MAR 
the day, but in the morning before the fun is too 
warm, and in the afternoon, when the fun is low, 
they fhould be uncovered, that the oblique rays of 
the fun may raife a gentle warmth under the glaftes. 
With this care the cuttings will take root, but where 
it is w anting, they feidom fucceed. When the cut- 
tings or layers are rooted, they fhould be each plant- 
ed in a feparate fmall pot, filled with foft loamy foil, 
and placed in the fhade till they have taken new root; 
then -they may be removed to a fheltered fituation, 
where they may remain during the fummer feafon ; 
and, before the frofts of the autumn come on, they 
muft be removed into the green-houfe, and treated 
in the fame way as the other plants of that country, 
giving them but little water in cold weather, and in 
mild weather admitting the free air. In fummer they 
muft be removed into the open air, and placed in a 
fheltered fituation with other exotic plants, and in 
very warm weather they muft be watered three times 
a week, but it muft not be given them too freely at 
any time. When the plants have obtained ftrength, 
they will produce flowers and fruit, which, in warm 
feafons, will ripen perfectly ; and if the feeds are fown 
foon after they are ripe, in pots, and plunged into 
the tan-bed in the ftove, the plants will come up the 
fpring following, and may then be treated in the 
fame manner as thofe which are propagated by cut- 
tings and layers. 
The fecond fort is not altogether fo hardy as the firft, 
fo muft have a warmer place in the green-houfe in 
winter, and fhould not be placed abroad quite fo early 
in the fpring, nor fuffered to remain abroad fo late in 
the autumn, but if the green-houfe is warm, the 
plants will require no additional heat. This may be 
propagated by layers and cuttings, in the fame man- 
ner as the firft, and requires the fame care, for the 
cuttings are with difficulty made to root ; nor will 
the branches which are laid, put out roots in lefs than 
a year, and if thefe are not young fhoots, they will 
Hot take root. 
As this fort does 'not produce feeds in England, it 
can be only propagated by layers and cuttings, which 
being difficult to root, occaflons its being fcarce at 
prefent in Europe. 
The third fort is yet more rare than either of the 
former, and is with greater difficulty propagated, for 
the layers and cuttings are commonly two years be- 
fore they get roots fufficient to remove, and as it ne- 
ver produces feeds here, it can be no other way pro- 
pagated -, this is alfo tenderer than either of the other 
forts, fo requires a moderate degree of heat in winter, 
for without fome artificial warmth, it will feidom live 
through the winters in England. In the middle of 
fummer the plants may be placed abroad in a warm 
fituation, but they muft be removed into fhelter early 
in the autumn, before the cold nights come on, other- 
wife they will receive a check, which they will not 
recover in winter ; during the fummer feafon they 
fhould be gently watered three times a week in dry 
weather, but in winter they will require to be feidom 
watered. 
The fourth fort is much more impatient of cold than 
either of the other, being a native of a warmer coun- 
try. This is propagated by feeds, which muft be 
jprocured from the country where it grows naturally, 
for it does not produce any here. Thefe do not grow 
the firft year, fo the feeds fhould be fown in pots fill- 
ed with light earth, and plunged into a moderate hot- 
bed of tanners bark, where they may remain all the 
fummer ; and in the autumn they fhould be removed 
into the bark-ftove, and plunged into the tan-bed be- 
tween the other pots of plants, in any vacant fpaces ; 
there they may remain till fpring, when they fhould 
be taken out of the ftove, and plunged into a frefh 
hot bed, which will bring up the plants. When thefe 
are fit to remove, they fhould be each tranlplanted 
into a feparate fmall pot, filled with a foft loamy 
earth, and plunged into a hot-bed again, being care- 
ful to fhade them from the fun till they have taken 
new root, after which they muft be treated in the 
M E D 
.fame manner as other tender plants from the fame: 
country, always keeping them in the tan-bed ; and 
in winter they muft have a temperate warmth, other- 
wife they will not live here. 
