Part 5
POINTAL. Seed-buds numerous and small, collected into a head. Shaft simple, inserted into the side of the germ. Summit simple.
SEED-VESSEL none. The berry becomes the common receptacle for the seeds, is of a round ovate form, pulpy, soft, large, and coloured, cut off at the base, and deciduous.
SEEDS numerous, small, on the outside of the receptacle, scattered.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
FRAGARIA foliis tripartitis: foliolis ovatis, acutis, crenatis: petiolis longis: calyce decemfido, inferne piloso: quinque exterioribus rotundatis, crenatis: interioribus ovatis, acutis: pedunculis longis: floribus luteis: fructu rubro, insipido. Rami pilosi, repentes.
STRAWBERRY with three-divided leaves: leaflets ovate, pointed, and scolloped: footstalks long: empalement ten-cleft, and hairy beneath: the five outer ones are rounded and notched: the inner ones are ovate, and pointed: peduncles long: flowers yellow: fruit red and insipid. Branches hairy, and creeping.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement, seed-buds, chives, and pointals. 2. The same shown from the under side. 3. A petal. 4. Seed-buds, chives, and pointals. 5. A seed-bud and pointal. 6. The same magnified. 7. A seed-bud from the ripe fruit. 8. The same magnified.
This new species of Fragaria, from the lively yellow flowers and brilliance of its fine red fruit, is desirable as an ornamental plant, but is in no other respect estimable, from the insipidity of its fruit, which is entirely destitute of flavour. It is a native of the north-east parts of Bengal. Our figure was made from the only plant that has as yet flowered in England, in the gardens of the Honourable C. Greville.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXX.
VACCINIUM NITIDUM.
_Shining-leaved Whortle-berry._
CLASS VIII. ORDER I.
_OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Eight Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX superus. Corolla monopetala. Filamenta receptaculo inserta. Bacca quadrilocularis, polysperma.
CUP superior. Blossom of one petal. Threads fixed to the receptacle. A berry with four cells, and many seeds.
See Vol. I. Pl. XXX. VACCINIUM ARCTOSTAPHYLLUS.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
VACCINIUM foliis nitidis, ovatis, acutis, obsolete serratis: floribus umbellatis, terminalibus, pendulis: corollis sub-cylindraceis. Stamina decem: ramis oppositis, alternatis. Caulis pedalis, erectus.
WHORTLE-BERRY with shining leaves, egg-shaped, sharp-pointed, and obscurely sawed. Flowers grow in umbels, terminal and pendulous: blossom nearly cylindrical: chives ten: branches opposite, and alternate. Stem a foot high, and upright.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The blossom spread open. 2. The chives spread. 3. A chive magnified. 4. Empalement, seed-bud, and pointal.
The Vaccinium nitidum is one of the handsomest species, but not so often to be met with as many of the genus. It is nearly allied in its foliage to the V. crassifolium; for, if leaves of both were detached, and mixt together, they might be easily mistaken. The habits of the plants are, however, very distinct, as is also the shape of the flowers. During the month of May and beginning of June this plant is in the greatest perfection. After that period the flowers lose much of their fine red colour. Our figure was made from a beautiful little shrub, above a foot high, in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXI.
CINCHONA CARIBÆA.
_West India Bark-tree._
CLASS V. ORDER II.
_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum, superum, campanulatum, 5-dentatum, persistens.
COROLLA monopetala, infundibuliformis, 5-partita.
STAMINA. Filamenta 5, minima: antheræ oblongæ, intra faucem corollæ.
PISTILLUM. Germen subrotundum, inferum. Stylus longitudine corollæ. Stigma crassiusculum, oblongum, simplex.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula oblonga, bipartita, calyce coronata, in duas partes dehiscens: partes interiores dehiscentes, dissepimento parallelo.
SEMINA plura, oblonga, compressa, marginata.
EMPALEMENT. Cup one-leafed, above, bell-shaped, five-toothed, and remaining.
BLOSSOM one petal, funnel-shaped, and five-parted.
CHIVES. Threads 5, small: tips oblong, within the mouth of the blossom.
POINTAL. Seed-bud nearly round, beneath. Shaft the length of the corolla. Summit thickish, oblong, and simple.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule oblong, in two parts, crowned by the cup, the two parts cleaving together; the inner parts gaping, with equal dissepiment.
