The botanist's repository for new and rare plants; vol. 06 [of 10] — A Closer Reading

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Authors: Andrews, Henry Cranke, active 1799-1828 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2024 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Plants -- Pictorial works; Plants, Cultivated -- Pictorial works; Rare plants -- Pictorial works Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 27,343

Reading time 119 min

Text sections 6

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Volume 6 of Andrews's botanical series presents hand-colored engravings and bilingual Latin-English descriptions of newly introduced plants, such as Sanseviera carnea and Ipomaea grandiflora, with notes on cultivation and taxonomy.

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n honour of the celebrated German surgeon Heister.

_TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Three Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

COROLLA 6-partita: laciniis alternis reflexis. Stigmata petaliformia.

COROLLA 6-parted: with the alternate segments reflexed. The stigmas petal-shaped.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.

Iris. Imberbis, folio lineari glabro, scapo sub-unifloro.

Iris. Beardless, with a linear smooth leaf, and a usually one-flowered stem.

IRIS _Pavonia_ Willd. Sp. Pl. I. 238.

_Jacq. Coll. Sup. p. 8, Descriptione optimâ._

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The outer Sheath of the Flower.

3 The Seed-bud, Chives and Pointal as they stand in the Flower.

4. The Chives spread open.

This splendid but fugitive plant, is strikingly emblematic of the short duration of superior beauty: its flower is but the transient object of a day; and its whole life in Europe seldom exceeds a single year!

The Peacock-Iris, notwithstanding its attractions, is but imperfectly understood by the Botanists and Horticulturists of this country; for while the latter have been unsuccessful in cultivating it: some of the former have privately considered it as a new Genus: some have referred it to Iris, Morea, or Ferraria; others with more propriety to De la Roche’s Genus Vieusseuxia; and the usually accurate Curtis mistook and figured the widely-different Iris tricuspis for it.

The English Gardens have several times possessed this charming species, but we are afraid it is at present entirely lost to them. Our figure therefore, taken from the Hibbertian collection some time since, cannot fail to be highly acceptable to all lovers of plants.

In root Iris Pavonia resembles other Cape Irides; but the varying lustres of its brilliant flowers are seldom equalled; and not much excelled by any plant we ever saw. It is a native of the Cape, flowers early in Spring; and must be treated like the other bulbous species from that country.

_HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Six Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

COROLLA 6-petala, patens, decidua. Filamenta filiformia.

COROLLA 6 petaled, expanding, deciduous. Filaments thread-shaped.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.

Scilla, tetraphylla, scapis plurimis semiteretibus, striatis, bifloris, post florescentiam decumbentibus.

Scilla, four-leaved, with many semicylindrical, scored, two-flowered stalks, which after flowering are decumbent.

DESCRIPTIO. _Radix_ bulbosus, magnus pro ratione magnitudinis plantæ. _Folia_ in bulbis senectis, sæpius 4, latiuscula, aliquo striatula, parum recurvata, apice obcuneata et subinvoluta. _Scapi_ 3-5: 1-2, vel rarissime 3-flori, inæquales, semicylindrici, valde striati, lucidi, vix palmares, superne atro-cærulescentes. _Pedunculi_ alterni, remoti, difformes, 1-6 lineares, basi bibracteati, erecti, apice nutantes, vel cernui, uniflori, atro-cærulescentes. _Bracteæ_ difformes, parvulæ, inferne purpurascentes, superne albæ et membranaceæ. _Corolla_ hexapetala, nutans, vel cernua, campanulata. _Petala_ sublanceolata, obtusa, concavo-incurva, lætissime cærulea; intus pallidiora, basi albicantia, costâ utrinque saturatiore. _Filamenta_ 6, filiformia, compressa, alba, superne profunde cærulea, petalis duplo breviora. _Antheræ_ majusculæ æruginosa. _Germen_ pallidum, subrotundum, 6-sulcatum, sulcis alternis profundioribus. _Stylus_ antheris superans, decumbens, basi albus, superne azureus. _Stigma_ obsoletissimum.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The Flower spread open, with one Chive magnified.

2. The Pointal and Seed-bud, the Summit magnified.

This nondescript and beautiful species of the genus Scilla, is allied to Scilla præcox of Willdenow; but appears to differ in too many particulars, to admit of their being united. It is a native of Siberia, increases slowly by the root, but sometimes ripens seeds in this country. It commences flowering in the beginning of February, before the common Scilla bifolia; but continues in beauty long after that plant is past; and although perfectly hardy, its flowers are liable to be injured by strong frosts, unless occasionally protected.

