A L S T ROE M E R IA acutifolia.
Taper-pointed- leaved A Istroemeria.
Linnean Class and Order. H E X A N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
Natural O rder. AM A R Y L L ID EÆ . K th . synops. 1. p . 288.
Sect. IV . A L S T ROE M E R IÆ . PeriantAÎMm subcampanulatum, sex-
partitum, irreguläre. Stigma trifidum. Capsula trilocularis ; loculis polyspermis.
Semina rotunda,sæpèextùscarnosa.—Radix^MÔOTsa. Herbæ caulescentes
: caulis erectus scandens aut volubilis, foliatus. Elores terminales,
umbellati aut subpaniculati. .
A L S T R OE M E R IA . Supra folio 15. series 2. et folio 228. series 1.
A . acutifolia, caule volubili glabro, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis longe et acu-
tissime acuminatis multinérviis basi tortis ; supra nervis pilosis ¡ subtus
lævigatis nitidis, umbellis multifloris, pedunculis hispidulis subbitloris
bracteatis, perianthii foliolis exterioribus paulo brevioribus.
Alstrcemeria acutifolia. Otto ex Hort. Berol. Swt. hort. brit. ed. 2. p . o l6 .
Stem climbing, twisted, very slightly angular, smooth,
ffreen or slightly tinged with purple. Leaves alternate, pe-
tiolate, twisted at the base, so as to make the upper part of
the leaf downwards, oblongly lanceolate, tapering to a long,
slender acute point, also attenuated towards the base, many-
nerved, the nerves longitudinal, of a bright glossy green on
the under side, and quite smooth, which, from the twist at
the base of the leaf, always turns uppermost; nerves on the
upper side thickly covered with spreading hairs, but those
appear always downward. Petioles short, rigid, slightly wmg-
ed; purple at the base, flattened on the upper side, and keeled
below. Umbel terminal, many-flowered, bracteate at the base.
Involucre of several unequal bractes, some lanceolate, others
linear acute, of a brown purple. Peduneles flattened and an-
cralar, covered with short red bristly hairs, as is also the ovarium,
bracteate near the base in some, in others about ha.t
way up, about an inch and a half long in our sample, 1 or 2,
or sometimes apparently 3-flowered, there being a sort oi
abortive bud in the axils of the bractes in our specimen, which,
perhaps, when grown stronger, will all produce perfect flowers
; as this was the case with A. hirtélla, when it first flowered,
it produced abortive buds in the axils of the bractes,
which, when grown stronger, all became perfect flowers.
Ovarium inferior, or below the perianthium, bluntly trian-
V O L . I .
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