ties are frequently upon the (ante plant, and at others 
on different plants •, the other has red and yellow 
flowers, which are generally mixed in the fame flow- 
■ ers, but are often with plain flowers of both colours 
on the fame plant, intermixed with thofe which are 
variegated •, but fame plants have only plain flowers , 
and I have never found that the feeds of the purple 
and white fort, ever produced the yellow and red, nor 
the latter ever vary to the former, and I have con- 
flantly cultivated both more than forty years but al- 
though thefe do not change from one to the other, 
yet as there is no other difference between them than 
in the colour of their flowers, I have not enumerated 
them as diitind fpecies. 
The fecond fort is very common in all the iflands of 
the Weft-Indies, where the inhabitants call it the 
Four o’Clock Flower, from the flowers opening at 
that time of the day. Of this fort I have never feen 
any with variable flowers ; they are of a purpliili red 
colour, and not much more than half the fize of the 
other. The (talks of this fort have thick fwollen 
joints-, the leaves are fmalier, and the fruit is very 
rough, fo there can be no doubt of their being dif- 
tind fpecies, for I have never feen any alteration in 
this from feed, and I have cultivated it many years. 
Tournefort was informed by Father Plunder, that 
the root of this plant was the officinal Jalap, upon 
which he conftituted the genus, and gave that title to 
it but the late Dr. Houftoun was fully informed in 
the Spanifh ¥feft-Indies of the contrary, and brought 
over a drawing of the plant which was made by a 
Spaniard at Halapa, and he carried two or three of 
the plants to Jamaica, where he planted them in a 
garden, but after he left the ifland they were de- 
ftroyed by hogs : however, he was fully iatisfted of 
its being a Convolvulus, which Mr. Ray had many 
years before given the Jalap the title of, but upon 
what authority it does not at prefent appear. Some 
few years after I received three feeds of the Jalap from 
the Spani(h Weft-Indies, one of which grew, and 
became a large plant, having a bulbous root, as large 
as thofe of the Jalap which are imported, but the plant 
produced no flowers in the three years it lived ^ and 
in the winter 1739-40 it died, fince when I have not 
been able to procure any feeds ^ however, I am fully 
fatisfied that the Jalap is a fpecies of Convolvulus : 
indeed the roots of the Marvel of Peru are purgative, ■ 
and when given in a double quantity for a dofe, will 
anfwer thepurpofe of Jalap. 
The third fort was lent from Mexico a few years 
fince. The feeds of this were firft fent me from Paris, 
by Dr. Monier, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 
and afterward I had fome lent me from Madrid, by 
Dr. Hortega. The ftalks of this fort fall on the 
ground, if they are not fupported ; thefe grow about 
three feet long, and divide into feveral branches, which 
are garnifhed with heart-fhaped leaves, placed oppo- 
fite thefe, as alfo the ftalks, are hairy and vifcous, 
flicking to the fingers of thofe that handle them. The 
flowers come out at the end of the branches ; they are 
white, and have very long (lender tubes, and a faint 
muiky odour ; thefe are like the other forts, clofeiy 
fhut all the day, but expand every evening when the 
fun declines. The feeds of this fort are larger than 
thofe of any other fpecies, and are as rough as thofe 
of the fecond fort. 
The two varieties of the firft fort are very ornamen- 
tal plants in gardens, during the months of July, Au- ■ 
guft, and September ; and if the feafon continues 
mild, they often laft till near the end of Odober. The 
flowers do not open till toward the evening, while 
the weather continues warm, but in moderate cool 
weather, when the fun is obfcured, they continue open 
almoft the whole day. The flowers are fo plentifully 
produced at the ends of the branches, as that when 
they are open, the plants feem entirely covered with 
them, and there being fome plain, and others varie- 
gated on the fame plants, they make a fine appearance. 
