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touches, that there will immediately follow a terrible 
inflammation and gangrene : and what is worfe, 
there has not yet been found an antidote again. ft it; 
for which reafon, we ought to be very careful to 
know this plant, in order to avoid it, for fear we 
fhouid take it for any other like it, which would cer-» 
tainly prove fatal, 
The poifonous quality of this plant, had led fame 
perfons to believe it to be the Cicuta of the ancients ; 
but according to Wepfer, the Sium alterum olufatri 
facie of Lobel, is what the ancients called Cicuta, as 
may be feen at large in Wepfer’s bookDe Cicuta. 
The fecond fort is very common in moift foils, and 
by the Tides of rivers in divers parts of England : this 
is not fuppofed to be near lo ftrong as the firft, but 
is of a poifonous quality. 
All the forts of thefe plants naturally grow in moift 
places, fo that whoever hath a mind to cultivate 
them, fnould fow their feeds foon after they are ripe 
in autumn, upon a moift foil, where they v/ill come 
up, and thrive exceedingly the following fummer, 
and require no farther care but to clear them from 
weeds. , 
CENOTHERA. Lin. Gen. Plant. 424. Onagra. 
Tourn. Inft. R. H. 302. tab. 156. Tree Primrofe. 
The Characters are, 
The empalement of the flower is of one leaf having a long 
cylindrical tube , cut into four acute fegments at the brim , 
which turn backward. The flower has four heart-Jhaped 
petals , which are lengthways inferted in the divijions of 
the empalement. It hath eight awl-fhaped incurved jia- 
mina , which are inferted in the tube of the empalement , 
and are terminated by oblong proflrate fummits. The cy- 
lindrical germen is Jituated under the tube of the empale- 
ment , fupporting a fender flyle , crowned by a thick qua- 
drifid , obtufe , reflexed ftigma. The germen afterward 
becomes a four-cornered cylindrical cap file having four 
cells , which are filled with fmall angular feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feftion of 
Linnaeus’s eighth clafs, which includes thofe plants 
whofe flowers have eight ftamina and one ftyle. 
The Species are, 
1. CEnothera ( Biennis ) foliis ovato-lanceolatis planis, 
caule muricato fubvillofo Vir. Cliff 7 . 33. Tree Prim- 
rofe , with plain , oval , fpear-fhaped leaves , and a rough 
hairy ftalk. Onagra latifolia. Tourn. Inft. 302. Broad- 
leaved Tree Primrofe. 
2. CEnothera (. Anguflifolia ) foliis lanceolatis dentatis, 
caule hifpido. Tree Primrofe with fpear-fhaped indented 
leaves , and a prickly ftalk. Onagra anguflifolia, caule 
rubro, fiore minore. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 302. Nar- 
row-leaved T re e Primrofe , with a red ftalk and a fmaller 
flower. 
3. CEnothera ( Glabra ) foliis lanceolatis planis, caule 
glabro. Tree Primrofe with plain fpear-fhaped leaves , 
and a finooth ftalk. 
4. CEnothera (. Molliffima ) foliis lanceolatis undulatis. 
Vir. Cliff. 33. Tree Primrofe with waved fpear-fhaped 
leaves. Onagra Bonarienfis villofa, flore mutabili. 
Hort. Elth. 297. Hairy Tree Primrofe of Buenos Ayres , 
with a changeable flower. 
5. CEnothera ( Pumila ) foliis radicalibus ovatis, cauli- 
nis lanceolatis obtufis, capfulis ovatis fulcatis. Tab. 
188. Tree Primrofe with oval leaves at the root , thofe 
on the ftalks fpear-fhaped , blunt-pointed , and oval fur- 
rowed fee d-veff els. 
The other fpecies which have been formerly placed in 
this genus, are now under Jussl*ea and Ludwigia, 
to which the. reader is deflred to turn. 
