C E N 
but are oblique, one of the ears of the bafe being 
fmaller and lower than the other; they are of a 
thicker texture than thofe of the common fort, and 
of a paler green, placed alternate on the branches, 
and have fhort foot-ftalks. The flowers come out 
from the foot-ftalks of the leaves, in the fame manner 
as the former, and are fu'Cceeded by oval yellow ber- 
ries, which, when fully ripe, turn of a darker co- 
lour. The wood of this tree is very white. 
Thefe trees are all propagated by feeds, which Ihould 
be fown foon after they are ripe, when they can be 
procured at that feafon, for thefe frequently come up 
the following fpring •, whereas, thofe which are flown 
in the fpring, will not come up till a twelvemonth 
after : therefore it is the belt way to fow them in pots 
or tubs, that they may be eaflly removed, for thofe 
which are fown in the fpring Ihould be placed in a 
fhady fituation in fummer, and conftantly kept clean 
from weeds ; but in autumn they fhould be placed in 
a warm fituation, plunging the pots into the ground ; 
and if they are covered over with a little tan from a 
decayed hot-bed, it will prevent the froft from pene- 
trating the earth to injure the feeds ; and if thefe 
pots are placed on a gentle hot-bed in the fpring, it 
will greatly forward the vegetation of the feeds, 
whereby the plants will have more time to get ftrength 
before the winter : but when the plants appear above 
ground they mult have a large fhare of air admitted 
to them, otherwife they will draw up weak ; and as 
foon as the weather is warm, they muft be expoled 
to the open air, and in fummer they muft be con- 
ftantly kept clean from weeds ; if the feafon proves 
dry, they will require water two or three times a 
week. In autumn it will be proper to remove the 
pots, and place them under a hot-bed. frame, to fhel- 
ter them in winter from fevere froft ; or where there 
is not that conveniency, the pots fhould be plunged 
into the ground near a wall or hedge ; and as the 
plants, when young, are full of fap, and tender, the 
early frofts in autumn frequently kill the upper part 
of the fhoots ; therefore the plants fhould be either 
covered with mats, or a little ftraw or Peafe-haulm 
laid over them to protefl them. 
In the following fpring the plants fhould be taken 
out of the feed-pots, and planted in the full ground : 
this fhould be done about the middle or latter end of 
March, when the danger of the froft is over ; there- 
fore a bed or two fhould be prepared (according to 
the number of plants railed) in a fheltered fituation, 
and, if pofilble, in a gentle loamy foil. The ground 
muft be well trenched, and cleared from the roots of 
bad weeds, and when levelled, fhould be marked out 
in lines at one foot, diftance ; then the plants fhould 
be carefully turned out of the pots and feparated, 
fo as not to tear their roots, and planted in the lines 
at fix inches afunder, prefling the earth down dole to 
the roots. If the ground is very dry when they are 
planted, and there is no appearance of rain foon, it will 
be proper to water the beds, to fettle the ground to 
the roots of the plants ; and after this, if the fur- 
face of the ground is covered with fome old tan or 
rotten dung, it will keep it moift, and' prevent the 
drying winds from penetrating to the roots of the 
plants. 
1 he following fummer, the neceffary care muft be to 
keep them conftantly clean from weeds ; but after the 
plants are pretty well eftablifhed in the ground, they 
will not require any water, efpecially toward the lat- 
ter end of fummer, for that will occafion their late 
growth, whereby they will be in great danger of fuf- 
fering by the autumn frofts ; for the more any of 
thefe young trees are flopped in their growth by 
drought towards autumn, the firmer will be their tex- 
ture, fo better able to bear the cold. 
The plants may remain in thefe nurfery-beds two 
years, by which time they will have obtained fuffici- 
ent ftrength to be tranfplanted where they are de- 
flgned to remain for good, becaufe thefe plants ex- 
tend their roots wide every way ; fo that if they 
Hand long in the nurfery, their roots will be cut in 
C E N 
removing, which will be a great prejudice to their 
future growth. 
