SPHENOTOMA gracilis.
Slender Sphenotoma.
Linnean Class and Order. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural Order. EPACRIDEiE. Brown prodr. p. 535.
Subordo II. Ovarii loculi polyspermi. Pericarpium capsulare.
SPHENOTOMA• Calyx bibracteatus. Corolla hypocrateriformis, tubo gracili:
fauce coarctat&; limbo 5-partito obtusissimo, patenti, imberbi. Stamina epipetala.
Squamulce 5, hypogynae. Capsula placentis ab apice columnae centralis pendulis, so-
lutis.—Frutices, ramis dum denudatis annulatis. Folia imbricata, basibus cucullatis, se-
mivag inantibus * Spica simplex, bract eis subtendentibus persistentibus.
S. gracilis, ramis floriferis spied ovatd multoties longioribus, foliis caulinis subulate«
lanceolatis patulis recurvisve: rameis appressis. Brown prodr, pt 556. sub Draco-
phyllo.
Dracophyllum gracile. Rcem. et Schult. syst. 4. p. 386. Botan. magaz. 2678.
Epacris gracilis. Poir. encycl. bot. supp. 2. p. 556. Spreng. syst. 1. p. 629.
A small branching evergreen Heath-like Shrub, of the habit
of S p r e n g e l ia : branches long and slender, erect or ascending,
thickly clothed with leaves, the leafy stems hairy ; the flowering
ones smooth. Leaves recurved, cucullate at the base and
sheathing the stem, leaving scars on it when they drop off:
those on the main branches subulately lanceolate, taper-pointed,
smooth on the upper side and hairy underneath, the margins
fringed with long hairs: those on o O # < the flowerinog branches shorter,’ broader, and smooth, striate: on the flower-stem or peduncle
they are lanceolate, taper-pointed, broad at the base, and pressed
close to the stem. Flowers white, terminal, in a close ovate
spike, very sweet-scented. Bractes two, at the base of the
calyx, about half the length of the leaf that supports it; striate,
and very hairy. Calyx of 5 sepals, that are lanceolate, acute,
hairy, striate, the points marcescent. Corolla tubular; limb
spreading, saucer-shaped, the edges a little crumpled; mouth
nearly closed: tube slender, about the length of the calyx. Stamens 5, inserted in the tube: filaments short, attached to