SYNG'ENESIAi ( 30 ) 
A M B R O S I A L A S T E R. 
T his fpedous After has been fom^ Time familiar with us firigle; bul 
I have not (een it double till the prefent Year. In any State i^ is a fin-^ 
gular and very elegant Plant : but the Double exceeds the commoii 
State of the Flower in this, as much as in the Famous, and now common 
China After. The Stem is robuft and a Yard high ; the Branches are innu-^ 
merable j and the fmall curl’d Leaves tiiri up into the Cup. As the Progref-^ 
fort from the fmgle to the perfedily double Flower has been this Yeat compleat- 
ed under my Eye, I lhall take this Opportunity of explaining the Manner 
wherein the Flowers of Syngenefious Plants are doubled : for it is altogether 
different from the Courle wherein Nature purfues the fame Purpofe in the other 
Genera. The Flowers are Very laftihg^ whence I have nam’d the Plant Am- 
brofial, immortal. 
The radiated Syngenefious Flowers we fee are complex i each is form’d of 
many lefler Flowers or Flofucles, and thefe are of two Kinds ; thofe tubular and 
ftiort which form the Dilk of the general Flower, and thofe long and flat which 
make the Rim. In this tnftahce they differ alfo in Colour, thofe of Dilk being 
yellow, and thofe of the Rini Purple ; thefe fevetal Flofciiles have been 
luppofed perfectly diftindl ; but we ftiall fee they are fo nearly ally’d, that 
Nature, in a State of Luxuriance, converts eafily the one into the other. In 
this Plant the tubular Flolcules ate thus form’d; Each is made of one yellow 
Petal fix’d upon the Rudiment of a Seed and cut at the Summit into five fmall 
Segments. The Rays rile in the lame Manner, each from the Head of a Seed, 
and thefe have allb a tubular yellow Bale, tho it has not been regarded ; which, 
inftead of dividing at the Top, into five Segments, opens, becomes lengthen’d, 
and changes Colour ; fo that it is continu’d into a Ray or flat Petal j whofe Bale 
is hollow. In this Flofcule is a Style^ as in the others 5 bUt there are ilo Fila^ 
mentSi 
The Courfe by which Natufe forms a double Flowet in this Plant, is by 
giving more Growth to the tubular Flofcules, and thus they are cdriverted into 
Rays. I have exprefs‘d in feparate Figures, all the Gradation. The tubula- 
ted yellow Bale is the lame in thefe Flolcules, and in the Rays ; and the Change 
is thus brought on. Firft, one of the five Segments, of a yellow tubular Flof- 
cule, grows longer than the others : in the next Stage, it joins the two which 
are next it, to its own Body; ahd growing yet longer, there is one long Segment, 
and two ftiort ones : the long one allb begins toward its Top to alTume the pur- 
ple Colour of a Ray : the next Stage obliterates the two Segments which 
were left in the former ; and the Flofcule is nOw tubular at the Bafe, with a 
plain, long, and partly flat Body. One Stage more perfects the DoUblertefs i 
for this flat Part growing more in Length, and acquiring a full pUrple Colour, 
becomes a perfeft Ray. The Filaments in this Cafe, fade for Want of Nou- 
rilhment, but the Style remains ; and thefe Rays of the Centre become the 
fame entirely with thofe of the Verge. 
Thus is the Flower of the After doubled 1 but as there yet remain ufually 
fome perfect tubular Flolcules irt the Middle, tho’ they are hid by thefe nume- 
rous Rays, part of which fall over them ; the double Flowet itfelf can there- 
fore ripen Seedsi This is not peculiar to the prefeUt Plant, the double China 
After is form’d in the lame Manner, and alfo ripens Seeds* 
TRANS- 
After caule corymbofo^ foliis lanceolatis^ refleiis, floribus folitariis^ calyeibus patulis. 
