The Botanic Garden Volume Ii Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: Meadia]

65 Woo'd with long care, CURc.u.mA cold and shy Meets her fond husband with averted eye: _Four_ beardless youths the obdurate beauty move With soft attentions of Platonic love.

With vain desires the pensive ALCEA burns, 70 And, like sad ELOISA, loves and mourns.

The freckled IRIS owns a fiercer flame, And _three_ unjealous husbands wed the dame.

CUPRESSUS dark disdains his dusky bride, _One_ dome contains them, but _two_ beds divide.

75 The proud OSYRIS flies his angry fair, _Two_ houses hold the fas.h.i.+onable pair.

[_Curc.u.ma_. l. 65. Turmeric. One male and one female inhabit this flower; but there are besides four imperfect males, or filaments without anthers upon them, called by Linneus eunuchs. The flax of our country has ten filaments, and but five of them are terminated with anthers; the Portugal flax has ten perfect males, or stamens; the Verbena of our country has four males; that of Sweden has but two; the genus Albuca, the Bignonia Catalpa, Gratiola, and hemlock-leaved Geranium have only half their filaments crowned with anthers. In like manner the florets, which form the rays of the flowers of the order frustraneous polygamy of the cla.s.s syngenesia, or confederate males, as the sun-flower, are furnished with a style only, and no stigma: and are thence barren. There is also a style without a stigma in the whole order dioecia gynandria; the male flowers of which are thence barren. The Opulus is another plant, which contains some unprolific flowers. In like manner some tribes of insects have males, females, and neuters among them: as bees, wasps, ants.

There is a curious circ.u.mstance belonging to the cla.s.s of insects which have two wings, or diptera, a.n.a.logous to the rudiments of stamens above described; viz. two little k.n.o.bs are found placed each on a stalk or peduncle, generally under a little arched scale; which appear to be rudiments of hinder wings; and are called by Linneus, halteres, or poisers, a term of his introduction. A.T. Bladh. Amaen. Acad. V. 7. Other animals have marks of having in a long process of time undergone changes in some parts of their bodies, which may have been effected to accommodate them to new ways of procuring their food. The existence of teats on the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of male animals, and which are generally replete with a thin kind of milk at their nativity, is a wonderful instance of this kind. Perhaps all the productions of nature are in their progress to greater perfection? an idea countenanced by the modern discoveries and deductions concerning the progressive formation of the solid parts of the terraqueous globe, and consonant to the dignity of the Creator of all things.]

[_Alcea_, l. 69. Flore pleno. Double hollyhock. The double flowers, so much admired by the florists, are termed by the botanist vegetable monsters; in some of these the petals are multiplied three or four times, but without excluding the stamens, hence they produce some seeds, as Campanula and Stramoneum; but in others the petals become so numerous as totally to exclude the stamens, or males; as Caltha, Peonia, and Alcea; these produce no seeds, and are termed eunuchs. Philos. Botan. No. 150.

These vegetable monsters are formed in many ways. 1st. By the multiplication of the petals and the exclusion of the nectaries, as in larkspur. 2d. By the multiplication of the nectaries and exclusion of the petals; as in columbine. 3d. In some flowers growing in cymes, the wheel-shape flowers in the margin are multiplied to the exclusion of the bell-shape flowers in the centre; as in gelder-rose. 4th. By the elongation of the florets in the centre. Instances of both these are found in daisy and feverfew; for other kinds of vegetable monsters, see Plantago.

The perianth is not changed in double flowers, hence the genus or family may be often discovered by the calyx, as in Hepatica, Ranunculus, Alcea.

In those flowers, which have many petals, the lowest series of the petals remains unchanged in respect to number; hence the natural number of the petals is easily discovered. As in poppies, roses, and Nigella, or devil in a bulb. Phil. Bot. p. 128.]

[_Iris_. l. 71. Flower de Luce. Three males, one female. Some of the species have a beautifully freckled flower; the large stigma or head of the female covers the three males, counterfeiting a petal with its divisions.]

[_Cupressus_. l. 73. Cypress. One House. The males live in separate flowers, but on the same plant. The males of some of these plants, which are in separate flowers from the females, have an elastic membrane; which disperses their dust to a considerable distance, when the anthers burst open. This dust, on a fine day, may often be seen like a cloud hanging round the common nettle. The males and females of all the cone-bearing plants are in separate flowers, either on the same or on different plants; they produce resins, and many of them are supposed to supply the most durable timber: what is called Venice-turpentine is obtained from the larch by wounding the bark about two feet from the ground, and catching it as it exsudes; Sandarach is procured from common juniper; and Incense from a juniper with yellow fruit. The unperishable chests, which contain the Egyptian mummies, were of Cypress; and the Cedar, with which black-lead pencils are covered, is not liable to be eaten by worms. See Miln's Bot. Dict. art. coniferae. The gates of St. Peter's church at Rome, which had lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Eugene the fourth, that is to say eleven hundred years, were of Cypress, and had in that time suffered no decay. According to Thucydides, the Athenians buried the bodies of their heroes in coffins of Cypress, as being not subject to decay. A similar durability has also been ascribed to Cedar. Thus Horace,

