ONOS'MA SETO'SUM. 
BRISTLY ONOSMA. 
Class. Order 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
BORAGINACEiE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Russia. 
1 foot. 
July. 
Perennial. 
in 1838. 
No. 751. 
Onosma, the generic name now before us, like 
the former, is of Greek origin. There is little doubt 
of the word osme, smell, furnishing part, if not the 
whole base, on which it has been founded. Some 
ingenious botanists say that it was combined with 
ONOS, an ass, and that the plant is grateful to this 
animal, an assertion which it may be difficult to 
authenticate. 
Onosma comprises a genus of very pretty plants, 
and few, if any, superior to the species Setosum. 
Most persons wdio have attempted their culture, 
know that it is attended with difficulty, which has 
arisen chiefly from the native habitat of these 
plants not having been properly considered. Of 
about thirty species, which now compose the genus, 
nearly the whole may be traced, in their native 
country, to a rocky, a sandy, or a calcarious dry 
and arid habitation. 
To insure success in the culture of plants it is 
indispensable that the soil, moisture, and tempera- 
ture, of their native situations be closely imitated. 
This may generally be effected without much atten- 
dant difficulty. But another requisite — and that of 
