POTE'RIUM.* Stamens and pistils in different flowers on the same plant: Calyx four leaves: Bloss. with four divisions: B. Stam. thirty to forty. F. Drupa juiceless, beneath, one or two-celled, formed of the indurated tube of the blossom. P. SANGUISOR BA. Thornless: stems somewhat angular. Dicks. H. S.-(E. Bot. 860. E.)-Ludw. 197-Kniph. 1-Curt.—Matth. BURNET. (Welsh: Gwyddlwdn cyffredin. E.) In dry calcareous soil. pices, but the herbage more general consists of the gigantic Smyrnium olusatrum, Lavatera arborea, Hyosciamus niger, and a brush-wood of Ligustrum vulgare. The seeds have been strung and worn round the neck as beads, ornamental from their beautiful colour, (whence, probably, the specific name), and, in a more credulous age, not without reference to certain cabalistic purposes, as a Fuga Dæmonum, and protector from the powers of darkness:-" but it is no marvell," saith Gerard, "that most superstitious and wicked ceremonies are found in the bookes of the most ancient authors, for there were many things in their time very vainly fained and cogged in for ostentation sake, as by the Aegyptians and other counterfeit mates."-The Daurians are said to boil Peony roots in broth; and to prepare a tea from the bruised seeds, called Dschina. The efficacy of the root was likewise pre-eminent among " Pæoniæ herbæ;" (Virg. Ovid.) plants celebrated for sanatory virtues. E.) (From TOTEpio, a cup; or cool tankard, in which this herb is sometimes an ingredient. E.) + The leaves and seeds are mildly astringent, and have been recommended in dysenteries and hemorrhages. Lewis. The young leaves are sometimes used in salads, and in cool tankards. When bruised they smell like cucumber. It has of late years been cultivated, as affording food for cattle early in the spring; and growing so luxuriantly, as to allow of three mowings during the summer. With. Ed. 1. p. 78. On Salisbury Plain, between Salisbury and Everley, this plant forms almost the whole staple of the herbage over a great extent of that most excellent sheep-walk. It is kept very close by the large flocks which depasture on it every day, except here and there a flower stem which is left growing. I have no doubt but it is a most valuable plant in bard stocked sheep pastures. Cows prefer it to clover, but sheep and horses do not. Mr. Pitt. As it only appears in a calcareous soil, the failure in its cultivation may have arisen from want of attention to that circumstance, and cattle may dislike it when fully grown, though when close bitten it proves 30 TRIGYNIA. DELPHINIUM.* Calyx none: Petals five or six: Nectary cloven, horn-shaped: Caps. leguminous, many-seeded. D. CONSOLIDA. Capsule solitary: nectary of one leaf: stem subdivided, spreading. Riv. Pent. 124, Delphinium-Kniph. 2-(E. Bot. 1839. E.)-Ludw. 54Blackw. 26-Fl. Dan. 683-Lonic. i. 182. 2-Fuchs. 27-Trag. 569-J. B. ii. a. 210-Dod. 252. 2-Lob. Obs. 427. 1, and Ic. i. 739. 2—Ger. Em. 1033. 5-Ger. 923. 4-Park. Par. 279. 3-Dod. 252. 1-Lob. Obs. 426. 2, and Ic. i. 739. 1-Ger. Em. 1082. 1. (Stem one to two feet high. E.) Branches cylindrical. Leaves divided down to the base into three or five parts, which are deeply cut into slender strap-shaped segments often forked at the end. Floral-leaves two, strap-shaped, opposite. Petals irregularly scolloped at the edge; the lateral ones broadest; the uppermost spear-shaped, not blunter than the rest, rather shorter than the nectary, but projecting backwards into a conical tube. Nectary placed within the upper petal. Anthers double, yellow. Germen conical, wholly. Styles none. Summits two, white, small, fleshy, flatted, and lying close together. Flowers blue; valuable to sheep. (Mr. Salisbury considers it highly estimable. He also states it to be a favourite food of deer. Mr. Holdich affirms Burnet to be valuable as a winter food, from its warm and stimulating nature, especially combined with turnips, and by no means objectionable in hay. Mr. Sinclair states that it will succeed in soils unsuitable to Lucern, sainfoin, or clover; that its hardy nature, keeping green all winter, and its early growth, render it desirable. Another authority in favour of Burnet may be found in Eucyc. Brit. where it is stated to "prove an excellent winter pasture when hardly any thing else