PLATE CCCCLI.
D I O S M A ERICtEFOLIA.
Heath-leaved Diosma.
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CLASS V. ORDER I.
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA 5-petala. Nectaiia 5 supra germen.
Caps. 3. s. 5, coalitae. Semina íecta.
BLOSSOM. Five petals. Five necfaries above the
seed-bud. Seed-vessels 3 or 5, joined together.
Seeds covered.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
D I O S M A foliis alterniSj linearibus, acutis, notatis
: floribus in umbellis paniculatis, parvis,
albis.
D I O S M A with alternate leaves, linear, sharppointed,
and marked. Flowers grow in
paniculated umbels, small, and white.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A leaf magnified.
2. The empalement magnified.
3. Seed-buds, honey-cups, chives, and pointal.
4. A chive magnified.
5. The honey-cups magnified.
6. Seed-buds and pointal, magnified.
T H I S new species of Diosma so nearly resembles the genus Erica in its foliage, tliat, regarding it as an
unequivocally good specific reference, we have adopted it. The only place in which we have as yet
seen it was at the Cape nursery last December, where we observed several plants in fine bloom; and
although not showy, they are certainly estimable from their neat and delicate appearance, particularly at
a season when so many of the beauties of vegetation are in a state of quiescence. Upon comparing
our figure with a fine dried specimen of the D. hirsuta in the herbarium of A. B. Lambert,
esq., we find so powerful a resemblance as induces us to regard our plant as only a variation of
culture, more especially as in the magnifier slight vestiges of the hairs on the edges of the leaves are
still discernible. But no fear need be entertained of any mode of culture rendering our present specific
term impervious to the naked eye. There is a dotted or punctured character which pervades the under
surface of the foliage of most Diosmas, many of which, when rubbed, emit a powerful odour. The
present subject, although deficient in both those respects, still possesses a peculiarity that we have
thought deserving a magnified place in the dissections. It is a hardy green-house plant, and native of
the Cape of Good Hope.
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