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P L A T E DCX.
R U E L L I A FORMOSA.
beautiful Ruellia.
C L A S S XIV. O R D E R IL
DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. Two Chives longer. Seeds covered.
CALYX 5-partitus. «,Corolla 1-petala, limbo inaequali
5-lobo. Capsula biloralariSj bivalvis,
dentibus elasticis dissiliens.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CUP 5-parted. Blossom of one petal, with tlie
limb unequally 5-lobed. Fruit a two-celled,
two-valved capsule bursting with elastic
teeth.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
RUELLIA caule suffruticoso erecto; foliis pilosis,
petiolatis, integerrimis, ovatis, obtusis ; pedunculis
lateralibus foliis duplo seu triplo
longioribus, ramosis ; ramulis subtrifloris.
RUELLIA with a suffruticose erect stem ; hairy,
entire, oval, blunt leaves upon footstalks;
the flower-stalks twice or thrice as long as
the leaves and branched ; the branches threeflowered.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2 . A blossom spread open.
3. The seed-bud and pointal.
FOR this very elegant species we are indebted to Mr. Donn, Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge,
who informs us that it is a native of Brazil, and was introduced from Portugal in 1808 by sir
Charles Cotton, bart. The plant in the Cambridge garden is now nearly four feet high, with many
branches and has continued flowering profasely since the beginning of May, and appears as if it would
continue to blossom during the summer. It is propagated by cuttings, and has as yet been kept in the
hothouse. , r j • j
W e have found no figure or description of the plant in any author, but have seen a very fine dried
specimen of it brought from Portugal by sir Thomas Gage, bart. in the herbarium of A. B. Lambert,
esq with this note affixed: " I found this Ruellia growing, and ripening seeds abundantly, amongst the
hothouse-plants in the Botanic-Garden at Lisbon." So ornamental a plant we trust will soon be equally
abundant in the hothouses of our own country.