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قراءة كتاب The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 09 Or, Flower-Garden Displayed
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The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 09 Or, Flower-Garden Displayed
class="smcap">Lambert, at Wimbledon.
Fatal as Guernsey proved to the unfortunate mariners, it afforded the roots of our plant a soil and situation apparently congenial to their own; in that island they have flourished ever since, there they are propagated in the open borders of the flower-garden with the least possible trouble, flowering most readily, but we believe never producing any ripe seeds; from thence most of the roots which flower with the curious here, are yearly imported in the Autumn.
In Guernsey, the cold of the Winter is far less intense than with us; many of those plants which we keep in our greenhouses, stand with them in the open ground; the superior mildness of the climate enables them to cultivate this plant with more success than we can do, even perhaps with all the expence and trouble to which we might subject ourselves; to such, however, whose situations may be favourable, and who may be fond of making experiments, we recommend the perusal of Fairchild's Directions, a practical Gardener of great ingenuity, and who appears to have had much experience in the culture of this plant[A].
It is usual to plant the imported bulbs in pots of sand, or light loam, as soon as they arrive, and place them in the parlour window, or greenhouse; they blossom in September and October; the flowers, which continue about a month in perfection, are inodorous, but make up for that deficiency by the superior splendour of their colours: Dr. Douglass thus describes them, each flower when in its prime looks like a fine gold tissue wrought on a rose-coloured ground, but when it begins to fade and decay, it looks more like a silver tissue, or what they call a pink colour: when we look upon the flower in full sun-shine, each leaf appears to be studded with thousands of little diamonds, sparkling and glittering with a most surprising and agreeable lustre; but if we view the same by candle-light, these numerous specks or spangles look more like fine gold dust.
Both Kæmpfer and Thunberg agree, that the Japanese regard the root as poisonous.
[A] "They love a light earth, made with dung and sand, and a little lime rubbish with it does very well, it keeps the roots sound; for if the earth be too stiff or wet, you may keep them for many years before they blow. If they are in pots, they should be put in the house in Winter, to keep them from the severe frosts, which are apt to rot the roots. The time of moving them is when they have no leaves on the root, that is from June to August: those that come with six leaves this year, seldom fail blowing the next year: they need not be put in fresh earth above once in two or three years: by this method of management I have had the same roots blow again in four years time. The many miscarriages that happen to the Guernsey Lily, are by letting the leaves be killed by the fierceness of the frost in Winter, or by cutting them off, as some people do, when they are green, which will so much weaken the plants, that they may keep them twenty years and not have them blow; by the above management, where there is a stock, there will be continually some blowing.
"Miller recommends for these roots the following compost: Take a third-part of fresh virgin earth from a pasture-ground which is light, then put near an equal part of sea-sand, to which you should add rotten dung and sifted lime rubbish, of each an equal quantity."
The great business in the culture of this flower, next to a proper soil and situation, seems to consist in giving the plant as much air as possible, and in preserving the foliage in the Winter from the injury of frost.
[295]
Agrostemma Cœli Rosa. Smooth-Leav'd Cockle, or Rose Campion.
Class and Order.
Decandria Pentagynia.
Generic Character.
Cal. 1-phyllus, coriaceus. Petala 5 unguiculata: limbo obtuso indiviso. Caps. 1 locularis.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
AGROSTEMMA C[oe]li rosa glabra, foliis lineari-lanceolatis, petalis emarginatis coronatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. p. 435. Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 116.
LYCHNIS segetum, Nigellastrum minus glabrum dicta, flore eleganter rubello. Moris. Hist. 2. p. 543. s. 5. t. 22. f. 32.
LYCHNIS pseudomelanthiis similis africana glabra angustifolia. Herm. Leyd. 391. t. 393.
Mr. Aiton informs us in his Hortus Kewensis, that the charming annual here figured, the liveliness of whose colours no paint can express, was cultivated by Miller in 1739; seeing it is a plant of such beauty, and honoured with so distinguished an appellation, it is singular that it should not by this time have made its way more generally into our gardens.
The Cockle of our corn-fields is an ornamental plant, the present species resembles it; but while the plant itself is much smaller, its flowers are proportionably larger, and their colours more vivid.
It is an annual of ready growth, a native of Sicily and the Levant, flowering in July and August, and ripening its seeds in September and October.
It appears to most advantage when several plants of it grow together; the best mode, therefore, is to sow about a dozen seeds early in April on the several spots of the flower-border where you intend they shall remain; no other care is necessary than to keep the plants free from weeds and vermin.
The Agr. Cœli rosa of Miller's Gard. Dict. ed. 6 4to. is the coronaria.
[296]
Sempervivum Tortuosum. Gouty Houseleek.
Class and Order.
Dodecandria Dodecagynia.
Generic Character.
Cal. 12-partitus. Petala 12. Capsulæ 12 polyspermæ.
Specific Character.
SEMPERVIVUM tortuosum foliis obovatis subtus gibbis villosis, nectariis bilobis. Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 148.
We know of no figure of this plant, the first and only account of which is to be found in the Hort. Kew. of Mr. Aiton; there it is specifically described, and from thence we discover that it was introduced from the Canary Islands, where it is a native, by Mr. Masson, in 1779.
It is a shrubby plant of low growth, producing numerous fleshy leaves growing thickly together, which being evergreen, and making a pretty appearance the year through, render the plant worthy a place in all general collections at least, of greenhouse plants; and though it cannot vie