1872 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
21 
The Sensitive Briar. 
Last spring some very unpromising-looking 
roots were sent from Louisiana, with the assur- 
less sensitive. The genus was named in honor 
of Schrank, a German botanist. The specific 
name, uncinata, means hooked, and has refer¬ 
ence to the short recurved prickles on the stem. 
although rarely to be found in the collections of 
our fashionable florists. It was formerly called 
Achania, but botanists now place it in the genus 
Malvaviscus, a name which means Sticky or 
anee that they produced a most beautiful flower. 
The roots were set out, and the ouly one that 
lived showed itself to be an old friend, the Sen¬ 
sitive Briar, Schrankia uncinata. It is found as 
far north as Virginia, and further south it is 
very common. The prostrate 
stems are three or four feet 
long and abundantly supplied 
with sharp-hooked prickles. 
The leaves are twice-pinnate, 
with very small leaflets. At 
the axil of each leaf is a globu¬ 
lar cluster of very small, rose- 
colored flowers, which are 
very closely crowded together; 
they are followed by short 
pods. The most noticeable 
thing about the plant is the 
sensitiveness of its leaves. It 
bears some resemblance in ap¬ 
pearance to the true Sensitive- 
plant, and though not as sensi¬ 
tive as that, the leaves close 
with sufficient rapidity to 
make it interesting. In Texas 
we have seen it cover the 
prairie by the acre, and it was 
amusing to observe the change 
produced as a horseman 
passed over it, and to see how 
shortly after the disturbance 
the “wake” would be obliter¬ 
ated by the opening of the leaves. There is 
another species of Schrankia and a Mimosa in 
our Southern States, which are also more or 
Viscid-Mallow — Malvaviscus — Achania. 
Among the old greenhouse plants that have 
been in a good measure crowded aside by newer 
accessions is the one which we here figure. 
Every now and then a specimen has come from 
some far-off reader for a name, showing that it is 
still cherished as a house plant in many places, 
Viscid Mallow, on account of the gluey pulp of 
the fruit. There are three or four species, the 
best known one being M. arboreus. The plant 
is a rather straggling shrub, which will grow to 
the bight of ten or fifteen feet, though usually 
kept much smaller. It has 
the soft foliage so common 
in the Mallow Family, and 
bears almost all the year round 
flowers of the most brilliant 
scarlet color. The flowers do 
not open any more than the 
one shown in the engraving, 
the petals remaining twisted 
together, with one edge of each 
turned out to forma kind of 
ridge. The column of stamens 
and the pistil are protruded 
for some distance beyond the 
corolla. The fruit differs from 
that of most of the Mallow 
Family, in being pulpy and 
berrv-like. In the present spe¬ 
cies the fruit is yellowish, 
changing to red. This shrub 
is an admirable one for parlor 
culture, as it is not liable to be 
attacked by insects, and if it 
has a plenty of light remains 
almost constantly in bloom. 
By a little care in pruning, 
it may be grown in the form 
of a round-headed tree. In greenhouses and 
conservatories it is sometimes trained against a 
wall. We have in Texas a native species of 
arum-leaved peperomia. —(Rperomia arifolia. See next page.) 
