The Botanic Garden Volume Ii Part 3

[_Amaryllis_, l. 152. Formosissima. Most beautiful Amaryllis. Six males, one female. Some of the bell-flowers close their apertures at night, or in rainy or cold weather, as the convolvulus, and thus protect their included stamens and pistils. Other bell-flowers hang their apertures downwards, as many of the lilies; in those the pistil, when at maturity, is longer than the stamens; and by this pendant att.i.tude of the bell, when the anthers burst, their dust falls on the stigma: and these are at the same time sheltered as with an umbrella from rain and dews. But, as a free exposure to the air is necessary for their fecundation, the style and filaments in many of these flowers continue to grow longer after the bell is open, and hang down below its rim. In others, as in the martagon, the bell is deeply divided, and the divisions are reflected upwards, that they may not prevent the access of air, and at the same time afford some shelter from perpendicular rain or dew. Other bell-flowers, as the hemerocallis and amaryllis, have their bells nodding only, as it were, or hanging obliquely toward the horizon; which, as their stems are slender, turn like a weatherc.o.c.k from the wind; and thus very effectually preserve their inclosed stamens and anthers from the rain and cold. Many of these flowers, both before and after their season of fecundation, erect their heads perpendicular to the horizon, like the Meadia, which cannot be explained from meer mechanism.

The Amaryllis formosissima is a flower of the last mentioned kind, and affords an agreeable example of _art_ in the vegetable economy, 1. The pistil is of great length compared with the stamens; and this I suppose to have been the most unchangeable part of the flower, as in Meadia, which see. 2. To counteract this circ.u.mstance, the pistil and stamens are made to decline downwards, that the prolific dust might fall from the anthers on the stigma. 3. To produce this effect, and to secure it when produced, the corol is lacerated, contrary to what occurs in other flowers of this genus, and the lowest division with the two next lowest ones are wrapped closely over the style and filaments, binding them forceibly down lower toward the horizon than the usual inclination of the bell in this genus, and thus const.i.tutes a most elegant flower. There is another contrivance for this purpose in the Hemerocallis flava: the long pistil often is bent somewhat like the capital letter _N_, with design to shorten it, and thus to bring the stigma amongst the anthers.]

Seeks with unsteady step the shelter'd vale, And turns her blushing beauties from the gale.-- 155 _Six_ rival youths, with soft concern impress'd, Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to rest.-- So shines at eve the sun-illumin'd fane, Lifts its bright cross, and waves its golden vane; From every breeze the polish'd axle turns, 160 And high in air the dancing meteor burns.

_Four_ of the giant brood with ILEX stand, Each grasps a thousand arrows in his hand;

[_Ilex_. l. 161. Holly. Four males, four females. Many plants, like many animals, are furnished with arms for their protection; these are either aculei, p.r.i.c.kles, as in rose and barberry, which are formed from the outer bark of the plant; or spinae, thorns, as in hawthorn, which are an elongation of the wood, and hence more difficult to be torn off than the former; or stimuli, stings, as in the nettles, which are armed with a venomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals. The shrubs and trees, which have p.r.i.c.kles or thorns, are grateful food to many animals, as goosberry, and gorse; and would be quickly devoured, if not thus armed; the stings seem a protection against some kinds of insects, as well as the naked mouths of quadrupeds. Many plants lose their thorns by cultivation, as wild animals lose their ferocity; and some of them their horns. A curious circ.u.mstance attends the large hollies in Needwood-forest, they are armed with th.o.r.n.y leaves about eight feet high, and have smooth leaves above; as if they were conscious that horses and cattle could not reach their upper branches. See note on Meadia, and on Mancinella. The numerous clumps of hollies in Needwood-forest serve as landmarks to direct the travellers across it in various directions; and as a shelter to the deer and cattle in winter; and in scarce seasons supply them with much food. For when the upper branches, which are without p.r.i.c.kles, are cut down, the deer crop the leaves and peel off the bark. The bird-lime made from the bark of hollies seems to be a very similar material to the elastic gum, or Indian rubber, as it is called. There is a fossile elastic bitumen found at Matlock in Derbyshire, which much resembles these substances in its elasticity and inflammability. The thorns of the mimosa cornigere resemble cow's horns in appearance as well as in use. System of Vegetables, p. 782.]

A thousand steely points on every scale Form the bright terrors of his bristly male.-- 165 So arm'd, immortal Moore uncharm'd the spell, And slew the wily dragon of the well.-- Sudden with rage their _injur'd_ bosoms burn, Retort the insult, or the wound return; _Unwrong'd_, as gentle as the breeze that sweeps 170 The unbending harvests or undimpled deeps, They guard, the Kings of Needwood's wide domains, Their sister-wives and fair infantine trains; Lead the lone pilgrim through the trackless glade, Or guide in leafy wilds the wand'ring maid.