vegetates. Other advantages are: it makes good butter; it never blows or swells cattle; it is fine pasture for sheep; and will flourish well on poor, light, sandy, or stony soils, or even on dry chalk hills. The cultivation is neither hazardous nor expensive, the land being prepared as for turnips. The severest frost never injures this plant, and the oftener it is fed the thicker are its leaves, which spring constantly from its root, and their flat circular spread will prevent the growth of weeds.' A Coccus may be found about the roots of Burnet, which was formerly used for dyeing silk and wool a rose colour. In Britain it is superseded by the Mexican Cochineal, but the Moors are said still to make use of it. As may be remarked of the Snapdragon and some few other plants, so our present species possesses in an extraordinary degree the faculty of preserving its verdure, and flourishing amid surrounding aridity and exhaustion. It is probable that such plants, observes the author of the "Journal of a Naturalist," have the power of imbibing that insensible moisture, which arises from the earth even in the driest weather, or from the air which passes over them. The immense evaporation proceeding from the earth, even in the hottest season, supplies the atmosphere constantly with humidity; and as every square foot of this element can sustain eleven grains of water, an abundant provision is made for every demand. Ia noting this phenomenon, we cannot but perceive, in the perpetual transmission of these refreshing dews of heaven from one portion of matter to another, for mutual sustentation, a beneficent ordination of Providence, and a beautiful illustration of that compensatory system which pervades the universe, and is not even limited to the material world. In the present instance, without this unceasing process of evaporation and restitution, this never-failing supply of circulating medium, as it were, all nature would stagnate: neither animal nor vegetable life could long subsist. And thus in the moral world, the irreversible decree of mutual dependance, by enforcing an endless interchange of reciprocal good offices, cements the social compact, and promotes the harmony of the whole. E.) (From Sexor; from a fancied resemblance of the unopened flower to the Dolphin of the ancients, as displayed in heraldry. by cultivation white, purple, red, or bay, (in a terminal cluster of few. Seeds angular, rough. E.) FIELD LARKSPUR. (DOLPHIN-FLOWER. E.) Corn-fields. Swaffham Field. Ray. Lower Road between Cambridge and Gogmagog Hills. Relhan: with all the varieties of colour. Mr. Woodward. (Near Bury. Rev. Dr. Goodenough. Corn-field near Ripton, rare. Mr. Brunton. In a field by Pershore. Merret. Fields about Aldborough, at the Hall Farm. Rev. G. Crabbe. About Feltwell, near Brandon. Mr. F. Smith; and at Barton Bendish, and Oxburgh, Norfolk. Rev. R. Forby. Hebburn Ballast Hills, Durham. In fields near the Lough, on Holy Island, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. In a limestone quarry near Bishopwearmouth. Mr. W. Backhouse, jun. Winch Guide. In several fields near Blandford. Pulteney. Corn-fields at St. Leonard's Farm, near Bedford, Rev. Dr. Abbot. E.) Á. June-Sept.* PENTAGYNIA. (ACONITUM.+ Cal. none: Pet. five, the upper one hooded: Nect. two, recurved, stalked, under the hood. E.) A. NAPEL'LUS. Upper petal arched at the back: lateral ones hairy at the inner side: germens three, smooth: leaves deeply five-cleft, cut, with linear segments, furrowed above. Woodv. t. 6-Dod. Pempt. 442—Ger. Em. 972-Lob. Ic. 679-Trag. Hist. 248. Stem erect, (three to four or five feet high, E.) simple, leafy, clothed with minute close hairs, and terminating in a solitary, simple, upright cluster of large dark-blue flowers. Leaves alternate, on short stalks; nearly smooth on both sides, paler beneath. WOLF'S-BANE, or MONK'S-HOOD. FRIAR'S-CAPS in Devon. By the sides of streams. By the side of the river Teme, Herefordshire; and still more abundantly on the banks of a brook running into that river, to all appearance truly wild. Rev. E. Whitehead, C.C.C. Oxon, 1819. In watery ground, on both sides of a brook, at Ford, near Wiveliscomb, Somersetshire, for the course of a mile or more, a well as in other similar situations in that