Fil
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iliii
base, and inflated upwards, strongly veined with numerous
longitudinal blue veins, which are pennately branched, inside
orange-coloured; smooth inside, and hairy without:
limb 5-lobed, spreading, the lobes deeply emarginate or
2-lobed, rugose from the branching veins. Stamens 5, inserted
in the tube, four fertile and one sterile, two of the
fertile ones rather longer than the other two, the barren one
shorter than either, and inserted between the two longest:
filaments clothed with a few loose weak hairs towards the
base, the upper part smooth, and of a blue colour: anthers
large, two-lobed, attached to the filaments by the back: the
barren one very small, and devoid of pollen: pollen orange-
coloured. Ovarium smooth, pyramidal. Style smooth,
slender at the base, and thickening upwards, the upper
part flat and ligulate. Stigma transverse, truncate, channelled
through the centre.
The present genus has been referred to B i g n o n i a c e ^ by
Persoon, Sprengel, and also Dr. Hooker in his Exotic
Flora, from which order it is certainly very distinct, and
appears to be an intermediate genus between the two tribes
of SoLANEiE, being nearly related to Petunia on one hand,
and to Anthocercis on the other.
Our drawing was made from fine specimens, kindly sent
to us from the superb collection of Mrs. Marryat at Wimbledon,
where it was raised from seed received from Valparaiso
last Spring, and flowered abundantly in the open border
of the Flower Garden the latter end of Summer and
Autumn, growing to the height of 18 inches, or thereabouts
; it has every appearance of being perennial; but if
left in the open border all the Winter, it will be proper to
cover it with a mat or some litter in severe frosty weather,
and to leave it exposed when the weather is mild; it strikes
readily from cuttings, so that young plants can be preserved
in Frames or in the Greenhouse through the Winter, and
from thence be turned into the open ground in Spring; they
will by that means flower much earlier, and will be more
likely to perfect seeds: the seeds should be sown early in
Spring on a gentle hot-bed, or in the Greenhouse, and from
thence be planted in a warm border of the Flower Garden.
1. Calyx. 2. Tube o f the Corolla spread open, to show the insertion o f the
Stamens. 3. Ovarium, terminated by the Style, the upper part o f which is
flattened, and the transverse Stigma.
: M'i I ir!