OP ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
257 
are kept in tlieir hard, horned capsule till January. The seeds are curiously shaped, and look as if they were 
covered with net-work ; they should be sown in a soil composed of nearly equal parts of peat-earth, or vegetable 
mould, and sand. The earth in which the seeds are sown should be kept constantly moist ; but it should be well 
drained, as the plants will wither if either the roots are suffered to become quite dry, or if they are kept in 
stagnant water. The plants are generally raised on a slight hot-bed, and planted out in May ; but in warm 
sheltered situations, they may be sown where they are intended to remain. As to their after culture, when sown 
in the open ground, they may either have the points of their shoots repeatedly taken off, so as to make them 
form bushy plants, or the long slender stems, instead of being twined round any object, may be laid over the 
bed, and pegged down at the joints. Where trouble is not an object, the plants may be grown in pots and 
shifted many times, as directed for Rhodanthe Manglesii. Seeds are common in the seed-shops. The variety 
appears more tender than the species. 
CHAPTER XLIY. 
GENTIANE/E. 
Essential Character. —Calyx 4 —5-cleft, permanent. Corolla 
monopetalous, -with an equally-parted limb ; imbricate in aestivation. 
Stamens epipetalous, equal in number to the segments of the corolla, 
and alternating with them, some of them abortive. Stigmas 1—2. 
Capsule (sometimes a berry) many-seeded, 1—2-celled, usually 2- 
valved. Embryo straight, enclosed in the axis of a soft fleshy albu¬ 
men. Herbs, rarely shrubs, usually glabrous. Leaves opposite, 
entire, exstipulate. Flowers terminal, or axillary. 
GENUS I. 
GENTIANA, Lin. THE GENTIAN. 
• Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Corolla campanulately funnel-shaped, 4—5-cleft. Stigma 2-lobed. Seeds roundish or oblong.— (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — All the different kinds of Gentian are remarkable for the beauty of their flowers, and 
many of them for the medicinal properties of their roots. The genus Gentian of Limueus has been divided into 
several genera ; but we shall retain the old names, as they are those under which the species are distinguished in 
Plate 47, marking, however, the new names as synonymes. The name of Gentiana is perhaps the oldest example 
extant of the custom of naming plants after some person ; as it is said to have been named in honour of Gentius, 
King of Illyria, whose health had been restored by the use of the root of one of the species as a tonic. 
1.—GENTIANA QUINQUEFLORA, Lin. 
Synonymes. — G. amarelloides, Pursh. ; Hippion quinqueflorum, 
Schmidt. 
Engravings —Bot. Mag. t. 34S6 ; and our fig. 4, iu Plate 48. 
Specific Character. —Stem tetragonal, branched. Leaves stem- 
THE FIVE-FLOWERED GENTIAN. 
clasping, oval, acute, 3-nerved. Flowers terminal and lateral, 
3—5 together, on short pedicels. Corolla tubularly campanulate, 
5-cleft. Throat naked. Segments lanceolate, acuminated with simple 
plica;. Calycine segments very short, narrow.—(G. Don.) 
Description, &c.— A very pretty plant, growing about a foot high. It was originally introduced in 1824, 
but it was soon lost^ and it was not reintroduced till 1835. 
It is a native of North America, where it was found 
in abundance, growing on the grassy banks of streams among the Alleghany Mountains. It requires no other 
care than sowing in the open border, and occasional waterings if the weather should prove dry. 
L L 
