Natural Order Rotacea. Gentianæ, Juss. A Genus of the Pentandria Digynia Class.

Scarce any plant is growing here,

Which against death some weapon does not bear.

COWLEY.

It is now about two thousand years since the medicinal virtues of this bitter plant were discovered by Gentius, King of Illyricum, who afterwards drank so deeply of the bitter cup of fortune. This monarch having broken the most sacred laws of nations, by imprisoning the ambassadors sent to his court by the Romans, it so roused the resentment of that warlike people, that they invaded his kingdom; and being conquered by Anicius, both himself and family were led in triumph through the streets of Rome.

In justice to this royal botanist the plant was called Gentiana by the Latins, and it is now the universal name, wherever the European languages are known; and, indeed, it would not be inappropriate to add this flower to the heraldic arms of all ambassadors whilst in office, as a memento that

their persons should be considered equally sacred with that of their sovereign, or the country which they represent.

Martyn enumerates fifty-three species of Gentian; but he observes that the numerous species of this genus have very few characters in common, which has induced some botanists to range them under separate genera. Aiton, therefore, notices but twenty-two distinct species in the Hortus Kewensis; and, as ornaments to the open garden, we shall regard but a small portion of these mountainous plants, some of which are said to perish when exposed to the rising sun. The Yellow Gentian, Lutea, has been made the emblem of ingratitude, because it so frequently dies under the culture of the gardener. This species is a native of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Lapland, and North America; and is of so strong a bitter, that where it abounds, whole tracts of country may be seen untouched by the bite of any kind of cattle: but still it is not without its use in the economy of Nature, which renders it profitable to those whose lands it has usurped; for it is the root of this species of Gentian which we import from Switzerland, and other places, as a medicinal drug, on account of its bitter being highly esteemed, not only as a tonic and stomachic, but also anthelmintic, antiseptic, emmenagogue, antiarthri

tic, and febrifuge. Before hops were so generally used as a bitter to preserve malt liquors, this root was in much greater demand, it being generally used in brewing, under the name of bitterwort and felwort, baldmoyne and baldmoney.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth, when neither the infusion of the Chinese leaf, nor that of the Arabian berry, was known as a breakfast beverage, the knowledge of a wholesome bitter that would preserve the home-brewed ale from becoming acid, was as necessary as sugar is to our present drink. Gerard, who lived in those days of gallantry, ale, and hospitality, tells us, that "Master Isaac de Lanne, a learned physician, sent him plants of this Gentian, for the increase of his garden, from Burgundie."

Pliny observes, that the Gentian which grows in Illyria is the most efficacious in medicine. This, we presume, is the species now distinguished by the name of Septemfida, Crested Gentian, which grows naturally in the mountains of Persia, near the Caspian Sea, as well as in several places in the Levant.

As an ornament for the English parterre, we shall notice two that are indigenous to our climes; for, like Addison, we prefer those plants which grow in all the luxuriance of unaided nature, to those rare exotics whose sickly appearance bespeaks

their dislike to our country: yet we would not go so far as Mason, and say,

ornament,

When foreign or fantastic, never charm'd

My judgment;

for all good citizens are bound to admire the exertions of those who endeavour, as Cowper observes, To give the Pole the produce of the sun, And knit th' unsocial climates into one!

The large-flowered Dwarf Gentian, or Gentianella, is by botanists named Gentiana Acaulis, because in its natural state the flowers have no stalk, but by the force of cultivation it frequently throws up its corolla on a kind of stem. This species grows naturally on the Welsh mountains, as well as those of the Alps. Ray found it on the highest parts of Mount Jura in Switzerland, and it has also been found in Austria, Carniola, and Silesia ; yet, although a native of such exalted regions, it flourishes in the garden, where the situation is elevated, and the air is pure. Thus it readily admits cultivation in some parts of the country, whilst it cannot be made to prosper in others, particularly in the immediate vicinity of London. This is the species of Gentian best known and most admired in the garden, on account of the brilliancy of its blue, which is equal to the finest of the metallic blues. The corolla is monopetalous, and very large for the size of the plant-therefore it has a fine effect when

planted in large clusters; and it demands admiration when viewed singly, as the lower part of the interior of the campanula of the flower forms a finespotted yellowish star on the rich azure blue ground of the five expanding segments of the corolla, whilst the exterior of the bell is of reddish purple, or deep lilac. It flowers in April and May, and frequently in the autumn: it loves a moist loamy soil and a shady situation, and is propagated by parting the roots; but it may also be increased by sowing the seeds which produce the best plants. These should be sown in the autumn in a border of good loam earth, and the plants will flower the second year; but they are greatly checked by frequent transplanting.

The Spring Gentian, Verna, is also a British plant that flowers in April; but, as it is of a more diminutive size, it is not so frequently planted for ornament as the foregoing. The culture and soil is

the same.

The Yellow Gentian, Lutea, grows from three to four feet in height, and is a desirable plant to ornament groves and woody scenes, as it succeeds best in shady situations where the soil is light and damp, and where many plants would not exist. It flowers in June and July; and when several plants arise near to each other, the effect they give in wilderness scenery is most agreeably enlivening.