c s 
C A C 
and drink •, but how any animal iliould ever attack 
plants which are fo well defended by ftrong thorns, 
which are as Hard and ftiff as whalebone, or any other 
bony fubftance, is difficult to conceive •, nor could any 
thing but diftrefs for moifture ever have tempted 
them to 'venture amongft thefe troublefome plants to 
fearch for relief, fince they muft encounter with many 
difficulties, before they could find a method of dif- 
lodging the thorns. 
The fruit of all the forts of Melon-thiftles, are fre- 
quently eaten by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies •, 
there is fcarce any difference in the fruits of all the 
kinds I have yet feen, either in fize, ffiape, colour, 
or tafte. They are about three quarters of an inch in 
length, of a taper form, drawing to a point at the 
bottom toward the plant, but blunt at the top, where 
the empalement of the flower was fituated. The tafte 
is an agreeable acid, which, in a hot country, muft 
render the fruit more grateful. 
Ail the forts of thefe plants require a very good ftove 
to preferve them through the winter in England, nor 
fhould they be expofed to the open air in iummer •, 
for although they may continue fair to outward ap- 
pearance, when they have been fome time expofed 
abroad, yet they will imbibe moifture, which will 
caufe theta to rot foon after they are removed into the 
ftove. And this is frequently the cafe of thole plants 
which are brought from abroad, which have a fair 
healthy appearance many times at their firft arrival, 
but foon after decay, and this wall happen very fud- 
denly. Scarce any appearance of diforder will be 
feen, till the whole plant is killed ; which, in a few 
hours time, has often been the fate of thofe plants, 
when they have been placed in the ftove. 
If thefe plants are plunged into a hot-bed of tanners 
bark in iummer, it will greatly forward them in their 
growth •, but when this is pradifed, there fhould be 
lcarce any water given to the plants, for the moifture 
which they will imbibe from the fermentation of the 
tan, wall be fufficient for them, and more woiild 
caufe them to rot. The beft method to preferve all 
the large kinds is, in winter, to place the pots, either 
upon the tops of the flues, or, at leaft, very near 
them, that they may have the warmeft place of the 
ftove ; and during that feafon, never to give them any 
water *, but when the feafon comes for leaving out the 
fire in the ftove, to remove them into a bed of tan- 
ners bark, which will foon fet them in a growing ftate, 
and recover their verdure. The foil in which thefe 
fhould be planted, muft be of a fandy nature, and if 
mixed with fome dry lime rubbifh, it will be ftill bet- 
ter. In the bottom of the pots fhould be placed fome 
ftones, in order to drain off any moifture which may 
be in the earth ; for as thefe plants naturally grow 
upon the hot dry burning rocks which have no 
earth, and, were it not for thefe plants, would be ab- 
folutely barren, we muft imitate their natural foil as 
near as poffible, making fome allowance for the dif- 
ference of climates. 
The great forts may be propagated by feeds, which 
muft be fown and managed as hath been directed for 
the fmaller fort ; but as the plants which are raifed 
from feeds in England, will be fome years in arriving 
to any confiderable fize, it will be much the beft way 
to procure fome plants from the Weft-Indies ; and if 
the plants arrive here in any of the fummer months, 
fo as that there may be time for them to get new root 
before the cold comes on In autumn, the plants will 
more certainly fucceed. When the plants come over. 
It will be proper to take them out of the earth as foon 
as poffible, and lay them in the ftove upon the fhelves, 
to dry fora fortnight or three weeks ; and when they 
are planted, they fhould be plunged into a good 
warm bed of tanners bark, to promote their making 
new roots. In this bed they may remain till the be- 
ginning of October, when they muft be removed into 
the ftove, ..and treated in, the manner before clire&ed. 
The two final! forts propagate fo faft in England, as 
to render it unneceffiary to fend for plants of thefe 
kinds from abroad, j for whoever hath a mind to be 
plentifully flocked with them, may be foon fupplied 
with the fifth fort from feeds, and the fixth from the 
young plants which are thruft out from the fide of the 
old. 
