LILIUM byzantium miniatum. Bauh.  Pin. 78.

The Red Martagon of Constantinople. Park.  Parad. p. 34.

[Illustration:  No. 30]

This species is best known in the nurseries by the name of the Scarlet Martagon; but as it is not the Martagon of Linnaeus, to avoid confusion it will be most proper to adhere to the name which Linnaeus has given it.

It is a native not only of Persia, but of Hungary; Professor Jacquin, who has figured it in his most excellent Flora Austriaca, describes it as growing betwixt Carniola and Carinthia, and other parts of Hungary, but always on the tops of the largest mountains.

It varies in the number of its flowers, from one to six, and the colour in some is found of a blood red.

Authors differ in their ideas of its smell:  Jacquin describing it as disagreeble, while Scopoli compares it to that of an orange.

It flowers in June and July; and is propagated by offsets, which it produces pretty freely, and which will grow in almost any soil or situation.

The best time for removing the roots is soon after the leaves are decayed, before they have begun to shoot.

[31]

Jasminum officinale.  Common Jasmine or Jessamine.

Class and Order.

Diandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Cor. 5-fida. Bacca dicocca. Sem. arillata. Antherae intra tubum.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

JASMINUM officinale foliis oppositis; foliolis distinctis. Lin.  Syst. 
Vegetab. p. 56.

JASMINUM vulgatius flore albo. Bauh.  Pin. 397.

Jasmine or Gesmine. Park.  Parad. p. 406.

[Illustration:  No. 31]

There is an elegance in the Jasmine which added to its fragrance renders it an object of universal admiration.

“It grows naturally at Malabar, and in several parts of India, yet has been long inured to our climate, so as to thrive and flower extremely well, but never produces any fruit in England.  It is easily propagated by laying down the branches, which will take root in one year, and may then be cut from the old plant, and planted where they are designed to remain:  it may also be propagated by cuttings, which should be planted early in the autumn, and guarded against the effects of severe frosts.

“When these plants are removed, they should be planted either against some wall, pale, or other fence, where the flexible branches may be supported.  These plants should be permitted to grow rude in the summer, otherwise there will be no flowers; but after the summer is past, the luxuriant shoots should be pruned off, and the others must be nailed to the support.

“There are two varieties of this with variegated leaves, one with white, the other with yellow stripes, but the latter is the most common:  these are propagated by budding them on the plain Jasmine; they require to be planted in a warm situation, especially the white-striped, for they are much more tender than the plain, and in very severe winters their branches should be covered with mats or straw to prevent their being killed.” Miller’s Gard.  Dict.