Thefe forts are hardy enough to thrive in the open air 
in England, after they are become> ftrong ; but for 
the two firft winters after they come up from feeds, 
they require a little protedion, efpecially the third 
fort, which is tenderer than either of the former. The 
young plants of this fort frequently have variegated 
leaves, but thofe are more impatient of cold than the 
plain leaved. , 
The fourth fort was firft difcovered by father Plunder, 
in the French iflands of America ; and it was found 
growing in Jamaica, by Dr. Houftoun, who fent the 
feeds to England. This rifes with a ftrait trunk 
near twenty feet high, covered with a gray bark, di- 
vided into many brandies upward, garnifhed with 
leaves near four inches, long, and two and a half 
broad, rounded at their extremity, of a thick texture, 
very fmooth on their upper furface, and on their un- 
der fide are of a lucid gold colour, placed alternately 
on the branches. The fruit is round and red, but 
the flowers I have not feen. 
The feeds of this fort rarely come up the firft year, 
fo they may be fowed in pots, and plunged into the 
tan-bed in the ftove, where they fhould remain till 
the plants come up. Thefe plants muft be conftantly 
kept in the bark-ftove, and treated in the fame man- 
ner as other tender exotics. 
CENTAUREA. Lin. Gen. Plant. 880. Centaurium 
majus. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 449. tab. 256. Jacea. 
Tourn. 443. Cyanus. Tourn. 445. Greater Centaury, 
Knapweed, Blue Blottle, &c. 
The Characters are, 
It hath a compound flower , whofe difiz is compofed of many 
hermaphrodite florets , and the borders or rays of female 
florets, which are larger and loofer ; thefe are mcluded 
in a common , roundiflh, fcaly empalement ; the herma- 
phrodite florets have narrow tubes , f welling at the top , 
and cut into five parts ; thefe have five Jhort hairy fta- 
mina , terminated by cylindrical fummits : the germen is 
Jituated under the petal, fupporting a flender ftyle, crown- 
ed vnth an obtufe fligma. The germen afterward becomes 
a flngle feed flout up in the empalement . The female 
florets have a flender tube, but expands above, where 
it is enlarged, and cut into five unequal parts thefe are 
barren. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the third fe&ion 
of Linnaeus’s nineteenth clafs, intitled Syngenefia Po- 
lygamia Fruftanea ; the flowers of this feition have 
their difk and middle compofed of hermaphrodite flo- 
rets, which are fruitful, and their borders of female 
abortive florets. 
The Species are, 
1. Centaurea (. Alpina ) calycibus inermibus, fquamis 
ovatis obtufis, foliis pinnatis glabris integerrimis im- 
pari ferrato. Elort. Cliff. 421. Centaury with an em- 
palement without fpines, oval obtufe [coles, and fmooth 
winged leaves, which are entire. Centaurium alpinum 
luteum. C. B. P. 117. Yellow Alpine Centaury. 
2. Centaurea ( Centaurium ) calycibus inermibus, fqua- 
mis ovatis, foliis pinnatis, foliolis ferratis decurren- 
tibus. Elort. Cliff. 42 1 . Centaury with an empalement 
without fpines, oval f cales, and winged leaves, whofe 
lobes are flawed, and run along the midrib. Centaurium 
majus, folio in lacinias plures divifo. C. B. P. 1 1 y. 
Greater Centaury with a leaf divided into many parts. 
3. Centaurea ( Glafifolia ) calycibus fcariofis foliis in- 
divifls integerrimis decurrentibus. Hort. Cliff. 421. 
Centaury with a fcaly empalement, and undivided entire 
leaves running along the folks. Centaurium majus ori- 
entale erecftum, glafti folio, flore luteo. Tourn. Con 
32. Com. Rar. Plant. 39. Upright, eaflern, greater Cen- 
taury, with a IVoad leaf and a yellow flower. 
4. Centaurea ( Sttebe ) calycibus ciliatis oblongis, fo- 
liis pinnatifidis linearibus integerrimis. Prod. Leyd. 
140. Centaury with oblong hairy empalement s, and winged 
pointed leaves , which are very narrow and entire. Stae- 
be incana, cyano fimilis tenuifolia. C. B. P. Hoary 
Stcebe with the appearance of Blue Bottle , and a narrow 
leaf 
I i i 5. Cental 
\ZL. 