SEEDS many, oblong, compressed, and emarginated.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CINCHONA foliis alternatis, ovatis, acuminatis, integerrimis, glabris, venosis: inter folia stipula parva, cauli adpressa: floribus axillaribus, simplicibus, albicantibus, glabris, odoratissimis. Rami alternati, oppositi.
Habitat in Caribæis: succedaneum cortici Peruviano.
CINCHONA with alternate leaves, sharp-pointed, entire, smooth, and veined: between the leaves there is a small stipula pressed to the stem: flowers axillary, and single, of a whitish colour, smooth, and very sweet-scented: branches alternate, and opposite.
Native of the Caribæan Islands: as bark, substituted for the Peruvian species.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower spread open. 2. The empalement, seed-bud, and pointal. 3. A capsule.
This specimen of the Cinchona Caribæa, or Jesuits Bark of Jamaica, was communicated to the author by A. B. Lambert, esq. who raised it from seed, and with whom it has flowered for the first time in this kingdom. Opinions are various as to the time and means by which the medicinal virtues of the Peruvian bark were first discovered; but as the discovery of most very useful things is generally the effect of chance, Geoffroy’s account of it (as given in the Medical Botany of Dr. Woodville) is certainly the most natural, who states it to have been occasioned by some Cinchona trees having been blown into a pool of water, and lying there till the water became so bitter that nobody would drink it, till one of the neighbouring inhabitants being seized with a violent paroxysm of fever, and having no other water, drank of this, and was perfectly cured. He prevailed on some of his friends, who were ill, to make use of the same remedy, and it proved successful. But the use of it was little known till the year 1638, when a signal cure being performed on the Countess del Cinchon, the lady of a Spanish viceroy at Lima, (from whom it derives its generic title) it came into general use, and a large quantity of the bark was by that lady distributed amongst the Jesuits, in whose hands it increased in reputation, and was by them first introduced into Europe. The Caribæan species is said to be an excellent substitute for the Peruvian bark, and therefore a most valuable acquisition to us; as Mr. Lambert, in his description of the genus Cinchona, informs us that well grounded fears are entertained of the Peruvian species being some day lost to us, as, from the extreme decortication they have experienced, they are nearly extinct in those parts where they were formerly most abundant.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXII.
DIANTHUS ALPINUS.
_Alpine Pink._
CLASS VI. ORDER II.
_DECANDRIA DIGYNIA._ Ten Chives. Two Pointals.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX. Perianthium cylindricum, tubulosum, striatum, persistens: os 5-dentatum, basi squamulis quatuor cinctum, quarum interdum duæ oppositæ, inferiores.
COROLLA. Petala 5. Ungues longitudine calycis, angusti, receptaculo inserti: limbus extus planus, laminis late obtusis, crenatis.
STAMINA. Filamenta decem, subulata, longitudine calycis: antheræ ovales, oblongæ, compressæ, incumbentes.
PISTILLUM. Germen ovale. Styli duo, subulati, staminibus longiores. Stigmata recurvata, acuminata.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula cylindrica, recta, unilocularis, quadrilateralis, apice dehiscens.
SEMINA plurima, compressa, subrotunda, a receptaculo liberata.
EMPALEMENT cylindrical, tubular, lined, remaining: the mouth is 5-toothed, surrounded by four squamæ at the base, or sometimes two opposite ones beneath.
BLOSSOM 5 petals: the claws the length of the calyx, narrow, and inserted into the receptacle: border flat without, broadly obtuse, and notched.
CHIVES. Ten threads, awl-shaped, the length of the calyx: tips oval, oblong, compressed, and incumbent.
POINTAL. Seed-bud oval. Shafts two, awl-shaped, and longer than the chives. Summit recurved, and pointed.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule cylindrical, straight, one loculament, four-sided, and splitting at the end.
SEEDS many, compressed, nearly round, and freed from the receptacle.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
DIANTHUS alpinus. Frutex pygmæus, elegans, foliis oppositis, alternis, linearibus, curvatis, brevibus: floribus terminalibus, rubris, in medio circulo albo.
