joining clofe to the foot-ftalks, The leaves, when 
bruised, emit an odour like that of Orange-peel, from 
whence the gardeners have titled it the fweet-fcented 
Toxicodendron. The male flowers are produced in 
fhort dole panicles j they are fmall, and of an her- 
baceous white colour ; they grow upon feparate plants 
from the fruit, which grow in lparfed panicles, and are 
of an oval fhape. 
The fixth fort grows naturally in North America. 
The ftalks of this fort emit roots their whole length, 
whereby they faften to trees or any neighbouring lup- 
port, and climb to the height of fix or eight & feet •, 
thefe are garnifhed with trifoliate oval leaves, which 
are fmooth, and cut into finufes on their edges. The 
lobes are four inches long and two broad. The 
flowers are produced in fhort panicles from the fide of 
the branches •, they are male and female on different 
plants like the other fpecies. 
The feventh fort was lent me by Mr. John Bartram 
from Philadelphia, by the title of Great Toxicoden- 
dron •, this hath trailing roots which run near the fur- 
f ce of the ground, fencnn^ up ftalks in different 
places y the leaves ftand upon long foot-ftalks ; they 
have chiefly three lobes, but fome have four. The 
lobes are obtu'fe, rough, and fawed on their edges. 
They are four or five inches long, and three broad ; 
this fort has not as yet flowered in England, fo I can 
give no farther defcription of the plant at prefent : 
thefe forts are all of them fo hardy as to thrive in the 
open air in England, but the fourth fort is often de- 
ftroyed by fevere froft, fo Ibould be planted in a warm 
fituation. 
The firft, fixth, and feventh forts propagate in plenty 
by their creeping ftalks and roots ; the others are pro- 
pagated by laying down their branches, which will 
put out roots in one year, and may then be taken 
off and tranfplanted, either in the places where they 
are to remain, or in a nurfery, to grow two or three 
years to get ftrength before they are planted out for 
good-, they are alfo propagated by feeds, which 
ibould be fown on a bed of light earth, and when the 
plants come up they muff be kept clean from weeds 
the following fummer ; and before the froft comes on 
in autumn, the bed fhould be hooped over, that the 
plants may be covered with mats, for otherwife the 
early frofts will kill their tops, which frequently caufes 
their ftalks to decay to the ground ; for as the plants 
are tender, and generally fhoot late the firft year, 
they are in much greater danger than when they get 
more ftrength. In fpring the plants may be trans- 
planted into nurfery-beds to grow a year or two, and 
may then be tranfplanted for good. 
Thefe plants are preferved by the curious in botany 
for the fake of variety, but as there is little beauty in 
them, there are not many of the forts cultivated in 
in England. The wood of thefe trees, when burnt, 
emits a noxious fume, which will fuffocate animals 
when they are ffiut up in a room where it is burnt : 
an inftance of this is mentioned in die Philofophical 
Tranfadtions by Dr. William Sherard, which was com- 
municated to him in a letter from New England by 
Mr. Moore, in which he mentions fome people who 
had cut fome of this wood for fuel, which they were 
burning, and in a fhort time they loft the ufe of their 
limbs, and became ftupid fo that if a neighbour had 
not accidentally opened the door, and feen them in 
that condition, it is generally believed they would 
foon have perifhed. This fhould caution people from 
making ufe of this wood for fuch purpofe. 
When a perfon is poifoned by handling this wood, 
in a few hours he feels an itching pain, which provokes 
a fcratching, which is followed by an inflammation 
and fwelling. Sometimes a perfon has had his legs 
poifoned, which have run with water. Some of the 
inhabitants of America affirm, they can diftinguiffi 
this wood by the touch in the dark, from its extreme 
coldnefs, which is like ice j but what is mentioned of 
this poifonous quality, is moft applicable to the fourth 
fort here mentioned, which, by the defcription, agrees 
with this fpecies. 