_----speramus carmina fingi Posse linenda cedre, & lavi servanda cupresso._

[_Osyris_. l. 75. Two houses. The males and females are on different plants. There are many instances on record, where female plants have been impregnated at very great distance from their male; the dust discharged from the anthers is very light, small, and copious, so that it may spread very wide in the atmosphere, and be carried to the distant pistils, without the supposition of any particular attraction; these plants resemble some insects, as the ants, and cochineal insect, of which the males have wings, but not the female.]

With strange deformity PLANTAGO treads, A Monster-birth! and lifts his hundred heads; Yet with soft love a gentle belle he charms, 80 And clasps the beauty in his hundred arms.

So hapless DESDEMONA, fair and young, Won by OTh.e.l.lO'S captivating tongue, Sigh'd o'er each strange and piteous tale, distress'd, And sunk enamour'd on his sooty breast.

85 _Two_ gentle shepherds and their sister-wives With thee, ANTHOXA! lead ambrosial lives;

[_Plantago_. l. 77. Rosea. Rose Plantain. In this vegetable monster the bractes, or divisions of the spike, become wonderfully enlarged; and are converted into leaves. The chaffy scales of the calyx in Xeranthemum, and in a species of Dianthus, and the glume in some alpine gra.s.ses, and the scales of the ament in the salix rosea, rose willow, grow into leaves; and produce other kinds of monsters. The double flowers become monsters by the multiplication of their petals or nectaries. See note on Alcea.

[_Anthoxanthum_. l. 83. Vernal gra.s.s. Two males, two females. The other gra.s.ses have three males and two females. The flowers of this gra.s.s give the fragrant scent to hay. I am informed it is frequently viviparous, that is, that it bears sometimes roots or bulbs instead of seeds, which after a time drop off and strike root into the ground. This circ.u.mstance is said to obtain in many of the alpine gra.s.ses, whose seeds are perpetually devoured by small birds. The Festuca Dometorum, fescue gra.s.s of the bushes, produces bulbs from the sheaths of its straw. The Allium Magic.u.m, or magical onion, produces onions on its head, instead of seeds.

The Polygonum Viviparum, viviparous bistort, rises about a foot high, with a beautiful spike of flowers, which are succeeded by buds or bulbs, which fall off and take root. There is a bulb, frequently seen on birch-trees, like a bird's nest, which seems to be a similar attempt of nature, to produce another tree; which falling off might take root in spongy ground.

There is an instance of this double mode of production in the animal kingdom, which is equally extraordinary: the same species of Aphis is viviparous in summer, and oviparous in autumn. A. T. Bladh. Amoen. Acad.

V. 7.]

Where the wide heath in purple pride extends, And scatter'd furze its golden l.u.s.tre blends, Closed in a green recess, unenvy'd lot!

90 The blue smoak rises from their turf-built cot; Bosom'd in fragrance blush their infant train, Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain.

The fair OSMUNDA seeks the silent dell, The ivy canopy, and dripping cell; 95 There hid in shades _clandestine_ rites approves, Till the green progeny betrays her loves.

[_Osmunda_. l. 93. This plant grows on moist rocks; the parts of its flower or its seeds are scarce discernible; whence Linneus has given the name of clandestine marriage to this cla.s.s. The younger plants are of a beautiful vivid green.]

With charms despotic fair CHONDRILLA reigns O'er the soft hearts of _five_ fraternal swains; If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn; 100 And, if she smiles, with rival raptures burn.

So, tun'd in unison, Eolian Lyre!

Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire; Now, gently swept by Zephyr's vernal wings, Sink in soft cadences the love-sick strings; 105 And now with mingling chords, and voices higher, Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir.

[_Chondrilla_. l. 97. Of the cla.s.s Confederate Males. The numerous florets, which const.i.tute the disk of the flowers in this cla.s.s, contain in each five males surrounding one female, which are connected at top, whence the name of the cla.s.s. An Italian writer, in a discourse on the irritability of flowers, a.s.serts, that if the top of the floret be touched, all the filaments which support the cylindrical anther will contrast themselves, and that by thus raising or depressing the anther the whole of the prolific dust is collected on the stigma. He adds, that if one filament be touched after it is separated from the floret, that it will contract like the muscular fibres of animal bodies, his experiments were tried on the Centaurea Calcitrapoides, and on artichokes, and globe-thistles. Discourse on the irratability of plants. Dodsley.]

