Stem widely dividing, cylindrical, downy, viscid. Leaves rounded, velvety, somewhat viscid, especially underneath, lobed, with a red point in the hollows. Leaf-stalks reddish brown. Calyx awned, wrinkled, expanding, with three longitudinal wrinkles. Petals wedge-shaped, very blunt, with three reddish brown scores at the base, the under surface not lying upon, but raised from the calyx. Anthers yellow. Linn. Stipulæ spearshaped; floral-leaves always of a deep red. Woodw. Seeds dotted. Flowers purplish flesh colour, sometimes white. (All the leaves opposite. Sm. E.) ROUND-LEAVED CRANE'S-BILL. Walls, roofs, ditch banks, and sandy pastures, about Bath, Bristol, Battersea, Wandsworth, Mortlake, and Kew. In Suffolk, common. Mr. Woodward. St. Vincent's Rocks, Bristol. (On old walls about Hampton, Claverton, and Hinton, in Somersetshire. Mr. Sole. On the hedge banks at Salt Meadows near Gateshead, Durham. Winch Guide. Common on walls in Oxford. Rough and sterile places about Garn, Denbigh. Mr. Griffith. On a wall at Hartlebury, Worcestershire. Purton. Arthur's Seat. Dr. Graham. Grev. Edin. E.) A. May-July. OBS. Should the characters attempted to be principally derived from the seeds and seedcoats or capsules prove unsatisfactory or unavailable, G. columbinum, pusillum, molle, and rotundifolium, whose distinctions have occasioned much trouble, may be clearly understood by attending to the following circumstances. G. columbinum. Its awned calyx distinguishes it from molle and pusillum, and its notched petals from rotundifolium. -pusillum. Its awnless calyx distinguishes it from columbinum, its hairy seed-coat from molle, and its notched petals from rotundifolium. -molle. Its awnless calyx distinguishes it from columbinum, its hairless and wrinkled seed-coat from pusillum, and its notched petals from rotundifolium. -rotundifolium. Its entire petals and dotted (or, according to Smith, peculiarly reticulated, E.) seeds, distinguish it from the other three. (Consult also an ingenions paper in Gent. Mag. p. 487; 1797. E.) G. ROBERTIA'NUM. Leafits by fives or by threes, lobes wing-cleft: calyx decangular: (capsules rugose. E.) Curt.-Walc.-Blackw. 480-(E. Bot. 1486. E.)-Lonic. i. 152. 1—Fl. Dan. 694-Dod. 62-Lob. Obs. 375. 1, and Ic. i. 657. 2-Ger. Em. 939, and 945. 5-Park. 710. 8-H. Ox. v. 15. 11-Pet. 65. 5-Fuchs. 206— Trag. 108-J. B. iii. 480-Matth. 858. Plant strong scented, beset with pellucid hairs, but becoming smoother as it grows older. Upper leaves divided into three parts, the lowermost into five; leafits united at the base, wing-cleft; segments terminated by little sharp thorns. Calyx awned, the angles more evident as the seeds ripen. Petals, claws long, border a little ragged, with three faint white lines. Filaments not very evidently united. Anthers red. Pollen yellow. Style hairy. Summits fine crimson. Stems branched, spreading, (about a foot long; towards autumn, as also other parts, tinged with red. Blossom red, sometimes white. (Salisbury noticed the two curious bundles of silvery threads arising from the upper part of each side the cleft of the corcule, and attached at the opposite extremity to the stigma; so that when, as in G. lucidum, the beak by its elastic force flings the corcule from its receptacle, it still hangs suspended by these two appendages, which are not much unlike the coma attached to the seeds of Asclepiadea. Hook. E.) Var. 2. Fl. alb. White-flowered. Road from Litchfield to Stafford, a little beyond the fourth mile stone, plentifully. Mr. Saville. Den of Portend, near the Loch of Monteith. Mr. Brown. Near Exeter. Mr. Martyn. (A large bed of it on the shingles near the mouth of the Ystwith, Cardiganshire. Mrs. Bowyer Adderley. E.) Var. 3. (G. lucidum saxatile, foliis G. Robertiani. R. Syn. 358. E.) Whole plant shining. Leaves smaller and more deeply divided: joints nu merous. Pet. 65. 6. Near Swanning, Dorsetshire. Sherard. Shore of Selsey Island. Dillenius. (A weed in Chelsea garden. Smith. E.) HERB ROBERT. (Irish: Ruhell Rih. Welsh: Pig yr Aran troedrudd. E.) POLYANDRIA. ALTHE'A. Calyx double, outer nine-cleft: Capsules nunumerous, monospermous. A. OFFICINA'LIS. Leaves undivided, slightly five-lobed, soft and downy. Kniph. 6-Ludw. 1-E. Bot. 147-Woodw. 