This very singular plant is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, where it
grows and flourishes on the rocks with the _Stapelia hirsuta_.
If these plants be kept in a very moderate stove in winter, and in
summer placed in an airy glass-case where they may enjoy much free air,
but screened from wet and cold, they will thrive and flower very well;
for although they will live in the open air in summer, and may be kept
through the winter in a good green-house; yet these plants will not
flower so well as those managed in the other way. They must have little
water given them, especially in winter.
It is very seldom that the _variegata_ produces seed-vessels in this
country; MILLER observes, in upwards of forty years that he
cultivated it, he never saw it produce its pods but three times, and
then on such plants only as were plunged into the tan-bed in the stove.
This plant may be propagated without seeds, as it grows fast enough from
slips; treatment the same as that of the Creeping Cereus, which see.
It takes its name of _Stapelia_ from _Stapel_, a Dutchman, author of
some botanical works, particularly a Description of Theophrastus's
plants.
[27]
~Convolvulus tricolor. Small Convolvulus or Bindweed.~
_Class and Order._
~Pentandria Monogynia.~
_Generic Character._
_Corolla_ campanulata, plicata. _Stigmata_ 2. _Capsula_ 2-locularis:
loculis dispermis.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
CONVOLVULUS _tricolor_ foliis lanceolato ovatis glabris, caule
declinato, floribus solitariis. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p._ 203. _Sp. Pl.
p._ 225.
CONVOLVULUS peregrinus caeruleus, folio oblongo. _Bauh. Pin._ 295. Flore
triplici colore insignito. _Moris. hist._ 2. _p._ 17. _s._ 1. _t._ 4.
_f._ 4.
The Spanish Small Blew Bindeweede. _Parkins. Parad. p._ 4.
[Illustration: No. 27]
This species has usually been called _Convolvulus minor_ by gardeners,
by way of distinguishing it from the _Convolvulus purpureus_, to which
they have given the name of _major_. It is a very pretty annual; a
native of Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, and very commonly cultivated in
gardens.
The most usual colours of its blossoms are blue, white, and yellow,
whence its name of _tricolor_; but there is a variety of it with white,
and another with striped blossoms.
The whole plant with us is in general hairy, hence it does not well
accord with LINNAEUS'S description. It is propagated by seeds,
which should be sown on the flower-borders in the spring, where the
plants are to remain: they require no other care than to be thinned and
weeded.
[28]
~Passiflora coerulea. Common Passion-Flower.~
_Class and order._
~Gynandria Hexandria.~
_Generic Character._
Trigyna. _Cal._ 5-phyllus. _Petala_ 5. _Nectarium_ corona. _Bacca_
pedicellata.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
PASSIFLORA _coerulea_ foliis palmatis integerrimis. _Lin. Syst.
Vegetab. p._ 823. _Sp. Pl. p._ 1360.
GRANADILLA polyphyllos, fructu ovato. _Tourn. inst._ 241.
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