PR A . 
clean from weeds, they will continue lome years, ef- 
pecially if the foil is dry, and will require no other 
care. It may alio be propagated by parting the roots 
in autumn ; but as the plants arife fo freely from 
fcatfcered feeds, the latter method is feidom p radii fed. 
This plant has been of late recommended by perfons 
of little fkiil, to be fown as a winter pabulum for cat- 
tle ; but whoever will give themfelves the trouble to 
examine the grounds where it naturally grows, will 
find die plants left uneaten by the cattle, when the 
Grafs about them has been cropped to the roots-, be* 
fide, in wet winters and on ftrong land, the plants 
are of fhort duration, therefore very unfit for the pur- 
pofe, nor is the produce fufficient to tempt any per- 
ions of fkiil to engage in its culture ; therefore I wifh 
thofe perfons to make trials of it in fmall quantities, 
before they embark largely in thefe new fchemes. 
The fecond fort grows naturally in the fouth of France 
and Italy this is a biennial plant, which decays foon 
after the feeds are ripe. The leaves of this are like 
thofe of Agrimony, and are compofed of three or four 
pair of oblong lobes, placed a little alternate on the 
midrib, and terminated by an odd one : they are 
deeply fawed on their edges, and have an agreeable 
fcent ; the (talks rife two feet high, and are garnifhed 
at each joint with one of thofe winged leaves, which 
gradually diminifh in their fize at the top, and juft 
above the leaf arifes a long foot-ftalk, which fupports 
two or three fmall ones, each fuftaining a fmall round- 
ifli lpike of flowers. Thefe appear in July, and are 
fucceeded' by feeds which ripen in autumn. It is 
propagated by feeds, which, if fown in autumn, the 
plants will come up the following fpring. Thefe re- 
quire no other culture than to thin them where they 
are too clofe, and keep them clean from weeds the 
fecond year they will flower and ripen their feeds, and 
foon after decay. 
The third fort grows naturally in Crete, and in many 
of the iflands of the Archipelago. This hath a 
fhrubby perennial ftalk, which rifes about three feet 
high, dividing into feveral (lender branches, which are 
armed with branching (harp thorns the leaves are 
very fmall •, they are winged, and have fix or feven 
pair of very fmall lobes, ranged oppofite along the 
midrib, terminated by an odd one they are of a 
lucid green, and continue all the year. The flowers 
are produced in fmall heads at the end of the branches, 
and are of an herbaceous colour they appear the be- 
ginning of June,' and there is a fucceffion of them 
moft part of fummer but thofe only which come 
early, are fame times fucceeded by feeds in England. 
This plant is too tender to live through the winter in 
the open air ; but if it is dickered under a common 
hot-bed frame in winter, where it may have the free 
air at all times when the weather is mild, and fhekered 
from hard froft, it will thrive better than when it is 
more tenderly treated. It may be propagated by 
flips or cuttings during any of the fummer months, 
which, if planted in a bed of light earth, and covered 
down dole with a hand or bell-glafs, and (haded from 
the fun, will take root and may then be taken 
up, and planted each into a Separate fmall pot, filled 
with frefli undunged earth, and placed in the (hade 
till they have taken new root, and then removed to a 
fhekered fituation, where they may (land till the froft 
comes on, when they fhould be placed under the hot- 
bed frame. It requires but little water, efpecially in 
cool weather, and wants no particular culture. 
PRASIUM. Lin. Gen. Plant. 655. Galeopfis. Tourn. 
Inft, R. H. 186. Shrubby Hedge-nettle. 
The Characters are. 
The flower hath a hell-Jhaped empalernent cf one leaf. \ di- 
vided into two lips ; [the upper Up is broad , and ends in 
three acute points ; the lower Up is cut into two parts. 
'The flower is of the lip kind , it hath one petal-, the 
tipper lip is oval, eredi, and indented at the end. The 
lower lip is broad , reflexed , and ends in three points , the 
middle one being broadefi. It has four awl Jhaped jlamina 
tinder the upper Up , two of which are f barter than the 
other, having oblong fummits on their fide, and a four- 
P R A ' 
pointed germen fuflaining a /lender ftyh the length of 
the / lamina , crowned by a bifid ftigma. The germen af- 
terward become four berries, each containing a Jingle 
roundijh feed. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fir ft feclion of 
Ljpnaeus’s ' fourteenth ckfs, which includes thofe 
plants whofe flowers, have two long and two (hotter 
ftamina, andthe feeds are naked. 