53—Fl. Dan. 530-Blackw. 90— Park. 304. 1-Fuchs. 15-Trag. 371—J. B. ii. 954-Lonic. i. 157. 1— Ger. 787-Matth. 925-Clus. ii. 24. 1-Dod. 655. 1-Lob. Obs. 373. 1, and Ic. i. 653. 1-Ger. Em. 933. 1-H. Ox. v. 19. 12. Stem upright, a yard high or more, cottony, cylindrical, somewhat branched. Leaves egg-spear-shaped, woolly, very soft, velvety; the upper smaller, with generally three imperfect lobes, serrated, with mostly five ribs underneath; the lower larger, with seven ribs, serrated, or rather scolloped. Flowers rather large, from the bosom of the leaves, on fruit-stalks, in a kind of panicle. Flowers-scales many cleft, bristleshaped. Petals nicked, flesh-coloured. Relh. Leaves on leaf-stalks, angular. Calyx, the outer with sometimes eleven or twelve segments. Petals fringed at the base. (Pubescence stellate. E.) MARSH-MALLOW. WYMOTE. (Althea of Pharm. Lond. E.) Salt marshes and banks of rivers. Salt marshes, Norfolk and Suffolk. Mr. Woodward. Sea shore near Marazion and Penzance, Cornwall. Mr. Watt. (Brading, and Quor Abbey, Isle of Wight. Dr. Bostock. Near Ardbigland on the Solway Firth. Dr. Burgess. Hook. Scot. E.) P. Aug.§ (The proper name after that of a celebrated Curator of the Oxford Botanic garden. E.) +(As a vulnerary and abstergent, beneficial in hemorrhages, this, and some other species, have been long in repute. In North Wales, particularly in the neighbourhood of Rhydar, this plant has acquired much celebrity as a remedy for nephritic or calculous complaints. A handful of the dried leaves may be infused as tea, and a teacup full taken occasionally. Mr. Watt. The leaves, while yet green, are subject to a pretty little parasite, Dorhidea Robertiani; "in scattered clusters, very minute, dot-like, hemispherical, black, opening at length at the apex." Grev. Scot. Crypt. 146. E.) (From anew, to heal; alluding to its sanative virtues. E.) § The whole plant, particularly the root, abounds with mild mucilage. The root boiled is much used as an emollient cataplasm, and an infusion of it is very generally (A. HIRSUTA. Leaves three-cleft, rough with hairs, smooth on the upper surface: peduncles solitary, one-flowered. Jacq. Austr. 170. Stems spreading, rough with expanding hairs. Calyx, the outer with eight segments, inner the length of the blossom, sharp-pointed. Blossom pinky white, scolloped. Linn. Root-leaves kidney-shaped. Hal. ROUGH ALTHEA. This species was first announced to the British Botanist by the Rev. Jelinger Symons in his Synopsis, as discovered in a field near Cobham, by Mr. Jacob Rayer, in 1792. By the kindness of Mr. W. Christy, we have been favoured with specimens gathered on the same spot in 1827 by Mr. W. Peete. P. E.) MALVA.* Calyx double, outer three-leaved: Capsules eight or more, whorled, monospermous. M. ROTUNDIFO'LIA. Stems short, prostrate: leaves heart-shaped, circular, plaited, indistinctly five or seven-lobed: fruit-stalks when in fruit declining. Curt. Fl. Dan. 721—(E. Bot. 1092. E.)-Fuchs. 508-J. B. ii. 549. 2— Trag. 369-Dod. 653. 2-Lob. Obs. 371. 2, and Ic. i. 651. 1-Ger. Em. 930. 2-Lonie. i. 156. 2. Stem and branches lying close to the ground. Leaves serrated. Leaf-stalks very long. Leaf-scales in pairs, spear-shaped, fringed. Fruit-stalks much shorter than the leaves, with one flower. Blossom purplish, or white, with purple veins. Woodw. Petals twice as long as the calyx. (Var. 2. M. pusilla. E. Bot. 241. M. rotundifolia B. Sm. By Hooker and Greville scarcely deemed a permanent variety. M. parviflora. Huds. ; not of Linn. Petals so diminutive ns scarcely to exceed the calyx. E.) MAULS. DWARF MALLOW. (Welsh: Hoccys bychan. E.) Road sides, among rubbish. A. June-Oct. M. SYLVESTRIS. (Stem erect, herbaceous: leaves five or seven-lobed, toothed outer calyx leafits partly united at the base: leaf and flower-stalks hairy. E.) Curt.-(E. Bot. 671. E.)-Blackw. 22-Woodv. 54-Fuchs. 509-J. B. 949. 1-Ger. 785. 1—H. Ox. v. 17. 8-Dod. 653. 1—Lob. Obs. 371. 1, and Ic. i. 605. 2-Ger. Em. 930. 