Stamina.)' Filaménto, fex, longitudine' cbrollàe,-; fuhasquàlìq. ereétiufcula, jfilifofmia,?^lba& parum
fupra bafin 'veftita pilis numerolis, tenuimmis, albis, pellucidis, Conferva! indar pulcherrimc
articulatis, erefto-patentibus, ipfo ftamine paulo brevioribus. Anthera cuneiformes, verticales,
lúteas, glabras, apipe integras, marginibus polliñiferis, fülvis.
Pistillum. Germen fuperum, fubrotundum, trigonum, glabrum, album. Stylus ereólus, longitudine
ilaminum, fimplex, terès, glaber, albus. Stigma parvuin, obtufum, fcabrum.
Capsula trilocularis, trivalvis, v ix magnitudine pifi, rubicunda, glabra. Semina folitaria, fub-
reniformia.
O B S É R V A T I O N E S.
In caldario colitur, ftolonibus feminibufque abunde multiplicatur formofa pianta, olim defidera-
tifTìma prout rariffima, hodie in hortis Angliae etiam trita, e li quali “ Crambe decies reperita.”
Apud amiciff. Salilbury eximiè luxuriantem vidi.
E X P L . T A B .
i . Flos e braéteis liberatus.
' 2. Stamen cum anthera.
•3Ì1 Idem auftum.
4. Germen cum ftylo.
5. Fruftus.
C i » ]
T R A D E S C A N T I A difcolor.
Purple-leaved Spider-wort.
H E X A N D R I A Monogynia. Flowers with a Calyx.
G e n . C h a r . Calyx th re e -le a v ed * Petals th re e . Filaments fu r tiiih ed w ith jo in te d
hairs. Capfule th r e e - c e lled .
Sp ec . C h a r . Plant fmooth. Stem none. Bra£teae embracing each other, com-
prefled. LèaVes lanceolate, coloured on the under fide.
Sÿn . Tradefcantia difcolor. LH éritier Sert. Angl. 8. t. 12. Aiton Hort. Kew. V. 1. 403.
T . Spathacea. Swartz. Prod. FI. Ind. occ. 57.
Mr. Maffon obfenAng this plant cultivated at Jamaica, to which place it had been brought by a jhvp
from that part o f South America Called the Môfquito-Jhore, no fooner defcribed it to the Englijh
Botanijls, than they became anxious to acquirefo beautiful andfvnguiar a prodvMion, arid at length,
by the favour o f M r. Wallen, i t wasfent to Europe, u
Root perennial, vertical, flelhy, knotty. Fibres verticillated, thready, moftly limple, downy.
Body o f the root partly above ground, refcmbling a ihort Hem, green.
L eaves radical, numerous, embracing each other, fpreading, a foot long, lanceolate, lharpiih,
entire, flelhy, flightly ribbed, fmooth on both iides, a little downy at the edges o f the bafe,
greçn above, bright purple on the margins and under fide, the younger ones fomewhat chan-
■ nelled. Stipula none.
S talks axillary, four times fhortçr than the leaves, folitary, eretl, limple, rarely divided, a
litde comprefled, fmooth, whitilh. External BraElea iheath-like, flightly ribbed, purplilh,
fmooth, polilhed on the infide : o f which the lowermofi are the fmallell, thinneft, embracing the
llalk, and alternate ; the uppermo/l fcarcely ever more than two, very large, formed like a boat,
fomewhat heart-lhaped at the bafe, embracing each other, ending in a point : Internal BraElea
fcaly, membranous, white and pellucid, three times ihorter than the outer ones.
Flowers numerous, between the uppermoft external braÊleas, which they fcarcely rife above,
feparated and enfolded in diftinfl clufters b y the internal ones, Handing on flower-llalks, white,
Ihort-lived and fcentlels. Ftower-Jlalks limple, fingle-flowered, roundilh, a little fwelled in the
upper part, whitilh, fometimes green at the top, fmooth, polilhed, curved after flowering.
C al yx three-leaved, corolla-like, whitilh, pellucid, fmooth; its divifions equal, ovate, obtufe,
concave, fpreading.
Petals three, a little longer than the calyx, and alternate with its leaves, fpreading, equal,
broad-oval, obtufe, waved in the margin, white, foon fading and then rolled inward.
S t a m i n a .