Mr. Aiton informs us that this species of Pelargonium, which is one of the more fleshy kinds, is a native of the South-West Coast of Africa, and was introduced to the Royal Garden at Kew by Mr. Anthony Hove in 1786. It flowers during most of the Summer months, and ripens its seeds, by which it may be increased, as also by cuttings; it is found to be more tender than many others, and more liable to be injured by damps, and hence it will require a treatment more applicable to a dry stove plant. [316] Polygala Chamaebuxus. Box-Leaved Milk-Wort. _Class and Order._ Diadelphia Octandria. _Generic Character._ _Cal._ 5-phyllus: foliolis 2 majoribus alaeformibus, ante maturitatem seminis coloratis. _Caps._ obcordata, 2-locularis. _Sem._ solitaria. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ POLYGALA _Chamaebuxus_ floribus sparsis: carinae apice subrotundo, foliis lanceolatis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14._ _Murr. p. 639._ _Ait. Kew. v. 3. p. 4._ _Jacq. Fl. Austr. v. 3. p. 19. t. 233._ CHAMAEBUXUS flore coluteae. _Bauh. Pin. 471._ ANONYMOS flore Coluteae. _Clus. Hist. p. 105. f._ POLYGALOIDES procumbens foliis duris ovatis nervo aristato. _Hall. Hist. n. 345._ [Illustration: N^o. 316] Clusius, in his _Hist. Pl. rar._ gives an accurate description and good figure of the present plant, before unnoticed (as he observes) by any author; it has since been particularly described by Haller and Jacquin; the former makes a distinct genus of it, by the name of _Polygaloides_. It is an elegant little evergreen shrub of low growth, rarely exceeding a foot in height, with leaves like those of box, producing flowers from May to October, but most plentifully in May and June; each flower stands on a peduncle proceeding from a kind of triphyllous cup, formed of floral leaves, the true calyx is composed of three leaves, which are nearly white; the two outermost petals, similar to the wings of a papilionaceous flower, are also white, or nearly so; the third petal which forms a kind of tube and contains the eight stamina with the pistillum, is white at the base, but yellow towards the extremity, where it changes by degrees to a bright bay colour: both Clusius and Jacquin observed a variety of this plant, in which the calyx and wings were of a beautiful purple; this variety, we believe, has not yet been introduced to this country: the common sort was cultivated in the garden at Oxford, in 1658. Miller describes it as a plant difficult of cultivation; it is not now regarded as such; both Clusius and Jacquin describe it as having creeping roots; such plants are generally increased without difficulty, and so is this; planted in bog earth on a shady border, it thrives extremely well, and spawns much, so that there is no necessity for having recourse to its seeds. It grows spontaneously on the Alps of Austria and Switzerland. [317] Ononis Fruticosa. Shrubby Rest-Harrow. _Class and Order._ Diadelphia Decandria.