K A R 
In the country where this fhrub grows tiaturaily, it 
fends cut plenty of fuckers irom the roots, fo that 
they form thickets which are almoft im pa (Table ; but 
here they have not as yet produced any fuckers, nor 
do the feeds come to maturity, fo that the plants are 
not very common in England ; for the feeds which are 
lent from America lie in the ground a whole year be- 
fore the plants appear, and afterward they make very 
Tow progrefs, which has difcouraged moil people from 
attempting to raile the plants in that method. The 
only perfon who has fucceeded well in the railing of 
thefe, is Mr. James Gordon of Mile End, who has a 
good number of the plants which have arifen from 
feeds. 
The fecond fort is a native of the fame country with 
the fir ft, where it riles from three to fix feet high, 
dividing into fmall ligneous branches which are very 
clofe, covered with a dark gray bark, garnilhed with 
ltiff leaves about two inches long and half an inch 
broad, cf a lucid green, placed without order upon the 
branches, Handing upon fender faot-ftalks ; the flow- 
ers grow in loofe bunches on the fide of the branches, 
upon flender foot-fcalks j they are of one petal, having 
a Ihort tube, but fpread open at the top, where they 
are cut into five angles : the fiowers are of a bright red 
colour when they firfi: open, but afterward fade to a 
blulh or Peach bloom colour •, thefe are fucceeded by 
roundilli compreffed feed-veflfels crowned by the per- 
manent ftyle, divided into five cells, which are filled 
with fmall roundilli feeds. This fhrub flowers great 
part of fummer in its native country, but is not yet 
fo well naturalized to this country as to do the like. 
The leaves of this elegant plant are fuppofed to have 
a noxious quality, deftroying fheep and oxen when 
they feed upon them, yet the deer eat them with 
impunity. 
Both thefe forts multiply by their creeping roots in 
their native foil, and at Whitton, where they have flood 
unremoved a coafiderable time, they put out fuckers 
in pretty great plenty ; and as thefe plants which come 
from luckers, are much more likely to produce others 
than thofe which are raifed from feeds, and will flower 
much fooner, fo the plants fhouid not be removed, 
but encouraged to fpread their roots and fend out 
fuckers. 
KARAT AS, the Penguin or wild Ananas. 
The Characters are, 
It hath a tubuloas bell-Jhaped flower , which is divided into 
three parts at the mouth , from whofe empalement where 
the germen is ftuated arifes the point al , fixed like a nail in 
the hinder part of the fower, attended by fix floor t flamina ; 
the germen afterward becomes a flefiyy almofi conical fruit , 
which is divided by membranes into three cells , that are 
full of oblong feeds. 
There is but one fort of this plant at prefent known 
in England, which is, 
Ivaratas ( Penguin ) foliis ciliato fpinofis mucronatis, ra- 
cemo terminal!. The wild Ananas or Penguin. 
Father Plunder has made a great miftake in the figure 
and delcription of the characters of this plant, and the 
Caraguata; for he has joined the flower of the Cara- 
guata to the fruit of the Karatas, and vice versa ; this 
has led many perfons into miftakes, who have joined 
the Bromelia and Ananas to this, making them all of 
the fame genus, whereas by their characters they 
fnould be feparated. 
This plant is very common in the Well-Indies, where 
the juice of its fruit is often put into punch, being of 
a fharp acid flavour. There is alio a wine made of 
the juice of this fruit which is very ftrong, but it will 
not keep good very long, fo is only for prefent ufe. 
This wine is very intoxicating and heats the blood, 
therefore fhouid be drank very fparingly. 
In England this plant is preferred as a curiofity, for 
the fruit feldom arrives to any degree of perfedion in 
this country, though it has often produced fruit in 
the gardens, which fometimes has ripened pretty well; 
but if it were to ripen as thoroughly here as in its 
native country, it would be little valued on account 
K JE M 
of its great autarky,- which will often take the fkin off 
from the mouths and throats of thofe people who eat 
it incautiouily. 
