tariferous tube variable in length, of a purplish brown colour,
3 to 5 times longer than the calyx, flattened and furrowed
on both sides, and gibbous at the base, thickly clothed
with spreading short hairs, that are all tipped with a
little globular gland. Petals 5, roundly obovate, of a bright
scarlet; the two upper ones rather smallest, two nerved at
the back, the nerves branching: lower ones strongly 21-nerved
at the base, which branch in small veins all over the
petals. Filaments 10, erect, connected at the base, 7 bearing
anthers, two upper ones very short: pollen granular,
orange-coloured. Style short, naked, mas 5, pale-coloured. Stig
pale red, fimbriate, reflexed.
The present plant is an old inhabitant of our Greenhouses,
and we believe it to be an original species; it was
figured in Mr. Andrews’s Monograph of Geraniums many
years back, as a variety of C. crenatum, but a comparison
with our figure of that species will readily show the difference
; it is known in collections by the different names of
tlhete, Bentinck Geranium, the Cape Scarlet, Bath Scar
and some other names, some of which may be slight varieties
of it, but not sufficiently so, as to deserve notice;
there are several other very distinct species of this genus that
have hitherto remained unnoticed in any publication, or have
been confused with others.
Our drawing was made last Autumn, from a plant in the
collection of R. H. Jenkinson, Esq. It is rather more tender
than some others of the tribe, being apt to lose many of
its leaves in Winter, if it is kept in too cool a situation; and
being of rather a succulent nature, it requires very little water
in Winter; a light rich soil suits it best, and cuttings root
readily, either in a frame, or in pots placed on a shelf in
the Greenhouse.