Ail the forts delight in a foft, gentle, loamy foil, not 
over ftiit, fo as to detain the wet ; nor fhould the 
foil be too light, for in fuch they feidom thrive. They 
retain their leaves all the year, fo make a good ap- 
pearance ifl the winter feafon, their leaves being re- 
markably ftiff and of a fine green, efpecially the firft 
fort, whole fruit ripens in winter, which when it is 
in plenty on the plants, affords an agreeable variety. 
AfS/ See Zea. 
M E A DI A. Catefb. Carol. 3. p. 1. Doflecatheon. Lin. 
Gen. Plant. 183. 
The Characters are. 
It hath a fmall involucrum of many leaves , in which are 
many flowers. The flower hath a permanent empalement 
of one leaf, cut into five long fegments which are reflexed. 
The flower hath one petal , cut into five parts , whofe 
tube is fhorter than the t impalement , and the limb is re- 
flexed backward. It hath jive fhort obtufe ftardna fit- 
ting in the tube , terminated by arrow-pointed ftigmas , 
which are connected into a beak , with a conical germen , 
fupporting a fender flyle longer than the flamina, crowned 
by an obtufe ftigma. The empalement afterward becomes 
an oblong oval capfule with one cell , opening at the top , 
and filled with fmall feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft fe6liofi of 
Linnseus’s fifth clafs, which includes thofe plants 
whofe flowers have five ftamina and one flyle. The 
title of this genus was given to it by Mr. Mark 
Catefby, F. R. S. in honour of the late Dr. Mead, 
who was a generous encourager of every ufeful branch 
of fcience ; but being himfelf no great botanift. Dr. 
Linnaeus was unwilling any plant fhould bear his 
name, fo he has altered it to that of Dodecatheon, 
which was a title applied by Pliny to a fpecies of 
Primrofe with a yellow root, and leaves like the Gar-* 
den Lettuce. 
We have but one Species of this genus, vizi. 
Me adi a ( Dodecatheon .) C’ateb. Elift. Carol. App. 1. tab* 
1. Meadia. Auricula urfi Virginians, floribus boragi- 
nis, inftar roftratis, cyclaminum more refiexis. Pink. 
Aim. 62. tab. 79. fol. 6. Bear s- ear of Virgina, whofe 
flower has a beak like that of Borage , and reflexed petals 
like thofe of Sowbread. 
This plant grows naturally in Virginia, and other 
parts of North America, from whence it was lent by 
Mr. Banifter, many years fince, to Dr. Compton, 
Lord Biihop of London, in whole curious garden I 
firft faw this plant growing in the year 1709 ; after 
which the plant was for feveral years loft in England, 
till within a few years paft, when it was again obtain- 
ed from America, and has been propagated in pretty 
great plenty. It hath a yellow perennial root, from 
which comes out feveral long fmooth leaves in the 
fpring, which are near fix inches long, and two and 
a half broad ; at firft Handing eredr, but afterward 
they fpread on the ground, efpecially if the plants are 
much expofed to the fun ; from between thefe leaves 
arife two, three, or four flower-ftalks, in proportion 
to the ftrength of the roots, which rife eight or nine 
inches high, they are fmooth, naked, and are ter- 
minated by an umbel of flowers, under which is fit U- 
ated the many-leaved involucrum. Each flower is 
fuftained by a pretty long (lender foot-ftalk which is 
recurved, fo that the flower hangs downward. The 
flower has but one petal, which is deeply cut into five 
fpear-fhaped fegments, which are refiexed upward 
like the flowers of Cyclamen or Sowbread ; the fta- 
mina, which are five in number, are lliort, and fit in 
the tube of the flower, having five arrow-pointed 
fummits, which are connected together round the 
ftyle, forming a fort of beak. The flowers are pur- 
ple, inclining to a Peach bloffom colour, and have 
an oblong germen fltuated in the bottom of the tube, 
which afterward becomes an oval capfule inclofed by 
the empalement, with the permanent ftyle on its- 
apex, which, when ripe, opens at the top to let out 
8 (>_ the 
m 
