lil: ;
iU i
i'H
i t :
opening lengthways, attached to a fleshy, arrow-shaped, connectivum,
and a little divergent at the base. Ovarium round,
slightly compressed, pale-green, bilocular, surrounded at the
base by an orange-coloured, fleshy ring, haying 2, thick,
blunt teeth opposite the partition. Style filiform, white,
o-labrous, longer than the stamens. Stigma large, thick,
capitate, yellow, of two indistinct fleshy lobes. P la c e n ^ 2,
thick and spongy, bearing many reniform ovules. Berry
oblong, mucronuiate, orange.
Flowering specimens of this highly interesting plant were
communicated by the Hon. William T. H. Fox Strangways,
Under Secretary" of State for Foreign Affairs, from his collection
at Abbotsbury, Dorset, in the early part of December
last. The plant had been introduced by hiin from Italy.
Tw'o kinds of this genus were recognised by ancient authors,
but they remained confounded by modern writers until their
distinctions were pointed out by Professor Bertoloni of
Bologna, whose knowledge of the Botany of the South oi
Europe, is unequalled, and whose Flora Italica now publishing
will form at once a monument of the learning and indefatigable
industry of its author.
The blunt lobes of the corolla, and the oblong pointed
berry are the chief marks that distinguish it from verna. It
is moreover altogether a larger plant, with violet-coloured
flowers, not unlike those of some Campanula.
It is a hardy perennial, requiring a deep loamy soil, and
it may be increased by seeds whicli ripen the following spring
after flowering. - , . , , , i
This is the plant of Flora Graca, and is doubtless also
that of Dioscorides, and is very probably the one mentioned
in the Scriptures. r
It occurs in some parts of the South of Italy, is frequent
in Greece about Athens and Elis, and is likewise found in
some of the Islands of the Archipelago. ^ ^ ,
The English name Mandrake is a corruption of the Greek
appellation Mavbpayopas, compounded oipavSpa, an ox-stall,
and ayavpoi, dangerous, from its eifects on cattle, when accidently
gathered with their fodder, in the countries where the
plant abounds. D . Don.
1 Portion of the corolla laid open to shew the insertion of the stamens.
2. Pistil.