175 So WRIGHT's bold pencil from Vesuvio's hight Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night; From Calpe starts the intolerable flash, Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash;-- Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede, 180 Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead; On the pale stream expiring Zephyrs sink, And Moonlight sleeps upon its h.o.a.ry brink.

Gigantic Nymph! the fair KLEINHOVIA reigns, The grace and terror of Orixa's plains;

[_Hurls his red lavas_. l. 176. Alluding to the grand paintings of the eruptions of Vesuvius, and of the destruction of the Spanish vessels before Gibraltar; and to the beautiful landscapes and moonlight scenes, by Mr. Wright of Derby.]

[_Kleinhovia_. l. 183. In this cla.s.s the males in each flower are supported by the female. The name of the cla.s.s may be translated "Viragoes," or "Feminine Males."

The largest tree perhaps in the world is of the same natural order as Kleinhovia, it is the Adansonia, or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, or African Calabash tree. Mr. Adanson says the diameter of the trunk frequently exceeds 25 feet, and the horizontal branches are from 45 to 55 feet long, and so large that each branch is equal to the largest trees of Europe.

The breadth of the top is from 120 to 150 feet. And one of the roots bared only in part by the wasting away of the earth by the river, near which it grew, measured 110 feet long; and yet these stupendous trees never exceed 70 feet in height. Voyage to Senegal.]

O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims, And nerves Herculean bend her sinewy limbs; With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng, 190 And shakes the meadows, as she towers along, With playful violence displays her charms, And bears her trembling lovers in her arms.

So fair THALESTRIS shook her plumy crest, And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast; 195 Poised her long lance amid the walks of war, And Beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car; Greece arm'd in vain, her captive heroes wove The chains of conquest with the wreaths of love.

When o'er the cultured lawns and dreary wastes 200 Retiring Autumn flings her howling blasts, Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods, And showers their leafy honours on the floods, In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil, And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil; 205 Quick flies fair TULIPA the loud alarms, And folds her infant closer in her arms; In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies, And waits the courtship of serener skies.-- So, six cold moons, the Dormouse charm'd to rest, 210 Indulgent Sleep! beneath thy eider breast, In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel'd groves, Or shares the golden harvest with his loves.--

[_Tulipa_. l. 205. Tulip. What is in common language called a bulbous root, is by Linneus termed the Hybernacle, or Winter-lodge of the young plant. As these bulbs in every respect resemble buds, except in their being produced under ground, and include the leaves and flower in miniature, which are to be expanded in the ensuing spring. By cautiously cutting in the early spring through the concentric coats of a tulip-root, longitudinally from the top to the base, and taking them off successively, the whole flower of the next summer's tulip is beautifully seen by the naked eye, with its petals, pistil, and stamens; the flowers exist in other bulbs, in the same manner, as in Hyacinths, but the individual flowers of these being less, they are not so easily differed, or so conspicuous to the naked eye.

In the seeds of the Nymphaea Nelumbo, the leaves of the plant are seen so distinctly, that Mr. Ferber found out by them to what plant the seeds belonged. Amoen. Acad. V. vi. No. 120. He says that Mariotte first observed the future flower and foliage in the bulb of a Tulip; and adds, that it is pleasant to see in the buds of the Hepatica, and Pedicularia hirsuta, yet lying in the earth; and in the gems of Daphne Mezereon; and at the base of Osmunda Lunaria, a perfect plant of the future year compleat in all its parts. Ibid.]

But bright from earth amid the troubled air Ascends fair COLCHICA with radiant hair, 215 Warms the cold bosom of the h.o.a.ry year, And lights with Beauty's blaze the dusky sphere.

_Three_ blushing Maids the intrepid Nymph attend, And _six_ gay Youths, enamour'd train! defend.

So shines with silver guards the Georgian star, 220 And drives on Night's blue arch his glittering car; Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form, Wades through the mist, and dances in the storm.

[_Colchic.u.m autumnale_. I. 214. Autumnal Meadow-saffron. Six males, three females. The germ is buried within the root, which thus seems to const.i.tute a part of the flower. Families of Plants, p. 242 These singular flowers appear in the autumn without any leaves, whence in some countries they are called Naked Ladies: in the March following the green leaves spring up, and in April the seed-vessel rises from the ground; the seeds ripen in May, contrary to the usual habits of vegetables, which slower in the spring, and ripen their seeds in the autumn. Miller's Dict.

