Evergreen Alkanet, or Bugloss; the Anchusa sempervirens: L. of eight species, the only one which is indigenous: it is represented in SowErby's Engl.Bot. 45,

The Anchusa officinalis, or greater garden-bugloss, is a native of the warmer parts of Europe; but will also thrive in Britain. The. flowers of this which blow during the whole summer, have obtained the name of cordial flowers, as they moderately cool and soften the palate and stomach. They are much visited by bees ;—the young leaves afford a good substitute for early garden vegetables, and the whole plant is an excellent fodder for cattle.—If the juice of the fresh flowers be boiled with a solution of allum, it yields a green colour, which is used for dying.

The Anchusa lutea, or Onosma echioides, L. is a native of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and some parts of Russia. Its perennial and woody root is, as it were, externally varnished with a beautiful carmine colour: hence the females of the last mentioned country steep it in oil, for the vain purpose of painting their faces.

Another species, the Anchusa tincoria, L. is imported from the Levant, but unprincipled dealers frequently dye the common gar-den-bugloss in a decoction of Brazil wood, and substitute it for the genuine root, which, as obtained from Montpellier, is of a woody texture, externally blood-red, but internally white, without flavour, and of an acrid taste. DodONAEus affirms that, when transplanted to a cold climate, it loses its red colour.

The Spanish wool, or Charta hispanica, is said to be prepared of this root: and Ruger, a late German writer, gives, in his "Pocket-book for Painters, "' the following directions for obtaining from it a beautiful purple lacker: take two ounces of the root finely powdered, and boil it for a few minutes in a lixivium made of pot-ash sufficiently diluted : and, after the liquor has grown cold, precipitate the colouring matter with a strong solution of roach-allum. The precipitate thus obtained must not be edulcorated or washed with water, as is done in similar processes; because this ablution would carry off too many of the colouring particles.

All the species of Anchusa may be propagated by seeds, which should be sown either in the spring or autumn, upon a bed of light sandy earth; and when the plants are strong enough to be removed, they should be planted in beds two feet distant from each other, and watered, if the season require it, till they have taken root. The al-kanet reared in this country, is greatly inferior to that which is imported from the Levant.