The Species are, 
1. Prasium ( Majus ) foliis ovato-oblongis ferratis. Lin. 
Hort. Cliff. 309. Shrubby finking Hedge-nettle , with 
oblong , oval , fawed leaves. Galeopfis Hifpanica fru- 
tefcens, teucrii folio. Tourn. Inft. 186. Spanifh , fhrub- 
by, finking Hedge-nettle , with a Tree Germander leaf. 
2. Prasium (Minus) foliis ovatis duplici utrinque crena 
notatis. Lin. Hort, Cliff. 309. Shrubby finking Hedge- 
nettle, with oval leaves which are indented on every fide. 
Lamium fruticans, teucrii folio lucido, caly'ce & (lore 
magno candido : tantilla purpura vane notato. Hort. 
Cath. 106. Shrubby Dead-nettle, with a lucid Tree Ger- 
mander leaf, and a large white flower with fame fpots of 
purple. 
The firft fort grows naturally in Spain and Italy ; 
this rifes with a fhrubby ftalk two . feet high, co- 
vered with a whiufh bark, and divides into many 
branches, which are garnifhed with oblong oval 
leaves, fawed on their edges. The flowers come out 
from the boforn of the leaves in whorls round the 
ftalks they are white, and have large permanent em- 
palements, cut into five points. The flowers are of 
the lip kind ; they appear in June and July, and are 
fucceeded by four fmall berries fitting in the em- 
palement, which turn black when they are ripe, and 
have a fingle roundifh feed in each. 
The fecond fort grows naturally in Sicily ; this hath 
a fhrubby ftalk like the former, but rifes a little 
higher ; the bark is whiter, the leaves are ftiorter and 
oval, and are doubly crenated on each fide ; they are 
of a lucid green. The flowers come out in fmall 
whorls from the bofom of the leaves, like the former ; 
they are fomewhat larger, and are frequently marked 
with a few purple fpots ; thefe are fucceeded by fmall 
berries like the other fort, which ripen at the fame time. 
Thefe plants may be propagated either by cuttings, 
or from the feeds : if they are propagated by cuttings, 
they fhould be planted on a fhady border toward the 
end of April ; but the cuttings fhould not be taken, 
from fuch plants as have been drawn weak, but rather 
from thofe which have been expofed to the open air, 
whofe (hoots are fhort and ftrong and if a joint of 
the former year’s wood is cut to each of them, they 
will more certainly fucceed. Thefe cuttings may re- 
main in the fame border till they are well rooted, 
when they may be tranfplanted into the places where 
they are to remain, or into pots, that they may be 
fhekered in winter under a common frame, where 
they may have as much free air as poffible in dry 
weather, but only require to be fcreened from hard froft. 
If they are propagated by feeds (which the plants 
produce in plenty every year) they fhould be fown on 
a bed of light earth- in April ; and in May the plants 
will come up, when they require no other care but 
that of keeping thejji clean from weeds ; and in the 
autumn following, they may be tranfplanted in the 
fame manner as. before directed for thofe raifed from, 
cuttings, and may be afterward treated more hardily, 
as they acquire (Length. 
A plant or two of each of thefe fpecies may be al- 
lowed to have a place where there are colleftions of the 
different forts of ever-green fhrubs, for the fake of 
variety; efpecially where the different forts of.Giftus, 
Phlomis, Tree- worm wood, and Medicago, are ad- 
mitted, becaufe thefe are equally hardy; and when a 
fevere winter happens, which, deftroys the one, the 
others are fure of the fame rate ; but in mild win- 
ters they will live abroad, efpecially if they are planted 
in a dry rubbifhy foil, and have a flickered fituation ; 
but in rich wet ground, the plants' will grow vigo- 
rous in fummer, fo are liable to injury from the. early 
frofts in autumn. 
10 T 
FERE- 
