26 
MUTABLE hibiscus. 
HIBISCUS MUTaBilis. 
T he Monadelphia abound in beauty as the Hexandria do ■ .t , 
worthy of a particular regard from all who ftudy vegetable’ "" ' 
and the fucceeding double One, its offspring, would be fuffident 
the preceding three laid in their claim before. The Leaf the FI 
growth in this Species are all elegant; and there is, befide a variir* ’ 
of the bloom according to its age, which has a moft romantick a, 1!^ c 
pearance. We fee in European Plants, Flowers differently col ’T “"P" 
Species be the fame : thus we have blue Campanulas and white ones aL ’ n 
belide: we alfo lee in fome of our Garden Plants, a"cha"n"or;:i::'l''!;:^;‘“^ 
Stem; but this is flight in comparifon of the peculiar and ftrlf ■ • " ^ ™ 
of *i. Hififco., .So, L, o„, rr t 
name Mutable was given it for this reafon. " 
At the firft opening they are very pale ; the tina is crimfon but it is G . r • 
that ftate of the Flower, that it amounts, at the utmoft to not!,- T “ 
we call a flelh-colour : it is that fort of bhifh we ffe upon LT 1 
Hyacinths, and on the bloffoms of the double bramble.^ When a° FWer haT^ft 
to ““P" -I-" 
■Tis common to fee a Shrub, of twelve feet high, fpread out into a head of near a, 
much diameter, and cover d in a manner with thefe valf Flowers, as thick and frequent 
hghtcft blulb, to that obfcure crimfon in which they fade and perilh. 
The whole Shrub is beautiful, the Leaves are large and of a downy foftnefs like 
velvet: the extream branches have the fame foft covering; and the innumerable buds, 
on thefe, appear a great article of its beauty: they have the double Cup, as all the 
1 1 ci, an t cy have this ting d varioufly with brown, or red mix’d with a delicate green. 
with Flower are the fame as in the preceding, and they are exprefs’d 
u cient plainnefs. The numerous buttons hang upon very Ihort, loofe ends of 
in bodies grow together, into a Tube or column, thicker and fliorter than 
are ^ ^ manner by a ftyle, whofe five heads 
1 grace in the fingle Flower, It fhews the clafs to be the iVJonadelphia. 
This * 
Weed in China. It grows in vvafte grounds, and over-runs whole acres, 
y admit it fometimes into the remote and wild parts of their gardens : but ’tis the fol- 
*ng ftate of it, which they admire and cultivate. 
ilibifeus foiii, cordaio-quinquangularibus, obfolccc fcrraiis, caulc arborco. 
Palmated China Rof^ 
.b> X’. . y- 
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