A PENTAGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cal._ 1-phyllus, oblongus, laevis. _Petala_ 5-unguiculata. _Limbo_
sub-bifido. _Caps._ 5-locularis.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

LYCHNIS _chalcedonica_ floribus fasciculatis fastigiatis. _Linn.
Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14._ _Murr. p. 435._ _Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 16._

LYCHNIS hirsuta flore coccineo major. _Bauh. Pin. 203._

FLOS Constantinopolitanus. _Dod. Pempt. 178._

LYCHNIS _chalcedonica_ flore simplici miniato. Single Nonsuch, or
Flower of Bristow or Constantinople. _Parkins. Parad. 253._

The Scarlet Lychnis appears to have been a great favourite with
PARKINSON, he calls it a glorious flower, and in a wooden print of him
prefixed to his _Paradisus Terrestris_, we see him represented with a
flower of this sort in his hand of the double kind.

It grows spontaneously in most parts of Russia, and is one of our most
hardy perennials.

The extreme brilliancy of its flowers renders it a plant, in its single
state highly ornamental; when double, its beauty is heightened, and the
duration of it increased.

It flowers in June and July.

The single sort may be increased by parting its roots in autumn, but
more abundantly by seeds, which should be sown in the spring; the double
sort may also be increased by dividing its roots, but more plentifully
by cuttings of the stalk, put in in June, before the flowers make their
appearance; in striking of these, however, there requires some nicety.

This plant is found to succeed best in a rich, loamy, soil; and certain
districts have been found to be more favourable to its growth than
others.

A white and a pale red variety of it in its single state were known to
CLUSIUS, and similar varieties of the double kind are said to exist; it
is of little moment whether they do or not, every variation in this
plant from a bright scarlet is in every sense of the word a degeneracy.

[Illustration: No 258]

[258]

CORONILLA VARIA. PURPLE CORONILLA.

_Class and Order._

DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cal._ 2-labiatus: 2/3: dentibus superioribus connatis. _Vexillum_
vix alis longius. _Legumen_ isthmis interceptum.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

CORONILLA _varia_ herbacea, leguminibus erectis teretibus torosis
numerosis, foliolis plurimis glabris. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed.
14._ _Murr. p. 670._ _Ait. Kew. v. 3. p. 59._

SECURIDACA dumetor