1. prescribed in all cases wherein mild mucilaginous substances are useful. (It is further recommended in sharp defluxions upon the lungs, hoarseness, dysenteries; and Jikewise in nephritic and calculous disorders; not that it has any peculiar power of dissolving or expelling the calculus, but by lubricating and relaxing the vessels, it procures a more free and easy passage. Of several officinal preparations from this herb, the syrup alone is now retained. Mallows have not only been long celebrated for assuaging wounds, but were used to decorate the graves of our ancestors: and so indispensable were they deemed to each domicile of the living, that, as a matter of decided ill omen, the poet exclaims, "Alas! when Mallows in the garden die." E.) (Possibly from padarow, to soften ; in reference to its emollient and relaxing qualities; though Gerard deduces it from the Chaldee name Malluach, as growing among rubbish abounding in saltpetre. E.) Stem, two or three feet high, more or less upright, rough, hairy, nearly of the same thickness throughout, rather woody. Leaves with five lobes, rarely six or seven, unequally serrated, hairy on both sides, with a dark purple stain near the insertion of the leaf stalk. Leaf-stalks triangular, hirsute. Fruit-stalks nearly cylindrical, from the bosom of the leaf-stalks or branches. Calyx outer, leaves spear-shaped; both inner and outer hairy without, smooth within, toothed at the edges, and the teeth terminating in long hairs. Petals large, deeply notched, purple, with three or four darker streaks. Summits eleven or twelve. The colour of the flowers varies with more or less of a bluish cast, and the leaves are liable to be variegated with yellowish blotches. COMMON MALLOW. (Irish: Hocus Fehain. Welsh: Hoccys, &c. cyffre din. E.) Hedges, road-sides, and amongst rubbish. Its trivial name ill accords with its usual places of growth in this country, for I do not recollect ever having found it in a wood. A. June-Aug.* (Professor Davy observes that the fibres of all kinds of Mallows are particularly beautiful, especially of this species. They are finer than camel's hair, and there is no difficulty in procuring them. Month. Mag. vol. 28. This species has been particularly recommended as a substitute for hemp, according to a prospectus of the Economic Institution. The thread procured by maceration is said to make more beautiful cloths and stuffs than even flax. From the Malve, likewise, a new sort of paper, particularly suitable for the hanging of rooms has been fabricated in France. Our native kinds merit more attention from our ingenious artists than they have hitherto engaged, though to the agriculturist they are little better than cumber grounds. To the admirer of Flora, even in her most homely attire, "The Mallow purpling o'er the pleasant sides Of pathways green," will be more than tolerated. The leaves and flowers yield a glutinous and emollient juice, sometimes applied externally; but Althea officinalis possesses the same qualities in a more eminent degree. These plants were formerly considered as a wholesome ingredient in other food, and some foreign species are still thus used in China, Egypt, and other countries. Horace likewise alludes to the same purpose,― And again, "Me pascunt Olivæ, Me Cichorca, levesque Malvæ." "Malva salubres corpori." Apion (Curculio) Malvæ, is extremely common on the Mallow, and is found upon no other plant. Kirby. It also affords nutriment and shelter to Apion Oxurum, and A. æneum, Haltica rufipes, and Noctua clavaria. Though this may not be a fit place for physiological disquisition, especially if extending beyond the plant under immediate inspection, we cannot entirely omit allusion to discoveries, which, if proved to be correct, may lead to results the most important. Early microscopic observers have professed to be acquainted with the apparent metamorphosis of animalcules into vegetables. The accounts of certain seeds possessing spontaneous motion, and then sending forth roots and becoming fixed vegetables, were not unknown to Mr. Ellis, author of the work on Corallines, who bas given a satisfactory solution of the phenomenon. He says, "The minute seeds which evolve under water from fungi and mosses, and appear to have spontaneous motion, derive that motion from more minute animalcules in the water, which, by pecking at the seeds, moved them about in various directions, while the little animals were scarcely visible, till the