itii.
ceous. Peduncles axillary, about the length of, or a
little longer than the petioles, very slightly angular,
smooth and obsoletely dotted with numerous minute
dots, bibracteate about the middle. Bractes opposite
or alternate, linearly subulate, a little thickened at the
base. Flower nodding, upper and lower part white,
the centre blue. Calyx of 5 sepals, which are lanceolate,
acute, slightly appendaged at the base, smooth,
slightly spreading, the margins a little membranaceous,
upper one a little shorter than the others, which are
nearly equal. Petals 5, unequal, the two upper ones
obovate, reflexed from below the middle, lower part of
a bright blue, the upper part white; two side ones oblong,
obtuse, twisted, blue and striate at the base with
white tips, on the upper side of each bearded with a tuft
of short white hairs : lower one nearly double the size
of the others, ovate, obtuse, concave, with a green nectariferous
pit near the base, but producing no spur, of
a bright purplish blue, striped with numerous small
darker lines, the tip white. Stamens 5, the filaments
membranaceous, fringed, and terminated beyond the
anthers in a membranaceous point; anthers iwo-lohed,
attached to the inside of the filaments, the lobes nearly
straight. Germen bluntly three-sided, smooth. Style
slender, smooth, twisted near the base, longer than the
stamens. Stigma very small.
Our drawing of this curious and handsome flowering plant
was made at the Garden belonging to the Apothecaries Company,
at Chelsea, in July last; and a little plant that was given
us by Mr. Anderson we planted in a warm border, where it is
grown to a large tuft, throwing out numerous runners all around,
and producing a great many flowers every day; it has also ripened
seeds. Mr. Colvill has also raised plants of the same
species from seeds sent by Mr. John Richardson, who collected
them in New South Wales. In severe frost it will require to be
covered with some dry litter or mats, or it may he preserved in
pots in a frame or greenhouse, and it is readily increased by
seeds, or by the runners from its roots. We have adopted the
genus from M. Decandolle’s Mss. in Mr. Lambert’s Herbarium,
where there are some other species of it, and many other species
of this Natural Order, which were marked bv M. Decandolle,
but are not noticed in his Prodromus, so 'th a t he had
probably lost the observations that he had made on them.
— —
1. Calyx. 2. The 5 P e ta ls , the two middle ones bea rd ed on one side n e a r the
base with short hairs. 3. The 5 Stamens. 4. Germen te rmin a ted by th e Style
which IS a h ttle twisted a t the base, with an incoiisiiiciions siiiipie Stigma!
S ta p s iile b u rs t open, showing the seeds in two rows in each cell.
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