The juice of the root of this plant is so acrid as to produce violent effects on the human const.i.tution, which also prevents it from being eaten by subterranean insects, and thus guards the seed-vessel during the winter. The defoliation of deciduous trees is announced by the flowering of the Colchic.u.m; of these the ash is the last that puts forth its leaves, and the first that loses them. Phil. Bot. p. 275.

The Hamamelis, Witch Hazle, is another plant which flowers in autumn; when the leaves fall off, the flowers come out in cl.u.s.ters from the joints of the branches, and in Virginia ripen their seed in the ensuing spring; but in this country their seeds seldom ripen. Lin. Spec. Plant.

Miller's Dict.]

GREAT HELIANTHUS guides o'er twilight plains In gay solemnity his Dervise-trains; 225 Marshall'd in _fives_ each gaudy band proceeds, Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads; With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn, And bows in homage to the rising dawn; Imbibes with eagle-eye the golden ray, 230 And watches, as it moves, the orb of day.

[_Helianthus_. l. 223. Sun flower. The numerous florets, which const.i.tute the disk of this flower, contain in each five males surrounding one female, the five stamens have their anthers connected at top, whence the name of the cla.s.s "confederate males;" see note on Chondrilla. The sun-flower follows the course of the sun by nutation, not by twisting its stem. (Hales veg. stat.) Other plants, when they are confined in a room, turn the shining surface of their leaves, and bend their whole branches to the light. See Mimosa.]

[_A plumed Lady leads_. l. 226. The seeds of many plants of this cla.s.s are furnished with a plume, by which admirable mechanism they are disseminated by the winds far from their parent stem, and look like a shuttlec.o.c.k, as they fly. Other seeds are disseminated by animals; of these some attach themselves to their hair or feathers by a gluten, as misleto; others by hooks, as cleavers, burdock, hounds-tongue; and others are swallowed whole for the sake of the fruit, and voided uninjured, as the hawthorn, juniper, and some gra.s.ses. Other seeds again disperse themselves by means of an elastic seed-vessel, as Oats, Geranium, and Impatiens; and the seeds of aquatic plants, and of those which grow on the banks of rivers, are carried many miles by the currents, into which they fall. See Impatiens. Zostera. Ca.s.sia. Carlna.]

Queen of the marsh, imperial DROSERA treads Rush-fringed banks, and moss-embroider'd beds; Redundant folds of glossy silk surround Her slender waist, and trail upon the ground; 235 _Five_ sister-nymphs collect with graceful ease, Or spread the floating purple to the breeze; And _five_ fair youths with duteous love comply With each soft mandate of her moving eye.

As with sweet grace her snowy neck she bows, 240 A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows; Bright shines the silver halo, as she turns; And, as she steps, the living l.u.s.tre burns.

[_Drosera_. l. 231. Sun-dew. Five males, five females. The leaves of this marsh-plant are purple, and have a fringe very unlike other vegetable productions. And, which is curious, at the point of every thread of this erect fringe stands a pellucid drop of mucilage, resembling a ducal coronet. This mucus is a secretion from certain glands, and like the viscous material round the flower-stalks of Silene (catchfly) prevents small insects from infesting the leaves. As the ear-wax in animals seems to be in part designed to prevent fleas and other insects from getting into their ears. See Silene. Mr. Wheatly, an eminent surgeon in Cateaton-street, London, observed these leaves to bend upwards, when an insect settled on them, like the leaves of the muscipula veneris, and pointing all their globules of mucus to the centre, that they compleatly intangled and destroyed it. M. Broussonet, in the Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences for the year 1784. p. 615. after hiving described the motion of the Dionaea, adds, that a similar appearance has been observed in the leaves of two species of Drosera.]

Fair LONICERA prints the dewy lawn, And decks with brighter blush the vermil dawn; 245 Winds round the shadowy rocks, and pansied vales, And scents with sweeter breath the summer-gales;

[_Lonicera_. l. 243. Caprifolium. Honeysuckle. Five males, one female.

Nature has in many flowers used a wonderful apparatus to guard the nectary, or honey-gland, from insects. In the honey-suckle the petal terminates in a long tube like a cornucopiae, or horn of plenty; and the honey is produced at the bottom of it. In Aconitum, monkshood, the nectaries stand upright like two horns covered with a hood, which abounds with such acrid matter that no insects penetrate it. In h.e.l.leborus, h.e.l.lebore, the many nectaries are placed in a circle, like little pitchers, and add much to the beauty of the flower. In the Columbine, Aquilegia, the nectary is imagined to be like the neck and body of a bird, and the two petals standing upon each side to represent wings; whence its name of columbine, as if resembling a nest of young pigeons fluttering whilst their parent feeds them. The importance of the nectary in the economy of vegetation is explained at large in the notes on part the first.