C 2 E S A L P I N A. Plum. Nov. Gen. g. Braflletto, 
This plant was fo named by father Piumier, who dif- 
covered it in America, in honour of Andreas Caffal- 
pinus, an eminent botanift, and one of the firft writ- 
ers on a method of c biffing plants. 
The 'Characters are, 
It hath a qiihiquefid pit cher-flo aped empalement , the un- 
der lobe being large. The flower hath five almofi equal 
petals , of the butterfly kind. It hath ten, declining la- 
mina which are diftinlf , and terminated by rcundijh flum- 
mits , and an oblong germen fluff or ting a fingle ftyle the 
length of the ft Mina , crowned by a Muni ftigma. The 
empalement afterward becomes an oblong comprejfled pod y 
with one cell inclofling three or four comprejfled feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feftion of 
Linnaeus’s tenth clafs, intitled Decandria Monogynia, 
the flower having ten feparate ftamina and one ftyle. 
The Species are, 
1. Czesadpina (. Brafllienfls ) foliis duplicato-pinnatis, 
foliolis emargirtatis, fioribus decandris. Cafalpina with 
doubly winged leaves , whofe j mall leaves are indented at 
the end , md flowers with ten ftamina. Pfeudo-fanta- 
lum croceum. Sloan. Hift. Jam. Vol. II. p. 184. Saf- 
fron-coloured Baftard Saunders , commonly called Braflletto. 
2. Caesalpina ( Arifta ) foliis duplicato-pinnatis foliolis 
ovatis infegerrimis floribus pentandriis. Caflalpina with 
doubly winged leaves , whofe j, mall leaves are oval and 
entire , and flowers with five ftamina : Csefalpina poly- 
phyllaaculis horrida. Plum. Nov. Gen. 28. 
The firft fort is the tree which affords the Braflletto 
wood, which is much ufed in dyeing. It grows na- 
turally in the warmeft parts of America, from whence 
the wood is imported for the dyers ; and the demand 
for it has beenfo great, that there are no large trees 
left in any of the Britifh colonies, the biggeft fcarce 
exceeding eight inches in diameter, and fifteen feet 
in height. It hath very {lender branches, which are 
armed with recurved thorns. The leaves are wing- 
ed, branching out into many divifions, each being 
garniftied with fmall oval lobes which are indented at 
the top, and are placed oppofite. The foot-ftalks 
of the flowers come out from the fide of the branches, 
and are terminated by a loofe pyramidal fpike of 
white flowers, which are fhaped fomewhat like thofe 
of the butterfly kind, having ten ftamina which are 
much longer than the petals, and terminated by 
roundifh yellow fummits. The germen afterward 
becomes a long compreffed pod with one cell, inclof- 
ing feveral oval flat feeds. 
The fecondfort grows naturally in the fame countries 
with the firft, but is of larger fize : it fends out many 
weak irregular branches, armed with fhort, ftrong, up- 
right thorns. The leaves branch out in the fame 
manner as the firft, but the lobes (or fmall leaves) 
are oval and entire. The flowers are produced in 
long fpikes like thofe of the former, but are varie- 
gated with red , thefe have each but five ftamina, 
therefore, according to Linnteus’s fyftem, fhould 
not be ranged in this clafs ^ but as in all the other 
characters they agree, I have continued them to- 
gether. ’ „ , 
Dr. Linnaeus has joined thefe two fpecies together, 
in which he has been followed by Dr. Burman ; but 
if either of them had feen the plants, they could not 
have committed this miftake. To this genus Lin- 
naeus has added two other fpecies, one of which is a 
Guilandina, and the other a Bauhinia : to the latter he 
has added the Synonime of Colutea VeraeCrucis Ve- 
ficaria, which is a plant totally different, being a ge- 
nuine Colutea. I received this from the late Dr. 
Houftoun, who found it growing naturally at La Vera 
Cruz, in New Spain. 
Thefe plants are propagated by feeds, which fhould 
be fown in fmall pots filled with light rich earth early 
in the fpring, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanners 
bark, obferving to water the earth as often as it ap- 
6 pears 
\ 
