valvulis distinctis, involutis, septum constituentibus, subinde antberæ quasi
4-loculares ! demilm longitudinaliter solutis. Ovarium tricoccum : coccis
bine costis 3 elevatis rotundis nitidis instructis. Ovula solitaria, ab apice
loculi pendilla. Stylus trigonus, lævis. Stigma tridentatum : dentibus sub-
recurvis. D . Don Mss.
Tbis is clearly the plant of Feuillée, and, consequently, the T . peregri-
nnm of Linnæus, who took up tbe species entirely from that accurate author;
although he afterwards confounded with it a totally different plant, which
he bad received from the celebrated Mutis. This substitution first occurs
in tbe twelfth edition of the Systema Naturæ; and the plant is described
more at length in the Mantissa Altera, published in 1771. I t does not seem
to be specifically different from T. bicolorurn of the Flora Peruviana, and
is distinguished by the greater equality of its petals, which are uniformly
multifid, and by the calyx being furnished with lanceolate segments, and a
long straight spur. The specimens, although marked “ T. peregrinum,”
yet, as they are without the reference to the Species Plantarum, it is evident
Linnæus did not consider them of sufficient authority.
In the Linnæan Herbarium, there is, also, what we take to be a cultivated
specimen, and probably from the Paris Garden, of the same plant sent to
the Swedish Naturalist, by Duchesne. Linnæus, in transcribing the synonym
of Peuillée, has inadvertently written quinquefolii fo lio , instead o f
quinqucf do fo lio ; and this error, although a very trifling one, has been copied
by all subsequent authors, affording one, among many examples that
might be given, of the servile manner in which synonyms are copied. T . p e regrinum
varies exceedingly in its leaves, insomuch, that one, unaware of
tbe fact, would be led to conclude that several species had been confounded.
The present, and the figure in the Botanical Magazine, represent the two
extremes. The plant we presume to be a native of Peru, where it has been
cultivated from time immemorial, as an ornamental creeper, particularly
in the Gardens of Lima, Chancay, and Huanuco. I t is cal ed Malta by the
Indians, and Paxaritos Amarillos, i. e. yellow birds, by the Spaniards.
Our drawing was taken from a plant which blossomed in the G arden
of Miss Reinagle, by whom it had been raised from Chile seeds, most probably
obtained from some garden.
It is a hardy annual, but like many other South American plants, if
kept ill the greenhouse, it will flourish for several years. In all the really
perennial species of this genus, the root is tuberous ; T. polyphyllum of
Cavanilles, and T. leptophyllum, have tuberous roots, procumbent stems,
leaves deeply parted into numerous segments, in the former lanceolate, and
in the latter linear ; the flowers in both are yellow, the spur straight and
tapering, and tbe petals cleft at the top. T. ciliatum of the Flora P e ru viana,
and T. tenellum, are remarkable for the shortness of the spur ; in
the former the jietals are quite entire, and in the latter obcordate. The
leaves in both are parted into five or six obovate segments. The fringed
bracteæ, and stipule-like appendages of T. ciliatum, are so fugaceous that
they are rarely present in the dried plant. D . Don Mss.
The generic name is derived from tropæum, a trophy ; the leaf resembles
a buckler, and the flower a empty helmet, of which trophies were formed. 1C
lil
■