CEP 
this was formerly in great requeft for fallads in the 
fpring, as being milder than thofe Onions which had 
fcood through the winter ; thefe are propagated by 
parting their roots like the former, and are alfo very 
hardy, and will be fit for ufe early in the fpring. 
The Welch Onions are only propagated for fpring 
ufe alfo ; thefe never make any bulb, and are there- 
fore only fit to be ufed green for fallads, &c. They 
are fown about the end of July, in beds of about 
three feet and a half wide, leaving alleys of two feet 
broad to go between the beds to clean them, and in a 
fortnight’s time they will appear above ground,- when 
they muff be carefully cleared from weeds; towards the 
middle of Oftober their blades will die away, fo that 
the whole fpot will feem to be naked, which hath led 
many people to dig up the ground again, fuppofing 
the crop totally loft ; whereas, if they ftand undif- 
turbed, they will come up again very ftrong in Ja- 
nuary, and from that time grow very vigoroufly, re- 
filling all weathers; and by March will be fit to draw 
for young Onions, and are, in the markets, more 
valued than any other fort at that feafon ; for they 
are extremely green and fine, though they are much 
ftronger than the common Onion in tafte, approaching 
nearer to Garlick, which hath occafioned their being 
iefs efteemed for the table : but as no winter, how- 
ever hard, will hurt them, it is proper to have a few 
of them to fupply the table, ia cafe the common fort 
iliould be deftroyed by frofts. 
The roots of thefe Onions, if planted out at fix or 
eight inches diftance, in March, will produce ripe 
feeds in autumn, but it will be in fmall quantities 
the firft year ; therefore the fame roots fhould remain 
unremoved, which the fecond and third year will 
produce many ftems, and afford a good fupply of 
feeds ; thefe roots will abide many years good, but 
fhould be tranfplanted and parted every fecond or 
third year, which will caufe them to produce ftrong 
feeds* 
CEPHALANTHUS. Lin. Gen. Plant. 105. Pla- 
tanocephalus. Vaill. Acad. R. Scien. 1722. Button 
Wood. 
The Characters are. 
It hath a number of fmall flowers, which are collected into 
a fpherical head ; thefe have no common empalement , but 
each particular flower hath a funnel-Jhaped empalement , 
divided into four parts at the top ; the flower is funnel- 
Jhaped , of one petal , divided at the top into four parts , 
incloflng four ftamina, which are inferted in the petal , and 
are -floor ter than the tube , being terminated by globular 
fummits. The gernien is fituated under the flower , fup- 
porting a ftyle which is longer than, the petal , and is 
, croivned by a globular fligma ; the gerinen afterward be- 
comes a globular hairy capfule , incloflng one or two oblong 
angidar feeds ; thefe are joined to an axis , and form a 
round head . 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft fe&ion of 
Linnaeus’s fourth dais, intitled Tetrandria 'Mono- 
gynia, the flower having four ftamina and but one 
ftyle. 
We have but one Species of this plant, viz. 
Cephalanthus ( Occidentals ) foliis oppofitis ternifque. 
Flor. Virg. 1 5. Button-tree with leaves growing oppofite , 
and fometimes by threes. Scabiofa dendroides Americana 
ternis foliis caulem ambientibus, floribus ochroleucis. 
Pluk. Aim. 336. tab. 77. 
This fnrub grows naturally in North America, from 
whence the feeds are annually fent to Europe, and of 
late years great numbers of the plants have been raifed 
in the gardens of the curious ; but there are no very 
large plants in the Englifh gardens ; the largeft I have 
feen are in the curious gardens of his grace the Duke 
of Argyle, at Whitton, near Hounilow, where they 
thrive better than in almoft any other place where 
they have been planted, fo that in a moift foil they 
will do the belt. 
This feldom rifes higher than fix or feven feet in this 
country. The branches come out by pairs, oppofite 
at each joint ; the leaves alfo ftand oppofite, fome- 
times by pairs, and at other times there are three 
C E R 
arifmg at the fame joint, ftanding round the branch s 
thefe are near three inches long, and one and a quarte r 
broad, having a ftrong vein running longitudinally 
through the middle, and fome fmall tranfverfe veins 
from that to the borders ; they are of a light green, 
and their foot- ftalks change to a reddifh colour next 
the branches ; the ends of the branches are terminated 
by loofe fpikes of fpherical heads, about the ftze of a. 
marble, each of which are compofed of many fmall 
flowers, which are funnel-fhaped, of a whitifh yellow 
colour, fattened to an axis which ftands in the middle; 
thefe appear in July, and, in warm feafons, are fuc- 
ceeded by feeds, which have fometimes ripened in 
England. 
Thefe plants are propagated chiefly by feeds (though 
there has been fome raifed from cuttings and layers;) 
thefe fhould be fown in pots, . for the greater conve- 
niency of removing them either into a fhady fitnation, 
or where they may have fhelter. If the feeds can be. 
procured fo early as to low them before Chriftmas, 
the plants will come up the following fummer ; but 
if they are fown in the fpring, they generally remain 
a year in the ground ; therefore, in fuch cafe, the 
pots fhould be placed in the fhade that fummer, and 
in the autumn following removed under a common 
frame to fhelter them from froft, and the fpring 
following the plants will come up. 
The firft year, when the plants come up, it will be 
neceflary to fhade them in hot dry weather, while 
they are young, at which time they are often de- 
ftroyed by being too much expofed ; nor fhould the 
watering be neglected ; for as thefe plants naturally 
grow on moift ground, fo when they are not duly 
watered in dry weather, the young plants will languifn 
and decay. 
The next autumn, when the leaves begin to drop, 
the young plants may be tranfplanted into nurfery- 
beds, which fhould be a little defended from the cold 
winds ; and, if the foil is moift, they will fucceed 
much better than in dry ground ; but where it hap- 
pens otherwife, it will be abfolutely neceflary to water 
them in dry weather, otherwife there will be great 
danger of the plants dying in the middle of fummer, 
which has been the cafe in many gardens where thefe 
plants were raifed. 
In thefe nurfery-beds the plants may remain a year 
or two (according to the progrefs they may have 
made, or the diftance they were planted ;) then they 
may be taken up in October, and tranfplanted where 
they are to remain for good. Although I have men- 
tioned but one feafon for tranfplanting them, yet 
this may alfo be performed in the fpring, efpecially 
if the ground is moift into which they are removed, 
or that the plants are duly -watered, if the fpring 
fhould prove dry, otherwife there will be more 
hazard of their growing when removed at this 
feafon. 
Ihefe plants make a pretty variety among other 
hardy trees and fhrubs, being extreme hardy in re- 
fpeft to cold ; but they delight in a moift light foil, 
where they will grow very fall:, and their leaves will 
be larger than in dry land. 
CERASTIUM. Lin. Gen. Plant, 518. Moufe-ear, ' 
or Moufe-ear Chickweed; in French, Oreille de 
Souris. 
The Characters are. 
It hath a permanent five-leaved empalement, which fpreads 
open-, the flower hath five obtufe bifid petals, which are 
as large as the empalement. It hath ten J lender ftamina 
floor ter than the petals, -terminated by roundiflo fummits. 
In the center is fituated an oval ger men, from which arife 
five ftyles, which are hairy, erebi, and crowned with ob- 
tufe fligma ; the empalement afterward becomes an oval, 
cylindrical, or globular capfule with one cell, opening at 
the top, containing many roundiflo feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fourth fedlion 
of Linnaeus’s tenth clafs, intitled Decandria Pen- 
tagyrtia, the flower having ten ftamina and five 
ftyles. 