It thrives well in a light soil, and warm situation; but, like all dwarf plants, appears to most advantage in a pot: and indeed, succeeds best with the treatment usually given to alpine plants.

GERANIUM BARBATUM. _Var. Undulatum._

_Bearded-leaved Geranium._ _Var. Waved-petalled._

_MONADELPHIA DECANDRIA._ Threads united. Ten Chives.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

MONOGYNA. Stigmata quinque. Fructus rostratus, pentacoccus.

ONE POINTAL. Five summits. Fruit furnished with long awns, five dry berries,

SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.

Geranium. Foliis pinnatis, incisuris pinnarum aristatis barbatisque, petalis omnibus flavicantibus, rubro-notatis undulatisque.

Geranium. With winged leaves, the segments aristated and bearded, all the petals yellowish, marked with red, and undulated.

DESCRIPTIO. Pinnæ foliorum inæqualiter incisæ, incissuris acuminatis, barbatisque. _Scapus_ ramosus. _Flores_ umbellati. _Petala_ omnia linearia, obtusa, elongata, recurvata, valde undulata, flavicantia. basi fere ad medium lætissime rubra. Stamina fertilia quinque.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

2. The Chives and Pointal.

3. The same magnified.

4. The Pointal magnified.

This plant was sent from the Cape to the collection of George Hibbert, Esq. at Clapham, where our drawing was taken in September; it is no more than a variety, although a very beautiful one, of the Geranium barbatum of this work, of which one variety has already been figured on plate 323. It is a green-house plant, and requires the same treatment as the other tuberous rooted species.

ANAGALLIS GRANDIFLORA.

_Great-flowered Pimpernel._

_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

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Volume 6 of The Botanist's Repository continues Henry Cranke Andrews's project of documenting newly introduced plants through hand-colored engravings and detailed botanical descriptions. Each entry pairs a Latin and English description following the Linnaean system, with references to the specific plate illustrations. The volume covers plants from China, Japan, and other regions, often noting their rarity in English gardens at the time of publication.

Bilingual Descriptions and Linnaean Classification

Each plant entry opens with a Linnaean class and order (e.g., Hexandria Monogynia for Sanseviera carnea), followed by essential generic and specific characters in both Latin and English. The descriptions are technical: for Sanseviera carnea, the leaves are described as “two-ranked, lance-sword shaped, keeled” and the flowers as “solitary, sessile.” The Latin text provides morphological details such as root structure, leaf venation, and floral anatomy, while the English translation condenses the generic character. This dual-language format reflects the work’s intended audience of botanists and horticulturists familiar with Linnaean nomenclature.

Cultivation Notes and Plant Provenance

Andrews includes practical information about each plant’s introduction and cultivation. Sanseviera carnea was “introduced into this country from China, by T. Evans, Esq. of Stepney; in the year 1792” and was still rare at the time of writing. The drawing was made from a plant in J. Vere’s collection, and the gardener Mr. Anderson reported treating it as a hothouse plant, though Andrews suggests it might succeed better in a greenhouse. Similarly, Clematis florida (large-flowered Virgin’s Bower) was introduced from Japan in 1776, and the text notes its hardiness against ordinary winters and its propagation by layering. These details ground the botanical descriptions in real horticultural practice.

Taxonomic Observations and Uncertainties

Andrews occasionally engages with taxonomic debates. For Ipomaea grandiflora, he notes that A. B. Lambert suspected the root might be annual, which would contradict the description in Supplementum Plantarum where it is called arborescent. Andrews also remarks on the difficulty of distinguishing Convolvulus and Ipomaea by stigma structure, suggesting that “all their species which we have examined… might be united into one genus, without committing much outrage against nature.” Such comments reveal the fluid state of botanical classification in the late 18th century and Andrews’s willingness to question established authorities.

Readers interested in the history of botanical illustration and plant introduction will find this volume a primary source for late-18th-century horticultural knowledge. The engravings, though not reproduced here, are referenced in the text with detailed plate keys. The work is best approached as a specimen of scientific description rather than a narrative, with each entry offering a snapshot of a plant’s morphology, origin, and cultivation at a specific moment in time.

I often find myself lingering over the hand-colored plates in volume six, noting how each new flower arrives with such quiet certainty. There is a tenderness in that attention, the same I feel when opening The botanist's repository for new and rare plants; vol. 07 [of 10] — Context and Discussion, as if the garden simply continues, patiently, between two old friends.