Volume Vi Part 12 (2/2)
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
DRACOCEPHALUM _denticulatum_ floribus spicatis remotis, foliis obovato-lanceolatis superne denticulatis. _Ait. Kew. V. 2. p. 317._
About the year 1786, we received from Philadelphia, seeds of a plant collected at a considerable distance from that city, announced to us as new and rare, and which produced the present species of _Dracocephalum_: Mr. WATSON, Nurseryman at Islington, obtained the same plant from Carolina, about the same period.
It is a hardy perennial, multiplying considerably by its roots, which creep somewhat; it must be planted in a moist soil, and shady situation, for such it affects, and in such only will it thrive.
It flowers in August and September.
It bears a considerable affinity to the _Dracocephalum virginianum_, to which, though a much rarer plant, it is inferior in point of beauty; it spreads more on the ground, its flowering stems are not altogether so upright, nor so tall, the leaves are broader, and the flowers in the spikes less numerous.
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RANUNCULUS ACRIS FLORE PLENO. DOUBLE UPRIGHT CROWFOOT.
_Cla.s.s and Order._
POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
_Generic Character._
_Cal._ 5-phyllus. _Petala_ 5, intra ungues poro mellisero. _Sem._ nuda.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
RANUNCULUS _acris_ calycibus patulis, pedunculis teretibus, foliis tripart.i.to multifidis: summis linearibus. _Linn. Syst. Veg. ed. 14.
Murr. p. 517._
RANUNCULUS hortensis erectus flore pleno. _Bauh. Pin. p. 178. ?._
RANUNCULUS pratensis flore multiplici. _Park. Parad. p. 218._
The double yellow field Crowfoot.
In giving a representation of this species of Ranunculus, we have made a slight deviation from the strict letter of our plan, as expressed in the t.i.tle page, which confines us to the figuring of foreign plants only; we have thought, however, that it would not be inconsistent with the spirit of the _Flower-Garden Displayed_, were we occasionally to introduce such English plants as have double flowers, and which, on that account, are thought worthy of a place in every garden; they are but few in number, and we flatter ourselves that this trifling alteration will be approved by our numerous readers.
The _Ranunculus acris_ is the first that we offer of these; a plant, in its wild and single state, common in all our rich meadows, and in its improved, or to speak more botanically, in its monstrous state (all double flowers being monsters, for the most part formed from the preternatural multiplication of their petals) it has long been cultivated in gardens abroad, as well as here.
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