neighbourhood, 1825. Mr. T. Clark, jun. P. June-July. Sm. Eng. Fl. E.) The propriety of the above interesting addition to the British Flora is further confirmed by the observation of Frederick Russell, esq. by whom it was found in an unquestionably wild station in Devonshire, 1827. In the The expressed juice of the petals, with the addition of a little alum, makes a good blue ink. The seeds are acrid and poisonous. When cultivated the blossoms become double, (and, in this case, the petals frequently increase to the exclusion of the spur. Few parterres can exhibit a more brilliant display than those of the finer kinds of Larkspur, as either derived from our native, or foreign species. E.) Sheep and goats eat it. Horses are not fond of it. Cows and swine refuse it. Phalana Delphinium lives upon it. Linn. (It is said likewise to constitute the favourite food of the rare and singularly elegant moth, and caterpillar, Chariclea Deiphinii. Curt. Brit. Entom. v. 2. pl. 76. E.) +(Theophrastus derives the name from Axons, a city of Bithynia, near which it is said to abound: other etymologists deduce it from axwv, ax, a dart, savage nations poisoning their missiles with a preparation from certain species. E.) course of the same autumn the Editor, directed by the the above-named gentleman, had the satisfaction to behold this stately plant growing (together with Hypericum Androsamum) in some profusion on the margin of a limpid stream between two and three hundred yards below Ogwell mill, in a small meadow, with a foot-path leading down the opposite side of the stream; a spot not less remarkable for its lovely sylvan scenery, in the midst of Bradley woods, near Newton, than attractive to the antiquarian from its proximity to the ancient seat of the Yarde family. E.)* AQUILE'GIA.+ Calyr none: Petals five: Nectaries five, horn-shaped, alternating with the petals: Caps. five, distinct. A. VULGARIS. Nectaries incurved, nearly as long as the petals: leafits all on leaf-stalks, lobes distant, roundish, bluntish: (capsules hairy. E.) Kniph. 5-Ludw. 181-E. Bot. 297-Fl. Dan. 695-Mill. Ill.-Dod. 181. 1 -Lob. Obs. 440. 2, and Ic. i. 761. 1—Ger. Em. 1093. 1-H. Ox. xii. 1. row (Not unfrequently met with in rustic gardens, with white, rose-coloured, and variegated flowers: nor can our Island longer claim entire exemption from it as a native; notwithstanding Dryden recounts among our blessings, that "Our land is from the rage of tigers freed, Nor nourishes the lion's angry seed, Nor poisonous Aconite is here produced, Or grows unknown; or is, when known, refus'd." And with equal reference to the malign influence of the Monk's-hood, thus are depicted the stepdames in the iron age of Ovid, "Lurida terribiles miscent Aconita noverca.' That this herb is one of the most powerful of vegetable poisons cannot be doubted. "The force and facultie of Woolfe's-bane is deadly, both to man and all kinds of beasts;' says Gerard, who records several instances of its fatal effects; but it appears that various plants of somewhat similar names have been confounded by ancient writers, and are scarcely to be discriminated by the moderns. For a well-authenticated case of the deleterious virulence of this species, vid. Phil. Tr. vol. 33. an. 1732. Nevertheless, as frequently happens when rightly understood, qualities the most baneful may be converted into blessings, and in the present instance Dr. Storch, a German physician, advocates the medicinal virtues even of the Aconite. Dr. Lempriere (Lectures p. 234), declares it to possess a caustic suffocating quality, by which swallowing is immediately affected and the stomach corroded. The roots are particularly virulent. The juice was formerly used by savage nations for the purpose of poisoning arrows. Another writer states that the flowers sometimes communicate, in a degree, their noxious quality even by being smelled to; and that wearing them on the head may occasion "a violent megrim." Of the bad qualities of these plants we sometimes avail ourselves to ged rid of vermin. The juice is also used to poison flesh with, for the destruction of wolves, foxes, and other ravenous beasts. It is remarkable that the blue-flowered kinds are much more virulent than those with yellow or white flowers. Physiologists suppose