The plants are propagated by feeds, in the choice 
of which there ftiould be care taken not to fave any 
from thofe plants whofe flowers are plain ; and thofe 
who are deliraus of having only the variegated kinds, 
are careful to pull off ail the plain flowers from thofe 
plants which they intend for feeds, to prevent them 
from bearing any feeds by this method they rarely 
have any plants with plain flowers. 
The feeds (liouici be Town on a moderate hot-bed in 
March, and when the plants come up, they fhould 
have plenty of air admitted to them, when the wea- 
ther is mild, to prevent their being drawn up weak ; 
and when they are about two inches high, they ftiould 
be trarffpl anted on another very moderate hot-bed ; 
or if they are each planted in a fmall pot filled with 
light earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, it 
will be a more fecure way, for then there will be no 
danger in fhaking them out of the pots, when they 
are to be planted in the borders, fo as to preferve 
all the earth to their roots ; by this method, they will 
not require to be (haded, whereas thofe that are to 
be tranfplanted from the fecond hot-bed to the bor- 
ders, often rife with little earth to their roots, fo 
muft be carefully (haded, otherwife they often mif- 
carry. 
When they are in the fecond hot-bed, they ftiould be 
(haded till they have taken frefh root, after which they 
muft have plenty of free air admitted to them to pre- 
vent their being drawn up weak, and in May they muft: 
be gradually inured to the open air. .The beginning of 
J une, if the feafon is favourable, they ftiould be tranf- 
planted into the borders of the pleafure-garclen, giv- 
ing them proper room, and after they have taken 
new root, they will require no further care. If thefe 
feeds are (own in a warm border the beginning of 
April, they will grow very well, but the plants will 
be late in the feafon before they flower. 
As the feeds of thefe plants ripen very well every 
year, fo there are not many who are at the trouble of 
preferving their roots ; but if thefe are taken out of 
the ground in autumn, and laid in dry land all the 
winter, fecured from froft, and planted again in the 
fprjng, they will grow much larger, and flower earlier 
than the feediing plants : or if the roots are covered 
in winter with tanners bark to keep out the froft, 
they may remain in the borders, provided the foil be 
dry. If the roots which are taken out of the ground, 
are planted the following fpring in large pots, and 
plunged into a hot-bed, under a deep frame, they 
may be brought forward, and raifed to the height of 
four or five feet, as I have frequently pradifed ; and 
. thefe plants have come earlier in the feafon to flower, 
fo have been intermixed with other ornamental plants, 
to decorate halls and fhady courts, where they have 
appeared very beautiful. 
The other two fpecies require the fame treatment, but 
the fecond fort is not quite fo hardy as the other two, 
fo unlefs the plants are brought forward in the fpring, 
they will not flower till very late, fo their feeds will 
not ripen. 
MISLETO E. See Viscum. 
MI TELL A. Tourn. Inft. R. FI. 241. tab. 12 6 . 
Lin. Gen. Plant; 496. [fo called of Mitella, Lat. a 
little mitre, becaufe the feed-veffel of this plant re- 
fembles a biftiop’s mitre.] Baftard American Sanicle. 
The Characters are, 
"The flower has a bellfioaped empalement of one leaf , ‘ cut 
into five points, which is permanent. It hath jive petals , 
ending in many hairy points , and are inflerted in the eni- 
palement , as are alfo the ten awl-floaped ftamina , which 
are floor ter than the petals , and terminated by rounaijh 
fummits. It hath aroundijh germen, which is bifid , with 
Jcarce any flyle , crowned by two obtufe ftigmas. Ikhe em- 
pakment afterward becomes an oval capfule with one cell , 
opening with two valves , filled with fmall feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fedion 
of Linnteus’s tenth clafs, which contains thofe plants 
whole flowers have ten ftamina and two ftyles or 
ftigmas. 
The Species are, 
1. Mitella ( Diphylla ) fcapo diphyllo. Lin. Gen. Nov. 
29. Mitella with flower -ftalks having two leaves. Mi- 
9 C ° sella . 