_Five_ sister-nymphs to join Diana's train With thee, fair LYCHNIS! vow,--but vow in vain; Beneath one roof resides the virgin band, 110 Flies the fond swain, and scorns his offer'd hand; But when soft hours on breezy pinions move, And smiling May attunes her lute to love, Each wanton beauty, trick'd in all her grace, Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blus.h.i.+ng face; 115 In gay undress displays her rival charms, And calls her wondering lovers to her arms.

When the young Hours amid her tangled hair Wove the fresh rose-bud, and the lily fair,

[_Lychnis._ l. 108. Ten males and five females. The flowers which contain the five females, and those which contain the ten males, are found on different plants; and often at a great distance from each other.

Five of the ten males arrive at their maturity some days before the other five, as may be seen by opening the corol before it naturally expands itself. When the females arrive at their maturity, they rise above the petals, as if looking abroad for their distant husbands; the scarlet ones contribute much to the beauty of our meadows in May and June.]

Proud GLORIOSA led _three_ chosen swains, 120 The blus.h.i.+ng captives of her virgin chains.-- --When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread Round her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head, _Three_ other youths her riper years engage, The flatter'd victims of her wily age.

125 So, in her wane of beauty, NINON won With fatal smiles her gay unconscious son.--

[_Gloriosa_. l. 119. Superba. Six males, one female. The petals of this beautiful flower with three of the stamens, which are first mature, stand up in apparent disorder; and the pistil bends at nearly a right angle to insert its stigma amongst them. In a few days, as these decline, the other three stamens bend over, and approach the pistil. In the Fritillaria Persica, the six stamens are of equal lengths, and the anthers lie at a distance from the pistil, and three alternate ones approach first; and, when these decline, the other three approach: in the Lithrum Salicaria, (which has twelve males and one female) a beautiful red flower, which grows on the banks of rivers, six of the males arrive at maturity, and surround the female some time before the other six; when these decline, the other six rise up, and supply their places. Several other flowers have in similar manner two sets of stamens of different ages, as Adoxa, Lychnis, Saxifraga. See Genista. Perhaps a difference in the time of their maturity obtains in all these flowers, which have numerous stamens. In the Kahnia the ten stamens lie round the pistil like the radii of a wheel; and each anther is concealed in a nich of the corol to protect it from cold and moisture; these anthers rise separately from their niches, and approach the pistil for a time, and then recede to their former situations.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gloriosa Superba]

Clasp'd in his arms she own'd a mother's name,-- "Desist, rash youth! restrain your impious flame, "First on that bed your infant-form was press'd, 130 "Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breast."-- Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze Fierce on the fair he fix'd his ardent gaze; Dropp'd on one knee, his frantic arms outspread, And stole a guilty glance toward the bed; 135 Then breath'd from quivering lips a whisper'd vow, And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow; "Thus, thus!" he cried, and plung'd the furious dart, And life and love gush'd mingled from his heart.

The fell SILENE and her sisters fair, 140 Skill'd in destruction, spread the viscous snare.

[_Silene_. l. 139. Catchfly. Three females and ten males inhabit each flower; the viscous material, which surrounds the stalks under the flowers of this plant, and of the Cucubulus Ot.i.tes, is a curious contrivance to prevent various insects from plundering the honey, or devouring the seed. In the Dionaea Muscipula there is a still more wonderful contrivance to prevent the depredations of insects: The leaves are armed with long teeth, like the antennae of insects, and lie spread upon the ground round the stem; and are so irritable, that when an insect creeps upon them, they fold up, and crush or pierce it to death.

The last professor Linneus, in his Supplementum Plantarum, gives the following account of the Arum Muscivorum. The flower has the smell of carrion; by which the flies are invited to lay their eggs in the chamber of the flower, but in vain endeavour to escape, being prevented by the hairs pointing inwards; and thus perish in the flower, whence its name of fly-eater. P. 411. in the Dypsacus is another contrivance for this purpose, a bason of water is placed round each joint of the stem. In the Drosera is another kind of fly-trap. See Dypsacus and Drosera; the flowers of Silene and Cucubalus are closed all day, but are open and give an agreeable odour in the night. See Cerea. See additional notes at the end of the poem.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dionna Muscipula]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Amaryllis formosissima]

The harlot-band _ten_ lofty bravoes screen, And frowning guard the magic nets unseen.-- Haste, glittering nations, tenants of the air, Oh, steer from hence your viewless course afar!

145 If with soft words, sweet blushes, nods, and smiles, The _three_ dread Syrens lure you to their toils, Limed by their art in vain you point your stings, In vain the efforts of your whirring wings!-- Go, seek your gilded mates and infant hives, 150 Nor taste the honey purchas'd with your lives!

When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform, Fair AMARYLLIS flies the inc.u.mbent storm,