stinct species, under the name of _angustifolia_, asserting, from the
experience of thirty years, that plants raised from its seeds have
constantly differed from those of the _ulmifolia_; this is our plant,
which on his authority we have given as a species, though LINNAEUS
regards it as a variety.

PLUMIER gave to this genus the name of _Turnera_, in honour of Dr.
WILLIAM TURNER, a celebrated English Botanist and Physician, who
published an Herbal, black letter, folio, in 1568.

The present species is a native of the West-Indies, and is commonly
cultivated in our stoves, where it rises with a semi-shrubby stalk, to
the height of several feet, seldom continuing more than two or three
years; young plants generally come up in plenty from seeds spontaneously
scattered, so that a succession is easily obtained.

It flowers from June to August.

Its foliage has a disagreeable smell when bruised; its flowers are
shewy, but of short duration, and are remarkable for growing out of the
footstalk of the leaf.

[Illustration: No 281]

[Illustration: No 282]

[282]

HEDYSARUM OBSCURUM. CREEPING-ROOTED HEDYSARUM.

_Class and Order._

DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cor._ carina transverse obtusa. _Legumen_ articulis 1-spermis.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

HEDYSARUM _obscurum_ foliis pinnatis, stipulis vaginalibus, caule
erecto flexuoso, floribus pendulis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14._
_Murr. p. 676._ _Mant. 447._ _Jacq. Fl. Austr. v. 2. t. 168._

HEDYSARUM caule recto, ramoso; foliis ovatis; siliquis pendulis,
laevissimis, venosis. _Hall. Hist. Helv. n. 395._

ONOBRYCHIS semine clypeato laevi. _Bauh. Pin. 350._

Prof. JACQUIN, in the second volume of the _Flora austriaca_, gives an
excellent figure and accurate description of our plant, a native of the
Alps of Germany and Switzerland, and points out the characters in which
it differs from the _alpinum_, for which it has sometimes been mistaken.

It is a hardy perennial, rarely exceeding a foot in height, produces its
spikes of pendulous flowers, which are of a most beautiful purple
colour, in July and August; hitherto these have not been succeeded by
seed-vessels with us; though we have cultivated the plant for several
years.

Its size renders it a suitable plant for rock-work, on which it will
grow readily, increasing by its roots, which are of the creeping kind.

HALLER mentions a variety of it