the pernicious effects to be produced by irritating the nervous coats of the stomach and intestines, so as to occasion violent convulsions through the whole body. To relieve the stomach of its noxious contents an infusion of tobacco, followed by oily and mucilaginous medicines have been recommended. Monkshood should not be planted where children have access, lest they should put the leaves or flowers in their mouths, or rub them about their eyes; for a great disorder may be thus occasioned; and the farina of the flowers blown into the eyes will cause dangerous inflammation. E.) +(From aquila, an eagle; and lego to gather or collect; the nectaries resembling an eagle's claws as probably the English name may be derived from a fancied resemblance of the same parts to a dove's claw, or head and neck, as some imagine. E.) 3. 1-Fuchs. 102-Trag. 137-J. B. iii. 484. 1—Park. 1367. 1—Matth. 629—Swert. ii. 8. 9-Lonic. i. 85. 1-Column. Phyt. 1-Ger. 935. 1. Stem upright, three feet high, branched, somewhat angular, (bearing several flowers. E.) Leaves, the lower on leaf-stalks, doubly threefold; leafits with three lobes, cut-scolloped; the uppermost leaves digitate, lobes oval, very entire. Leaf-stalks from the root very long. Blossoms blue, or purple. Seeds black. Flowers pendent. Lyons. Sometimes of a yellow green. (Var. Fl. alb. Flowers white, just above the beach below Trefarthen, Anglesey. Rev. Hugh Davies. E.) (Hudson's A. alpina, said to grow in the mountainous woods of Westmoreland, is a lesser variety, with the nectary extended, and but little incurved; and, according to Smith, wholly distinct from the A. alpina of Linnæus, which has blossoms double the size. E.) Near COLUMBINE. (Welsh: Madwysg cyffredin. E.) Woods and thickets. Upper part of Girling Trough, near Conniston; Kilnsay, Yorkshire. Curtis. Bedingham, Norfolk, with blossoms blue or white; near Swaffham, with blossoms the same, or pale red. Mr. Woodward. Goldsithney, Cornwall. Mr. Watt. Souston's Roch, near Shelsey, Worcestershire. Mr. Ballard. About Falmouth. Side of a common near which Ligusticum Cornubiense grows, one mile and a half from Bodmin. St. Vincent's Rocks, Bristol. (In woods above Stowting, Kent. Mr. W. Hutchinson. Little Baddow Common, Essex; Arnside, and Kendal Fell, Westmoreland. Mr. W. Christy. In the Dean below Dalton-le-Dale, Durham; near Middleton, and at Baydales; on Ramps Holm, in Derwent-water, (so named from the quantity of Ramps, Allium ursinum growing on it,) and in woods at the head of that lake; also at the head of Wastwater. Truly a native of our woods, and the borders of the Cumberland lakes, remarks Mr. Winch. In Penmon deer-park, the old park near Beaumaris, &c. Welsh Bot. Corley Woods, Warwickshire. Bree. Common in Monmouthshire. Purton. Mouth of the Fyars, Loch Ness. Dr. Bostock. Bradley Woods, and other spots near Newton, Devon. E.) P. June.* HEXAGYNIA. STRATIO TES.+ Sheath two leaves: Calyx three-cleft, or of three leaves: Petals three: Berry six-celled, hexangular, beneath. The beauty of its blossoms has long introduced the Columbine into our flower borders. Goats eat it. Sheep are not fond of it. Cows, horses, and swine refuse it. (Its medicinal qualities were once deemed considerable, but are not well defined, and in some instances it is said to have proved fatal to children. The elongated and incurved nectary of this flower seems to bid defiance to the entrance of the bee in search of the hidden treasure, but the admirable ingenuity of the sagacious insect is not to be thus defeated, for on ascertaining the impracticability of effecting his usual admission, with his proboscis, he actually penetrates both calyx and blossom near the depôt of honey, and thus extracts the latent sweets without further difficulty. Cultivation produces various colours; and Mr. Phillips observes in "Flora Historica," the singular circumstance, that it has three distinct modes of doubling its flowers; viz. by the multiplication of the petals, to the exclusion of the nectaries; by the increase of the nectaries, to the exclusion of the petals; and frequently by the multiplication of the nectaries while the proper petals remain. E.) + (From spations, a soldier; or, perhaps, sparos, in reference to its crowded swordlike leaves. E.) |