Volume Ii Part 11 (1/2)
Like most of the Houseleeks it is best kept in a pot, or it will grow well and appear to great advantage on a wall or piece of rock-work; the more it is exposed to the sun, the more colour will enliven its stalks and foliage, and the more brilliant will be its flowers; the latter make their appearance in July.
It is propagated by offsets which it sends forth in abundance.
It is no uncommon practice to treat this beautiful species of Houseleek, as a native of a warm climate; under such an idea we have seen it nursed up in stoves, while the plant spontaneously braves the cold of the Switzerland Alps.
[69]
~Rosa muscosa. Moss Rose.~
_Cla.s.s and Order._
~Icosandria Polygynia.~
_Generic Character._
_Petala_ 5. _Cal._ urceolatus, 5-fidus, carnosus, collo coarctatus.
_Sem._ plurima, hispida, calycis interiori lateri affixa.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
ROSA _muscosa_ caule petiolisque aculeatis, pedunculis calycibusque pilosissimis. _Miller's Dict._
[Ill.u.s.tration: 69]
If there be any one genus of plants more universally admired than the others, it is that of the Rose--where is the Poet that has not celebrated it? where the Painter that has not made it an object of his imitative art?
In the opinion of MILLER, the Moss Rose, or Moss Province, as it is frequently called, is a perfectly distinct species; LINNaeUS considers it as a variety only of the _centifolia_: as it is found in our Nurseries in a double state only, and as we are ignorant of what country it is the produce, the decision of this matter must be left to future observation and inquiry.
Though it may not increase so fast by suckers, nor be increased so readily by layers, as the _centifolia_, there is no difficulty in propagating it either way; the latter mode is usually adopted.
[70]
~Mesembryanthemum barbatum. Bearded Fig-Marigold.~
_Cla.s.s and Order._
~Icosandria Pentagynia~.
_Generic Character._
_Cal._ 5-fidus. Petala numerosa, linearia. _Caps._ carnosa, infera, polysperma.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM _barbatum_, foliis subovatis papulosis distinctis, apice barbatis. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p. 469._