ALPINE pink. An elegant dwarf shrub, with opposite alternate leaves, linear, curved, and short. Flowers terminal and red, with a small circle of white in the centre.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. A petal shown from the under side. 3. Seed-bud, chives, and pointals. 4. The chives spread open. 5. Seed-bud and pointals. 6. The seed-bud cut transversely.
The Dianthus alpinus is a very scarce plant, little known, and rarely to be met with in any collection, although its beauty renders it deserving a place in every one, and its size would never exclude it from any. Our figure represents the entire plant, from the collection of Isaac Swainson, esq. who raised it from seed which he received from Germany. The only coloured representation of it extant is in the Flora Austriaca of Jacquin, from a native specimen, and of no greater magnitude than our figure represents--a diminutive stature, particularly characteristic of the true Alpine pink.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXIII.
DAHLIA PINNATA NANA.
_Dwarf Winged-leaved Dahlia._
CLASS XIX. ORDER II.
_SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA._ Tips united. Superfluous Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX duplex. Corolla radiata, radiis lacinias calycis numero æquantibus: corollulæ pedicellatæ. Receptaculum paleaceum. Stigmata plumosa.
EMPALEMENT double. Blossom radiated, with the rays equalling in number the segments of the empalement: the florets pedicelled. Receptacle chaffy. Summit plumose.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
DAHLIA foliis pinnatis: pinnulis quinque, ovatis, acutis, dentatis: floribus duplicibus: caulis humilis.
DAHLIA with pinnated leaves: the pinnules five, ovate, pointed, and toothed: flowers double: stem low.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. One of the radiating florets. 2. A floret of the disk with its scale. 3. A flower spread open. 4. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
This double-flowered dwarf Dahlia is certainly the most attractive of the genus. It is supposed to be only a variety of the D. pinnata, but the variation is almost powerful enough to constitute a species; as, besides the difference in its flowers, we have never found it arrive to more than half the height of the pinnata, although we have seen it every autumn for four years in luxuriant bloom. At present it is a scarce plant, and appears to be not quite so hardy as the taller species, nor so easily increased. Our figure was made from a plant in the collection of the Right Hon. Lady Holland, at Holland House, Kensington.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXIV.
NICOTIANA GLUTINOSA.
_Clammy Tobacco._
CLASS V. ORDER I.
_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum, ovatum, 5-fidum, persistens.
COROLLA monopetala, infundibuliformis: tubus calyce longior: limbus patulus, 5-fidus, 5-plicatus.
STAMINA. Filamenta quinque, subulata, vix longitudine corollas, adscendentia: antheræ oblongæ.
PISTILLUM. Germen ovatum. Stylus filiformis, longitudine corollæ. Stigma capitatum, emarginatum.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula sub-ovata, lineâ utrinque insculptâ: bilocularis: bivalvis, apice dehiscens: receptaculum dimidiatum, ovatum, punctatum: dissepimentis affixis.
SEMINA numerosa, reniformia, rugosa.
EMPALEMENT. Cup one-leafed, ovate, 5-cleft, and remaining.
BLOSSOM one petal, funnel-shaped: tube longer than the calyx: segments spreading, 5-cleft, 5-plaited.
CHIVES. Threads five, awl-shaped, scarcely the length of the blossom, and ascending: tips oblong.
POINTAL. Seed-bud ovate. Shaft thread-shaped, the length of the blossom. Summit headed, and emarginated.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule nearly egg-shaped, with a line imprinted on both sides: two loculaments: two valves, splitting at the point: receptacle half-way divided, ovate, and dotted: dissepiments cleaving together.
SEEDS numerous, kidney-shaped, and rough.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
NICOTIANA foliis petiolatis, sub-cordatis, glandulis minutis viscosis circumsessis: floribus alternis, solitariis, ad partem superam ramorum: corolla campanulata, pallide purpurea, viscosa: ramis glandulis minutis tectis, viscosis.
Habitat in Peru.
TOBACCO with petiolated and nearly heart-shaped leaves, beset with minute viscous glands: flowers grow solitary and alternate on the upper part of the branches: blossom bell-shaped, of a pale purple, and viscous: the branches covered with glands very small, and clammy.
Native of Peru.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. The blossom spread. 3. Seed-bud and pointal.
