 
the Weft-Indies, where it is fometimes called wild 
• I B E 
•> . 
Cafiada, or Caffava, and at others Belly-ach Weed, 
the leaves of this plant being accounted a good re- 
medy for the dry belly-ach. This plant riles with 
a foft herbaceous ftalk to the height of three or four 
feet, covered with a purple bark, and at the joints 
have branching briftly hairs ri fin g in fmall bunches, 
not only upon the principal ftalk, but 'alfo on the 
branches, and the foot-ftalks of the leaves. The 
ftalk divides upward into two or three branches ; 
thefe are garniftied with leaves {landing on very long 
foot-ftalks, divided into five lobes which are oval, 
entire, and end in acute points. The flowers are pro- 
duced at the end of the branches, upon (lender 
naked foot-ftalks, in fmall umbels ; they arc fmall, 
of a dark purple colour, having male and female 
flowers in the fame umbel ; the female flowers are 
fucceeded by oblong tricapfular vefiels, fmooth, and 
covered with a dark (kin, when ripe j in each of the 
Cells is lodged one oblong brown feed. 
All thefe plants are natives of the warm parts of 
America, fo are too tender to thrive in the open air 
in England. The firft fort is cultivated in the Weft- 
Inches for food, where it is propagated by cutting 
the (talks into lengths of feven or eight inches, which, ' 
when planted, put out roots ; the method of doing 
this having been mentioned in various books, I (hall 
not repeat it here. 
The other forts are eafily propagated by feeds, which 
(hould be (own on a good hot-bed in the fpring, and 
when the plants are fit to remove, they (hould be each 
tranfplanted into a fmall pot filled with light earth, and 
then plunged into a frefh hot-bed of tanners bark, 
carefully {hading them till they have taken frefh root, 
after which they muft be treated in the fame manner 
as other tender plants from hot countries, admitting 
frefh air to them daily, in proportion to the warmth of 
the feafon •, but as many of the forts have fucculent 
ftalks, fome of which have a milky juice, they (hould 
have but little water given them, for they are (boa 
deftroyed by wet. 
The fourth fort is an annual plant, fo if the feeds 
are lbwn early in the fping, and the plants are brought 
forward, they will perfedt their feeds the fame year ; 
but the other forts are perennial, fo do not flower till 
the fecond or third year ; therefore the plants (hould 
be plunged into the tan-bed in the (love, where they 
(hould conftantly remain, giving them a large (hare of 
air in warm weather ; but in winter they muft be ten- 
derly treated, and in that feafon muft have very little 
water. With this management the plants will continue 
feveral years, and produce their flowers, and frequently 
perfect their feeds in England. 
IBERIS. Dillen. Nov. Gen. 6. Lin. Gen. Plant. 721. 
Thlafpidium. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 2,1 4. tab. 1 01. Sci- 
atica Crefs. 
The Characters are, 
The flower bath an empalement of four oval leaves , 
which fpread open , are hollowed and fall away. It hath 
four unequal petals , which are oval , obtufe , and fpread 
open , having oblong ere II tails , the two outer petals 
are longer than the other. It hath fix awlfhaped ereli 
ftamina , the two on the ftdes being fhorter than the reft , 
terminated by roundifh fumnits. In the center of the tube 
is fituated a round comprejfed germen, fapporting a fhort 
fingle flyle , crowned by an obtufe ftigma. The germen 
afterward becomes a roundifh, compreffed veffef having two 
cells , each containing one oval feed. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feclion of 
Linnaeus’s fifteenth clafs, intitled Tetradynamia Si- 
liculofa, which includes thofe plants whole flowers 
have four long and two fhort ftamina, and the feeds 
grow in fhort pods. 
The Species are, 
1. Iberis ( Semperflorens ) frutefeens, foliis cuneiformibus 
obtufis integerrimis. Lin. Hort. Cliff. 330. Shrubby 
Sciatica Crefs with entire , wedge-Jhaped , blunt leaves , 
commonly called the Tree Candy Tuft. Thlaipldiurn 
fruticofum, leuedii folio, femperfiorens. Tourn. Inft, 
214. Shrubby Thlafpidium with a Gillifiower leaf always 
flowering . 
7 D ,2. Iberis 
