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
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