The three firft forts grow naturally in Virginia, and 
in other parts of North America, from whence their 
feeds were brought to Europe in the beginning of the 
fixteenth century •, but they are now become fo com- 
mon in many parts of Europe, as to be taken for na- 
tives. The firft hath a long, thick, taper root, which 
runs deep into the ground, from which arife many 
obtufe leaves which fpread flat on the ground ; be- 
tween thefe the ftalks come out, which rife between 
three and four feet high, and is of a pale green 
colour, a little hairy, and about the thicknefs of a 
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finger, full of pitn ; this is garnifhed with long nar- 
row leaves fet clofe to the ftalk, without order.° The 
flowers are produced all along the ftalk from the wings 
of the leaves, the germen fitting clofe to the ftalk, 
from the top of which arifes the tube of the flower, 
which is narrow, more than two inches loner- at the 
top is the empalement, which is cut into four acute 
fegments, which are reflexed downward. The petal 
of the flower is cut into four large obtufe fegments, 
which in die evening are expanded quite flat, but are 
fhut in the day ; thefe are of a bright yellow colour. 
From the flower opening in the evening, many per- 
fons call it the Night Primrofe. The plants begin to 
flower about Midfummer, and as the ftalks advance- 
in height, fo other flowers are produced, whereby 
there is a fuCceflion of flowers on the fame plant till 
autumn. 
The fecond fort hath red ftalks, which are fet with 
rough protuberances : it does not rife fo high as the 
firft, the leaves are narrower, and the flowers are 
fmaller. 
The third fort differs from the firft, in having fhort- 
er ftalks, narrower leaves, and fmaller flowers ; and 
from the fecond, in having ftnooth ftalks, which are 
of a pale green colour. Thefe differences are perma- 
nent, fo they are undoubtedly different fpecies. 
The fourth fort grows naturally at Buenos Ayres ; 
this hath a fhrubby ftalk more than two feet hio-h ' 
hairy, garnifhed with narrow fpear-fhaped leaves endmg 
in acute points •, thefe fit clofe to the ftalks, being a 
little waved on their edges. The flowers come out 
from the wings of the leaves along the ftalks, like 
the other forts ; they are firft of a pale yellow, but as 
they decay change to an Orange colour ; they are 
fmaller than thofe of either of the former forts, and 
expand only in the evening ; the feed-veflels are (len- 
der, taper, and hairy. I his flowers at the fame time 
with the former. 
The fifth fort grows naturally in Canada, from whence 
the feeds were brought to Paris a few years paft. 
This is a perennial plant ; the root is fibrous ; the 
lower leaves are oval and fmall, fitting clofe to the 
ground ; the ftalk is (lender, near a foot high, and is 
garnifhed with fmall fpear-fhapdd leaves, of a light 
green, ending in blunt points, fitting clofe to the 
ftalks. The flowers come out from the wings of the 
leaves like the other fpecies ; thefe are fmall, of a 
bright yellow colour, and appear at the fame time as 
the former, and are fucceeded by fhort, oval, fur- 
rowed leed-veffels, filled with fmall feeds. 
The three firft forts are very hardy plants, and if once 
brought into a garden, and the feeds permitted to 
fcatter, there will be a fupply of plants without any 
care. They are biennial, and perifh after they have 
perfected their feeds. The feeds of thefe plants 
fhouid be fown in the autumn, for thofe which are 
fown in the fpring feldom rife the fame year : when 
the plants come up, they fhouid be thinned and 
kept clean from weeds, which is all the care they 
require till the autumn, when they fhouid be tranf- 
planted to the places where they are defigned to 
flower ; but as the roots of thefe plants ftrike deep in 
the ground, fo there fhouid be care taken not to 
cut or break them in removing. The plants will 
thrive in almoft any foil or fituation, and will flower 
in London in fmall gardens, better than moft other 
plants. 
The fourth fort is now become pretty common in 
the Englifh gardens, for if the feeds of this are per- 
mitted to fcatter, the plants will come up the .follow- 
ing fpring, and require no other care but to keep 
them clean from weeds, and thin them where they 
grow foo clofe. If thefe plants are kept in pots, and 
placed in a green-houfe in the autumn, they will live 
through the winter •, but as they produce flowers and 
feeds in the open air, the plants are feldom preferved 
longer. 
The fifth fort is perennial, and may be propagated 
either by parting of the roots, or by feeds : if it is by 
the former, the beft time for doing it is in the fpring ; 
but 