Many insects are provided with a long and pliant proboscis for the purpose of acquiring this grateful food, as a variety of bees, moths, and b.u.t.terflies: but the Sphinx Convolvuli, or unicorn moth, is furnished with the most remarkable proboscis in this climate. It carries it rolled up in concentric circles under its chin, and occasionally extends it to above three inches in length. This trunk consists of joints and muscles, and seems to have more versatile movements than the trunk of the elephant; and near its termination is split into two capillary tubes. The excellence of this contrivance for robbing the flowers of their honey, keeps this beautiful insect fat and bulky; though it flies only in the evening, when the flowers have closed their petals, and are thence more difficult of access; at the same time the brilliant colours of the moth contribute to its safety, by making it mistaken by the late sleeping birds for the flower it rests on.

Besides these there is a curious contrivance attending the Ophrys, commonly called the Bee-orchis, and the Fly-orchis, with some kinds of the Delphinium, called Bee-larkspurs, to preserve their honey; in these the nectary and petals resemble in form and colour the insects, which plunder them: and thus it may be supposed, they often escape these hourly robbers, by having the appearance of being pre-occupied. See note on Rubia, and Conserva polymorpha.]

With artless grace and native ease she charms, And bears the Horn of Plenty in her arms.

_Five_ rival Swains their tender cares unfold, 250 And watch with eye askance the treasured gold.

Where rears huge Tenerif his azure crest, Aspiring DRABA builds her eagle nest; Her pendant eyry icy caves surround, Where erst Volcanos min'd the rocky ground.

255 Pleased round the Fair _four_ rival Lords ascend The s.h.a.ggy steeps, _two_ menial youths attend.

High in the setting ray the beauty stands, And her tall shadow waves on distant lands.

[_Draba_. I. 252. Alpina. Alpine Whitlow-gra.s.s. One female and six males. Four of these males stand above the other two; whence the name of the cla.s.s "four powers." I have observed in several plants of this cla.s.s, that the two lower males arise, in a few-days after the opening of the flower, to the same height as the other four, not being mature as soon as the higher ones. See note on Gloriosa. All the plants of this cla.s.s possess similar virtues; they are termed acrid and anti corbutic in their raw state, as mustard, watercress; when cultivated and boiled, they become a mild wholesome food, as cabbage, turnep.

There was formerly a Volcano on the Peake of Tenerif, which became extinct about the year 1684. Philos. Trans. In many excavations of the mountain, much below the summit, there is now found abundance of ice at all seasons. Tench's Expedition to Botany Bay, p. 12. Are these congelations in consequence of the daily solution of the h.o.a.r-frost which is produced on the summit during the night?]

Stay, bright inhabitant of air, alight, 260 Ambitious VISCA, from thy eagle-flight!-- ----Scorning the sordid soil, aloft she springs, Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings; High o'er the fields of boundless ether roves, And seeks amid the clouds her soaring loves!

265 Stretch'd on her mossy couch, in trackless deeps, Queen of the coral groves, ZOSTERA sleeps;

[_Visc.u.m_. l. 260. Misletoe. Two houses. This plant never grows upon the ground; the foliage is yellow, and the berries milk-white; the berries are so viscous, as to serve for bird-lime; and when they fall, adhere to the branches of the tree, on which the plant grows, and strike root into its bark; or are carried to distant trees by birds. The Tillandsia, or wild pine, grows on other trees, like the Misletoe, but takes little or no nourishment from them, having large buckets in its leaves to collect and retain the rain water. See note on Dypsacus. The mosses, which grow on the bark of trees, take much nourishment from them; hence it is observed that trees, which are annually cleared from moss by a brush, grow nearly twice as fast. (Phil. Transact.) In the cyder countries the peasants brush their apple-trees annually.]

[_Zostera_. l. 266. Gra.s.s-wrack. Cla.s.s, Feminine Males. Order, Many Males. It grows at the bottom of the sea, and rising to the surface, when in flower, covers many leagues; and is driven at length to the sh.o.r.e.

During its time of floating on the sea, numberless animals live on the under surface of it; and being specifically lighter than the sea water, or being repelled by it, have legs placed as it were on their backs for the purpose of walking under it. As the Scyllcea. See Barbut's Genera Vermium. It seems necessary that the marriages of plants should be celebrated in the open air, either because the powder of the anther, or the mucilage on the stigma, or the reservoir of honey might receive injury from the water. Mr. Needham observed, that in the ripe dust of every flower, examined by the microscope, some vesicles are perceived, from which a fluid had escaped; and that those, which still retain it, explode if they be wetted, like an eolopile suddenly exposed to a strong heat.