Like the common Daffodil it propagates very fast by the roots, and will thrive in almost any soil or situation. Though a native of Spain, it is seldom injured by the severity of our climate. [7] ~Cynoglossum Omphalodes. Blue Navelwort.~ _Class and Order._ ~Pentandria Monogynia.~ _Generic Character._ Corolla infundibuliformis, fauce clausa fornicibus. Semina depressa interiore tantum latere stylo affixa. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ CYNOGLOSSUM Omphalodes repens, foliis radicalibus cordatis[B], _Lin. Sp. Pl. p._ 193. _Syst. Vegetab. p._ 157. _Scopoli Fl. Carn. p._ 124. _t._ 3. SYMPHYTUM minus borraginis facie. _Bauh. Pin._ 259. BORAGO minor verna repens, folio laevi. _Moris. hist._ 3. _p._ 437. _s._ 11, _t._ 26. _fig._ 3. [Illustration: No. 7] A native of Spain, Portugal, and Carniola, and an inhabitant of woods and shady situations, flowers in March and April: in the autumn it puts forth trailing shoots, which take root at the joints, whereby the plant is most plentifully propagated; thrives best under a wall in a North border. [Footnote B: "Stolones repunt non caulis florifer, cui folia ovalia, et minime cordata. TOURNEFORTIUS separavit a SYMPHITO, et dixit OMPHALLODEM _pumilam vernam, symphyti folio_, sed bene monet LINNAEUS solam fructus asperitatem aut glabritiem, non sufficere ad novum genus construendum." _Scopoli Fl. Carn. p._ 124.] [8] ~Helleborus Niger. Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose.~ _Class and Order._ ~Polyandria Polygynia.~ _Generic Character._ Calyx nullus. Petala 5 sive plura. Nectaria bilabiata, tubulata. Capsulae polyspermae, erectiusculae. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ HELLEBORUS niger scapo sub-bifloro subnudo, foliis pedatis. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p._ 431. _Sp. Pl. p._ 783. HELLEBORUS niger flore roseo, _Bauh. Pin._ 186. The true Black Hellebore, or Christmas flower. _Parkins. Parad. p._ 344. [Illustration: No. 8] As our Publication seems likely to fall into the hands of such as are totally unacquainted with Botany, or botanical writings, it must plead as an apology for our often explaining many circumstances relative to plants, which may be well known to adepts in the science. This plant derives its first name from the black colour of its roots, its second from its early flowering, and the colour of its petals, which though generally milk-white on their first appearance, yet have frequently a tint of red in them, which increases with the age of the blossom and finally changes to green; in some species of Hellebore, particularly the _viridis_, the flower is green from first to last. Black Hellebore grows wild on the Appenine and other mountains, preferring such as are rocky. If the weather be unusually mild, it will flower in our gardens, in the open border, as early as December and January; it may indeed be considered as the herald of approaching spring.