218 
CONVOLVULACEiE. 
both having white flowers, the first a native of the East Indies, 
and the latter of St. Domingo ; they were formerly included in 
the genus Ipomcea, from the members of which they are abun¬ 
dantly distinguished by their more shrubby character. They 
require stove treatment, and will be found to succeed in peat and 
loam. 
Argyreia , or silver-weed, is a larger genus containing twelve 
species, all of them stove climbers with haiidsome rose, red, or 
purple flowers, whose colours are greatly enriched by the silvery 
appearance of the leaves and branches arising from the presence 
of a fine downy tomentum ; they are entirely natives of the East 
Indies, and a considerable part used to be included in Ipomcea , 
the remainder being considered Lettsomias. The most beautiful 
are splendens, rose, a winter-flowering species ; speciosa , purple ; 
argentea , pink ; cuneata , dark purple ; and Boxburghii , rose; a 
mixture of peat and loam, with the assistance of a little bottom 
heat in the earlier stages of their growth, will not fail to grow 
them to fine specimens in the stove. 
Batatas is perhaps the most important genus of the order, 
inasmuch as one of its species, the B. edulis furnishes an article 
of food, the sweet potato of the East, Skirrets of Peru, or Spanish 
potato of the West Indies; this species is cultivated in all the 
tropical climates, and regarded much as is our potato, the tuhers 
being set in the ground, and its trailing stems pegged down in 
the earth, new tubers are plentifully formed ; these were formerly 
imported to this country and regarded as great delicacies, and it 
is to this root Shakespeare and other contemporary authors allude, 
as the common potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) was then scarcely 
known in Europe. The whole of the genus are rather strong¬ 
growing stove climbers, with large and specious blossoms, which 
are freely produced on most, and when trained to the roof or a 
good-sized trellis, make a fine appearance. They require stronger 
soil than the preceding genera; and when the season’s growth is 
completed, the tubers must be gradually dried and kept dormant 
through the winter. The best are insignis, purple; bonariensis , 
pink ; pentaphylla , striped ; and paniculata , purple. 
Breweria Boxburghii is a name given by Don to the old Ipomcea 
semidigyna, a shrubby plant, with white flowers, from the East 
Indies, and requiring the treatment necessary with Aniseia. 