This species of Nicotiana is called the Spanish Tobacco; and although we cannot exactly ascertain whether it is cultivated for the purpose of manufacturing into tobacco or snuff, yet there is little doubt of that being the case. The general appearance of this species very much resembles the common Tobacco plant, so well known. The most ostensible difference appears to exist in the glutinous character of the present species, whose stalks, leaves, and flowers are beset by numerous little glands, that emit a viscid juice. There is not much beauty attached to it; but, as a scarce and unfigured species, it well deserves a representation, as would any species of a genus that forms so considerable a branch in the commerce of a mercantile country. Our figure was made from a fine specimen received from A. B. Lambert, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXV.
MELALEUCA SALICIFOLIA.
_Willow-leaved Melaleuca._
CLASS XVIII. ORDER IV.
_POLYADELPHIA POLYANDRIA._ Threads in many Sets. Many Chives.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX quinquefidus, semisuperus. Petala quinque. Filamenta multa, longissima, in quinque corpora connata. Pistillum unum. Capsula 3-locularis.
CUP five-cleft, half above. Petals five. Threads numerous, very long, united into five bodies. Pointal one. Capsule 3-celled.
See Melaleuca Ericæfolia, Pl. 175. Vol. III.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
MELALEUCA foliis oppositis, lanceolatis, punctatis: floribus paniculatis: corollis luteis, magnis, et patentibus: ramis oppositis, alternatis: caulis erectus.
MELALEUCA with opposite lance-shaped leaves, dotted: flowers grow in panicles: blossoms yellow, large, and spreading: branches opposite, and alternate: stem upright.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower complete, spread open. 2. The same shown from the outside. 3. One of the bundles of chives. 4. Empalement, seed-bud, and pointal.
Very few species of plants revolt so much in appearance from their original genus as the present one, whose exterior bears very little resemblance to Melaleuca, although, upon examination, it perfectly accords in every particular. It is a native of New Holland, and, we are informed, was first raised from seed by Mr. Barr, nurseryman at Ball’s Pond, Islington.
Our figure was made from a plant in fine bloom at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXVI.
PÆONIA DAURICA.
_Dauric Pæony._
CLASS XIII. ORDER II.
_POLYANDRIA DIGYNIA._ Many Chives. Two Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Stylus 0. Capsulæ polyspermæ.
CUP 5-leaved. Petals 5. Pointal none. Capsules many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PÆONIA foliis pinnatis: foliolis sub-ovatis, glaucis: floribus rubro-purpureis: caulis herbaceus, bipedalis.
PÆONY with winged leaves: the leaflets are nearly egg-shaped, and glaucous: flowers of a red purple: stem herbaceous, and about two feet high.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement and seed-buds. 2. A chive. 3. The seed-buds as they appear when the seeds are nearly perfect.
This fine Pæony is at present a scarce plant; nor is there any figure of it extant, if not in the Flora Russica of Dr. Pallas. The specimen our figure represents was received from Mr. J. Bell, who raised it from seed, and with whom it has flowered for the first time in this country. It may with propriety be ranked among the most attractive of the herbaceous species. The flowers expand in the early part of summer; and from the cold climate whence it is indigenous, little doubt need be entertained of its resisting our winter, if it can but endure the sudden changes of weather to which this island is subject; a transition that frequently proves more fatal to plants the natives of a cold northern clime, than to those of southern origin.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXVII.
XERANTHEMUM HERBACEUM.
_Herbaceous Eternal Flower._
CLASS XIX. ORDER II.
_SYNGENESIS POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA._ Tips united. Superfluous Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
RECEPTACULUM paleaceum, aut nudum. Pappus setaceus. Calyx imbricatus, radiatus, radio colorato.
RECEPTACLE chaffy, or naked. Feather bristly. Empalement tiled, rayed, the ray coloured.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
XERANTHEMUM herbaceum: foliis amplexicaulibus, oblongis, margine revolutis, lanâ albâ tectis: floribus terminalibus, solitariis, pallide aurantiis, nitidissimis: squamæ inferæ fulvescentes.
XERANTHEMUM with an herbaceous stem: leaves embracing the stem, oblong, rolled back at the edges, and covered with a white wool: flowers terminate the branches singly, are of a pale gold colour, and very shining: the lower scales are of a foxy tint.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. One of the radiating scales. 2. A floret of the disk. 3. The chives and pointal. 4. Leaf of a variety.