food they had eaten discovered them." In 1745, Mr. T. Needham published a volume, in which he not only minutely and accurately describes the action of the pollen of plants, but has correctly delineated it in the act of ejecting the particles contained within it. It must be recollected that the farina, or pollen, is supposed to perform the function of fecundating the seed; and when seen through a microscope, every particle appears a little bag, containing a meal yet finer. The grains of the pollen of Geranium do not exceed the 400th M. MOSCHA'TA. Stem upright: root-leaves kidney-shaped, cut: stemleaves with five divisions: segments between winged and manycloven leafits of the outer calyx distinct. Curt.-(E. Bot. 754. E.)—Fl. Dan. 905-Col. Ecphr. 147-Walc—J. B. ii. 1067. 1-H. Ox. v. 18. 4. (Two or three feet high. Bloss. large and handsome, rose-coloured, one or two together from the axils of the terminal leaves. E.) In M. alcea the calyx has a protuberating ring at the base, and the outer cup is formed of three egg-shaped leafits, but M. moschata has no ring at the base of the calyx, and the leafits are spear-shaped. Curt. M. moschata may also be distinguished by a musk-like smell proceeding from the herbage, but this is not always perceptible, and in this case it has been mistaken for M. alcea, not one of our natives. MUSK MALLOW. (Welsh: Hoccys mws. E.) Meadows, pastures, road sides, and ditch banks. Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Derbyshire, and the north, frequent. In Norfolk and Suffolk sparingly. Mr. Woodward. Common in the midland and more southern counties. P. July-Aug. (A variety with white blosssoms has been observed by Mr. Dillwyn in fields near Eyethorn, in Kent, Bot. Guide; occasionally introduced into gardens. E.) LAVATE'RA.* Cal. double, the outer three-cleft: Capsules many, equal in number to the summits, placed in a circle, single-seeded. L. ARBOREA. Stem arborescent leaves with seven angles, downy, plaited fruit-stalks crowded, axillary, single-flowered. part of an inch in diameter; the granules within do not exceed the 10,000th part of an inch. The pollen of our present species (the Mallow) is surrounded by minute spines, and the action of this pollen in water is represented, (Fig. 1 and 2, copied from Needham, in Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 2.) as though the case or shell emitted through a small aperture a train of minute globules, contorting themselves from one side to the other. These ohservations stand confirmed by Mr. R. Bakewell: but that truly philosophical observer, Mr. R. Brown, has recently promulgated microscopical experiments to prove, not merely the general existence of active molecules in organic, but even in inorganic bodies; insisting upon no less a novelty than that the ultimate particle obtainable from all bodies, organic and inorganic, "has inherent motion, like unto vital action." His observations were extended from grains of pollen immersed in water to particles of metallic and mineral substances, until he was induced to believe that he had detected even still more minute molecules in rapid oscillating motion. The elementary molecules of organic bodies have been admitted by Buffon, Needham, Wrisburg, Müler, and Dr. Milne Edwards; and in 1814, Dr. Drummond, now Professor in the Belfast Academical Institution, detected active molecules in the eyes of fishes (vid. his Thesis "De Oculi Anatomia Comparativa," and Tr. R. Soc. Edin.); but Mr. Brown finding the molecules to exist in various animal and vegetable tissues, whether living or dead, at length became convinced that even common dust or soot is "entirely composed of these (perhaps ultimate) molecules, possessing visible rapid, spontaneous, and inherent motion." Certain sceptical philosophers have been inclined to attribute these extraordinary appearances to vibration, external agitation, optical deception, or pre-existing animalcules; but well knowing from personal experience the extreme fidelity and accuracy of our friend Mr. Brown, we shall only presume at present to conclude, "That things improbable may still be true." E.) * (Conferred by Tournefort in honour of LAVATER, a physician of Zurich; (not the physiognomist.) E.) |
