Volume Iv Part 8 (1/2)
_Miller's Dict._
It is more usual with Nurserymen to increase this plant by cuttings.
Our drawing was made from a plant which flowered this Spring, with Mr.
COLVILL, Nurseryman, King's-Road, Chelsea.
It flowers most part of the Summer, but not so freely as many other stove-plants.
[132]
RUBUS ARCTICUS. DWARF BRAMBLE.
_Cla.s.s and Order._
ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
_Generic Character._
_Cal._ 5-fidus. Petala 5. _Bacca_ composita acinis monospermis.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
RUBUS _arcticus_ foliis ternatis, caule inermi unifloro. _Linn. Syst.
Vegetab. p. 476._
RUBUS humilis flore purpureo. _Buxb. Cent. 5. p. 13. t. 26._
RUBUS trifolius humilis non spinosus, sapore et odore fragariae, fructu rubro polycocco. _Amm. Ruth. 185._
[Ill.u.s.tration: No 132]
The Rubus arcticus grows wild in the northern parts of Europe and America, in moist, sandy, and gravelly places. LINNaeUS has figured and minutely described it in his _Flora Lapponica_, out of grat.i.tude, as he expresses himself, for the benefits reaped from it in his Lapland journey, by the nectareous wine of whose berries he was so often recruited when sinking with hunger and fatigue; he observes that the princ.i.p.al people in the north of Sweden make a syrup, a jelly, and a wine, from the berries, which they partly consume themselves, and partly transmit to Stockholm, as a dainty of the most delicious kind; and truly he adds, of all the wild Swedish berries this holds the first place.
Our figure does not correspond altogether with LINNaeUS's description, but it is drawn as the plant grew; culture doubtless made it produce more than its usual number of flowering stems and petals.
It grows readily and increases rapidly in bog-earth, on a north border, and flowers in May and June, but very rarely ripens its fruit in Gardens.
[133]
HYACINTHUS COMOSUS. TWO COLOURED, or, Ta.s.sEL HYACINTH.
_Cla.s.s and Order._
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.