. The Cottage gardener. Gardening; Gardening. fi2 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. [May 8. a distiuguisiied patron ot botany and gardening. It belongs to the Natural Order of Ginckonads (Cincbo- naoeae), wbioh, until recently, held but an inferior degree as a section of Madderworts (Rubiaceae), although it is the most extensive, and one of the most imfjortant, of all the Natiual Orders of plants of which we have knowledge. It includes a large number of plants of the greatest benefit to man, not only in the countries they inhabit, but to the world at large, as medicinal agents, acting as tonics, febrifuge
. The Cottage gardener. Gardening; Gardening. fi2 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. [May 8. a distiuguisiied patron ot botany and gardening. It belongs to the Natural Order of Ginckonads (Cincbo- naoeae), wbioh, until recently, held but an inferior degree as a section of Madderworts (Rubiaceae), although it is the most extensive, and one of the most imfjortant, of all the Natiual Orders of plants of which we have knowledge. It includes a large number of plants of the greatest benefit to man, not only in the countries they inhabit, but to the world at large, as medicinal agents, acting as tonics, febrifuges, emetics, and purgatives. The bai'k of Pm-tlandia lii'xandra, a tree in French Giiiana, is nearly as potent against fevers as that of Cinchona, the Peruvian Bark of Commerce ; and that of Portlandia cjrandi- flora possesses the same pi'operties, but in a less powerful degree. Tlie Coffen-tree is also a Cinchonad ; nor are plants of surpassing beauty deficient in tlie order, for it includes Porlhindias, Ixoras, Gardenias, Boiirardias, Honddetias, Ma- iiettias, Luculias, and many others ; and all of them may be kno\vn at first sight by their stipules and opposite entii-e leaves. The usual place for stipules is immediately under the leaf, as in the Pelargonium ; but in all Cinchonads the stipule is above tlie leaf, or is interpetiolar, as botanists say. Portlandia has live stamens, and one stigma iu each flower, by which it is referred to the first order of the fifth class in the system of Liunteus, Pcnlandria Jlonor/i/nia. As they inhabit the hottest parts of the tropics, like the majority of then- race, Portlandias requhe the stimulus of a moist hot stove until then- season's growth is finished, but a long repose in a cooler and more dry atmosphere in winter is essential to cause them to flower with freedom. Portlandia ptatantha was received iu 1850, from the West Indies, by Messrs. Lueombe aud Co., of Exeter. It is an evergreen stove shrub, about twenty inches high, and which
Size: 1686px × 1482px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublis, booksubjectgardening