This handsome species of Xeranthemum may be regarded as truly herbaceous, as the plant not only dies down annually, but even whilst living keeps constantly sending up fresh shoots from the root. The white appearance of the leaves is owing to their being enveloped by a kind of wool: but there are two varieties; the one whose foliage is almost without this woolly coat, and the other entirely divested of it, and of a rich green colour; but in every other particular the plants are all exactly alike.
Our figure was made from a small plant in fine flower in the conservatory of G. Hibbert, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXVIII.
BROUSSONETIA PAPYRIFERA.
_Paper Mulberry._
CLASS XXII. ORDER IV.
_DIŒCIA TETRANDRIA._ Chives and Pointals on different Plants. Four Chives.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
* _Masculi flores._
AMENTUM cylindraceum.
CALYX 4-partitus. Corolla nulla.
* _Feminei flores._
AMENTUM globosum, floribus undique tectum.
CALYX inferus, persistens, 3-seu 4-dentatus. Corolla nulla. Stylus filiformis. Fructus cylindraceo-clavatus, apice bilabiatus.
SEMEN nudum ad apicem fructûs.
* _Male flowers._
CATKIN cylindrical.
EMPALEMENT 4-divided. Blossom none.
* _Female flowers._
CATKIN globular, covered all over by flowers.
EMPALEMENT beneath and remaining, 3-sometimes 4-toothed. Blossom none. Shaft thread-shaped. Fruit cylindrically club-shaped, and two-lipped at the point.
SEED naked at the point of the fruit.
_Broussonetia papyrifera. Vent. Tab. Veg. et Willd. Sp. Pl._
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
BROUSSONETIA foliis tri-vel quinque-lobis, acutis, serratis, supra scabris, subtus pubescentibus.
BROUSSONETIA with leaves from 3-to 5-lobed, pointed, sawed, rough on the upper surface, and softly haired beneath.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
_Male Plant._
1. An empalement and chives, in an infant state. 2. The same magnified. 3. An empalement and chives in perfection. 4. The same magnified.
_Female Plant._
1. The catkin with a pointal detached. 2. A section of the same when in fruit. 3. One of the florets with the seed detached. 4. A seed cut in two, and magnified.
This useful plant is the Morus papyrifera of Linnæus, but certainly would not have been so called by him, had both, the male and female plant come under his inspection, as it does not belong either to the class or order of the Mulberry. Neither of the plants, when in bloom, possesses much beauty, but they have rather a sombre aspect: yet the female plant, when in fruit, is certainly very handsome. In Japan and the South Sea Islands, where it is indigenous, the bark of it serves to make a clothing for the natives. In Japan, it not only makes cloth for them, but all the Japanese paper is made from the bark of it. There are four sorts. The first is a royal size, of a square form, very smooth, and painted on one side. The second is a fine letter paper, in sheets often three feet long. The third is used for covering their best varnished articles, and so fine as sometimes to look like a spider’s web. The fourth is a common writing-paper, varying in size and form. The process of its manufacture is by cutting off the shoots after the leaves fall, and boiling them till the bark separates. It is then peeled off, and steeped 3 or 4 hours in water, to purify, and the black outer cuticle, and green matter within, are scraped off and separated, according to their qualities. It is again boiled with a little ashes, and stirred with a bamboo stick; and the boiling is complete when its downy fibres can be separated with a touch of the finger. It is then agitated in water till it appears like a lump of tow, and again beat with camphor wood battens, and strained, for the coarser paper. An infusion of the roots of the Hibiscus manihot, or the leaves of Rivaria Japonica, with the flour of Japan rice, is then mixed with it, and poured on their moulds; which are not, like ours, formed of wire, but of fine rushes, and the sheets laid on a matted table with a fine shred of bamboo between each, and covered by a board with a stone upon it, to squeeze out the water, dried the next day singly on flat boards, and then packed up for sale.
Our figure was made from fine plants in the garden of J. Vere, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCLXXXIX.
GNAPHALIUM GRANDIFLORUM.
_Large-flowered Gnaphalium._
CLASS XIX. ORDER II.
_SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA._ Tips united. Superfluous Polygamy.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
RECEPTACULUM nudum. Pappus pilosus, vel plumosus. Calyx imbricatus, radiatus, radio colorato.
RECEPTACLE naked. Down hairy, or feathery. Empalement imbricated, rayed, with the ray coloured.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
GNAPHALIUM grandiflorum: floribus paniculatis, albis, lucidis: pedunculis albis, lanatis: foliis ovato-acutis, albâ lanâ tectis.
GNAPHALIUM with large flowers: flowers grow in panicles, white, and shining: footstalks white, and woolly: leaves are ovate-pointed, and covered with a white wool.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A scale of the empalement. 2. The same shown from the under side. 3. A flower complete. 4. The same magnified. 5. The seed-bud, chives, and pointal magnified. 6. Seed-bud and pointal. 7. The same magnified.
This Gnaphalium is at present the largest flowering species (the G. eximium excepted). Its flowers are equally durable with those of any Xeranthemum, nor does it vary essentially in any particular from that genus (as a section of which it would have been much better understood). The genus Elychrisum we find, upon examination, to be built upon the same equivocal ground, and there is little doubt but at some future period those two superfluous genera will fall into the old Linnæan genus of Xeranthemum. Our figure was made from a fine plant in the Clapham collection, about a foot and a half high. We have seen it grow much taller, but it is not then so handsome. It is certainly not a new plant, but has not been as yet figured in any modern publication. The whiteness so prevalent in its flowers and leaves (by way of contrast to the green foliage of most other plants) would render it deserving a place in every collection, even if its long-lived shining flowers were not a sufficient recommendation.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCXC.
PONTEDERIA DILATATA.
_Dilated Pontederia._
CLASS VI. ORDER I.
_HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Six Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX. Spatha communis, oblonga, latere dehiscens.
COROLLA monopetala, 6-fida.
STAMINA. Filamenta sex, corollæ inserta. Antheræ oblongæ.
PISTILLUM. Germen oblongum, inferum. Stylus simplex.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula trilocularis, triangularis.
SEMINA plurima.
OBS. In quibusdam speciebus germen est superum: in aliis inferum.
EMPALEMENT. Spathe common, oblong, opening sideways.
BLOSSOM one-petalled, 6-cleft.
CHIVES. Threads six, inserted into the blossom. Tips oblong.
POINTAL. Seed-bud oblong, beneath. Shaft simple.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule three-locular, three-angled.
SEEDS many.
OBS. In some species the seed-bud is above, in others beneath.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PONTEDERIA germine supero: foliis sagittatis, obtusis, vel acutis: floribus umbellatis, confertis, cæruleis.
Habitat in India Orientali.
PONTEDERIA with the seed-buds above: leaves arrow-shaped, obtuse, or pointed: flowers in crowded umbels, of a blue colour.
Native of the East Indies.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A blossom spread open. 2. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified. 3. The plant in miniature.
This handsome aquatic is a native of the East Indies, and figured in Col. Syms’s Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, under the title of Pontederia dilatata. On examining some plants in the hot-house of J. Vere, esq. (whence our figure was taken) we observed so much variation in them, that we are inclined to think the P. hastata of Dr. Roxburgh’s Coromandel Plants represents (from a weak plant) the same species our figure delineates.
[Illustration]
PLATE CCCCXCI.
GARDENIA RADICANS.
_Rooting Gardenia._
CLASS V. ORDER I.
_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 1-phyllus, 5-fidus, persistens.
COROLLA contorta, monopetala, 5-partita.
STAMINA. Filamenta nulla. Antheræ quinque. Bacca infera, 2-locularis, polysperma. Stylus elevatus, bilobus.
EMPALEMENT 1-leafed, 5-parted, and remaining.
BLOSSOM twisted, one-leafed, 5-parted.
CHIVES. Threads none. Tips 5. Berry beneath, 2 loculaments, many-seeded. Shaft above, 2-lobed.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
GARDENIA foliis lanceolatis: corollis hypocrateriformibus, albis, odoratissimis: calyce angulato: caule radicante.
GARDENIA with lance-shaped leaves: blossom pitcher-shaped, white, and very sweet-scented: cup angular: stem rooting.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. The blossom spread open. 3. Seed-bud and pointal.