Volume V Part 7 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: No 164]

This species of Ranunculus, an inhabitant of the dry pastures South of France and Italy, and a hardy herbaceous plant of ready growth, recommends itself by the earliness of its flowering and the delicate glaucous colour of its foliage. PARKINSON figures it with double flowers, though he describes it with semi-double ones only; we have not observed either of these varieties in the gardens about London, they have most probably fallen victims to the rage for novelty, at the shrine of which many a fair and goodly flower is yearly sacrificed.

It flowers towards the end of April, and is propagated by parting its roots in autumn.

The synonyms of this and other species of Ranunculus described in GERARD'S _Fl. Gallopr._ are very inaccurately quoted in Professor MURRAY'S edition of the _Syst. Vegetab._

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PELARGONIUM CORDIFOLIUM. HEART-LEAVED GERANIUM.

_Cla.s.s and Order._

MONADELPHIA HEPTANDRIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cal._ 5-part.i.tus: lacinia suprema, definente in tubulum capilarem, nectariferum, secus pedunculum decurrentem. _Cor._ 5-petala, irregularis. _Filam_. 10 inaequalia: quorum 3. (raro 5) castrata.

_Fructus_ 5-coccus, rostratus: rostra spiralia introrsum barbata.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

PELARGONIUM _cordatum_ umbellis multifloris, foliis cordatis acutis dentatis, petalis inferis linearibus acutis. _Ait. Hort. Kew. p.

427._

GERANIUM _cordifolium_. _Cavan. Diss. p. 240. t. 117. f. 3._

[Ill.u.s.tration: No 165]

Our readers are here presented with the figure of another Geranium of modern introduction, not enumerated by LINNaeUS or MILLER, and which in point of beauty, duration of flowering, and facility of culture, is equal to most.

It was introduced to the Royal Garden, at Kew, from the Cape, by Mr.

Ma.s.sON, in 1774.

There are several varieties of it, but the one here figured is the most beautiful.

It strikes readily from cuttings, by which it is usually propagated.

Requires the same treatment as the more common Geraniums, and flowers, from March to July.

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CHEIRANTHUS MARITIMUS. MEDITERRANEAN STOCK.