It may be propagated by seeds or cuttings, the latter is the most ready way of increasing this and most of the other species of the genus: when the cuttings have struck root, they should be planted in a mixture of fresh loam and bog earth, either in the open border, under a wall, or in pots. The name of _herbacea_, which Linnaeus has given to this plant, is not very characteristic, but it should be observed, that Linnaeus in this, as in many other instances, has only adopted the name of some older botanist; and it should also be remembered, that in genera, where the species are very numerous, it is no easy matter to give names to all of them that shall be perfectly expressive. This species does not appear to us to be specifically different from the _mediterranea_. [12] ~Dodecatheon Meadia. Mead's Dodecatheon, or American Cowslip.~ _Class and Order._ ~Pentandria Monogynia.~ _Generic Character._ _Corolla_ rotata, reflexa. _Stamina_ tubo insidentia. _Capsula_ unilocularis, oblonga. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ DODECATHEON _Meadia_. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p._ 163. _Sp. Plant. p._ 163. MEADIA _Catesb. Car._ 3. _p._ 1. _t._ 1. _Trew. Ehret. t._ 12. AURICULA ursi virginiana floribus boraginis instar rostratis, cyclaminum more reflexis. _Pluk. alm._ 62. _t._ 79. _f._ 6. [Illustration: No. 12] This plant grows spontaneously in Virginia and other parts of North America, from whence, as Miller informs us, it was sent by Mr. Banister to Dr. Compton, Lord Bishop of London, in whose curious garden he first saw it growing in the year 1709. It is figured by Mr. Catesby, in his Natural History of Carolina, among the natural productions of that country, who bestowed on it the name of _Meadia_, in honour of the late Dr. Mead, a name which Linnaeus has not thought proper to adopt as a generic, though he has as a trivial one. "It flowers the beginning of May, and the seeds ripen in July, soon after which the stalks and leaves decay, so that the roots remain inactive till the following spring.