This plant- is propagated by feeds, for though there 
are often fuckers lent forth from the old plants, yet 
they come cut from between the leaves, and are" fo 
long, {lender, and ill-fhapen, that if they are planted 
they feldom make regular plants. Thefe feeds fhouid 
be fown early in the fpring, in fmall pots filled with 
light rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tan- 
ners bark. When the plants are ftrong enough to 
tranfplant, they fhouid be carefully taken up, and each 
planted into a feparate pot filled with light rich earth, 
and plunged into the hot-bed again, obferving to re- 
frefh them frequently with water, until they have taken 
new root, after which time they fhouid have air and 
water in proportion to the warmth of the feafon. In 
this bed the plants may remain till Michaelmas, at 
which time they fhouid be removed into the ftove, 
and plunged into the bark-bed, where they fnould be 
treated in the fame manner as the Ananas. 
Thefe plants will not produce their fruit in England 
until they are three or four years old, fo they fhouid 
be fhifted into larger pots, as the plants advance in 
their growth ; for if their roots are too much confined, 
they will make but little progrefs. They fhouid alio 
be placed at a pretty great dillance from each other, 
for their leaves will be three or four feet long, which 
turning downward occupy a large fpace. 
The leaves of this plant are ftrongly armed with 
crooked fpines, which renders it very troublefome to 
iliif c or handle the plants ; for the fpines catch hold 
of whatever approaches them by their crooked form, 
being fome bent one v/ay, and others the reverfe, fo 
that they catch both ways, and tear the fkin or clothes 
of the perfons who handle them, where there is not 
the greateft care taken of them. 
The fruit of this plant is produced in cluflers, growing 
upon a ftalk about three feet high, and having ge- 
nerally a tuft of leaves growing on the top, fo has, "at 
firfi fight, the appearance of a Fine Apple ; but, when 
clofer viewed, they will be found to be a clufler of 
oblong fruit, each being about the fize of a finger. 
A KATKIN is an aggregate of fummits, hanging 
down in form of a rope, or Cat’s tail, as in the Sallow, 
Hazel, Birch, &c. and is called in Latin iulus. 
KfEMPFERIA. L.in. Gen. Plant. 7. 
The Characters are. 
It hath a fingle fpatha ( or Jheath ) of one leaf ; the flower 
hath one petal with a long fender tube, divided into fix 
parts above ; three of them are alternately fpear-Jhaped and 
equal, the other are oval , and at bottom cut into two feg~ 
ments which are vertically heart- jhaped. It hath bat one fa- 
men, which is membranaceous , oval, and indented, terminated 
by a linear fummit , faflened to it all the length , fcarcely 
emerging out of. the tube of the petal. It hath a round 
germen fupporting a fiyle the length of the tube, crowned 
by an obtufe fligma ; the germen afterward becomes a 
roundif: three-cornered capjule with three cells , filled with 
feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firfi fe&ion of 
Linnaeus’s firfi: clafs, intitled Monandria Monogynia, 
which includes thofe plants whofe fiowers have one 
ftamen and one ftyle. 
The Species are, 
I- ^ V ^ MPFERIA ( G along a) foliis ovatis feffilibus. Flor. 
Zeyl. 8. Ktempferia with oval leaves fitting clofe to the 
root. Katsjuli Kelengu. Hort. Mai. and the'Wanhom. 
Kaempf. Amcen. 901. Galangale. 
2. K^mpferia ( Rotunda ) foliis lanceolatis petiolatis, 
Flor. Zeyl. 9. Kampferia with fpear-Jhaped leaves having 
foot-folks. Zedoaria rotunda. C. B. P. Round Ze do ary, 
Thefe plants are both natives of the Eaft-Indies, where 
their roots are greatly ufed in medicine as fudorific 
and carminative. The firfi fort hath much the feent of 
green Ginger, when frefh taken out of the ground; the 
roots are divided into feverai fiefhy tubers, which are 
fometimes jointed, and grow about four or five inches 
long; the leaves are oval, about four inches lono- 
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