The leaves of this plant have somewhat the taste of sorrel, whence its name, it flowers during most of the summer, and is readily propagated by cuttings. MILLER mentions a variety of it with scarlet flowers. It is a native of the Cape, and known to have been cultivated in Chelsea Garden, in the year 1724. [104] LYSIMACHIA BULBIFERA. BULB-BEARING LOOSESTRIFE. _Class and Order._ PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. _Generic Character._ _Corolla_ rotata. _Capsula_ globosa, mucronata, 10-valvis. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ LYSIMACHIA _stricta_ racemis terminalibus, petalis lanceolatis patulis, foliis lanceolatis sessilibus. _Hort. Kew. p. 199._ [Illustration: No 104] In the spring of the year 1781, I received roots of this plant from Mr. ROBERT SQUIBB, then at New-York, which produced flowers the ensuing summer, since that time, I have had frequent opportunities of observing a very peculiar circumstance in its oeconomy; after flowering, instead of producing seeds, it throws out _gemmae vivaces_, or _bulbs_ of an unusual form, from the alae of the leaves, which falling off in the month of October, when the plant decays, produce young plants the ensuing spring. As it is distinguished from all the known species of _Lysimachia_ by this circumstance, we have named it _bulbifera_ instead of _stricta_, under which it appears in the _Hortus Kewensis_. Some Botanists, whose abilities we revere, are of opinion that the trivial names of plants, which are or should be a kind of abridgment of the specific character, ought very rarely or never to be changed: we are not for altering them capriciously on every trivial occasion, but in such a case as the present, where the science is manifestly advanced by the alteration, it would surely have been criminal to have preferred a name, barely expressive, to one which immediately identifies the plant. The _Lysimachia bulbifera_ is a hardy perennial, grows spontaneously in boggy or swampy ground, and hence requires a moist soil. It flowers in August. [105] TRADESCANTIA VIRGINICA. VIRGINIAN TRADESCANTIA, OR SPIDERWORT. _Class and Order._ HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. _Generic Character._ _Calyx_ triphyllus. _Petala_ 3. _Filamenta_ villis articulatis. _Capsula_ 3-locularis. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ TRADESCANTIA _Virginica_ erecta laevis, floribus congestis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14._ _Murr. p. 314. Sp. Pl. 411._ ALLIUM five moly Virginianum. _Bauh. Pin. 506._ PHALANGIUM Ephemerum Virginianum Joannis Tradescant. The soon-fading Spiderwort of Virginia, or Tradescant his Spiderwort. _Park. Parad. 152. 5. t. 151. f. 4._ [Illustration: No 105]