1 he juice of the tree is milky when it firft iffues out 
of the wounded part, but foon after it is expofed to 
the air it turns black, and has a very ftrong foetid 
Icent, and is corroding ; for I have obferved, on cut- 
ting off a fmall branch from one of thefe ffirubs, that 
the blade of the knife has been changed black in a 
moment’s time, fo far as the juice had fpread over it, 
which I could not get off without grinding the knife. 
The eighth fort grows naturally in Jamaica on the 
red hills, and Campeachy, in great plenty. It has a 
thick woody ftem which rifes near thirty feet high, 
with a fmooth Afli-coloured bark, fending out ligne- 
ous branches on every fide, which have a hairy rufty- 
coloured bark, and are garniffied with trifoliate leaves 
which have hairy foot-ftalks two inches long. The 
lobes are fpear-ffiaped, about four inches long, and 
two broad in the middle, drawing to points at both 
ends i they are unequally lawed toward the top, and 
have many tranfverfe veins running from the midrib 
to the borders ; they are of a dark green on their up- 
per fide, but have a brown woolly down on their un- 
der fide. The flowers are ranged in a Angle racemus, 
which fprings from the wings of the branches they 
are fmall, of a yellowiffi colour, and the female 
flowers are fucceeded by fmall, oval, fmooth berries, 
of an Orange colour when ripe. 
The ninth fort grows naturally about Carthagena in 
New Spain ; this rifes with a ffirubby ftalk twelve or 
fourteen feet high, covered with a gray bark, fend- 
ing out a great number of branches on every fide, 
which are garnifhed with trifoliate fmooth leaves, 
whofe lobes are oval, fpear-ffiaped, and oblique to 
their foot-ftalks ; they are near three inches long, and 
an inch and a half broad, running out in long acute 
points. The male and female flowers are upon diffe- 
rent plants ; they are formed in loofe panicles, are 
fmall, and of a dirty white colour. The female flowers 
are fucceeded by fmall, oval, fmooth berries, each 
including one feed. 
The two laft forts are tender plants, fo will not thrive 
in this country without the affiftanceof artificial heat ; 
they are propagated by feeds, when thefe can be pro- 
cured from the countries where the plants grow na- 
turally. Thefe fhould be fown as foon as they arrive 
here, in pots filled with light earth, and plunged 
into a tan-bed. Sometimes the plants will come up 
the fame year, but the feeds often lie long in the 
ground when they are fown in the fpring -, and when 
they do not grow the firft year the pots fhould be 
plunged in the bark-bed in the ftove in autumn, where 
they fhould be plunged into a frefh hot-bed under a 
frame, which will foon bring up the plants. When 
thefe are fit to remove, they fhould be each planted 
in a fmall pot filled with light earth, and plunged in- 
to a new tan-bed, obferving to fhade them from the 
fun till they have taken new root j then they fhould 
be treated in the fame way as other tender exotic plants, 
which are conftantly kept in the bark-ftove. 
The tenth fort came from China. This grows to a 
large fize, fending out many branches on every fide, 
which are garniffied with very long winged leaves, 
each leaf having fourteen or fixteen pair of lobes, 
which fit clofe to the midrib ; as this has not pro- 
duced flowers in England, fo we are at a lofs where to 
place it, but it is hardy enough to live in the open air 
in winter. This propagates faft enough by the many 
fuckers fent out from the roots. 
TRAC HELIUM. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 130. tab. 
50. Lin. Gen. Plant. 204. Throatwort. 
The Characters are, 
The flower has a fmall empalement cut at the top in five 
parts , fitting upon the germen. It has one petal , which 
is funnel-Jhaped , having a long , fender , cylindrical tube, 
cut at the top into jive fmall oval fegments , which fpread 
open it has five hair -like flamina the length of the petal, 
terminated by fingle fummits \ and a roundijh three-cor- 
nered germen fituated under the flower , fupporting a long 
fender fiyle , crowned by a globular fligma. The germen 
afterward turns to a roundifi: obtufe capfule with three lobes , 
having three cells , which are filled with fmall feeds. 
This 
