acute, concave. Capsule 3-sided, 3-celled, smooth and
glossy. Seeds few, small, somewhat flattened on one
side and convex on the other, of a yellowish brown
colour.
This curious little plant is a native of Mexico, and
was raised from seed brought from that country by Mr.
Bullock, who parted with them to Mr. Tate, of the
Sloane Street Nursery, and from a plant raised by him,
the present figure was made: like all the other American
species that we have yet seen or heard of, it belongs to
the section Lecheoides of Decandolle : all the species of
which produce flowers with petals, in the Spring and
early in Summer, whereas all those that are produced
in Autumn,which are much more numerous, are all ape-
talous : the present plant has never produced its Spring
flowers with us, most probably by being killed back a
good way in Winter, so that it has had to make new
shoots for flowering, and those have always produced
their flowers in Autumn for three years following, they
have all been apetalous like those in our figure, but have
ripened seeds annually : if the plant was kept in &n airy
part of the Greenhouse in Winter, or in the window of
a light room, so that its shoots might not be killed back,
it would most probably bear plenty of perfect flowers in
Spring, the same as H .polygalcefolium, H. brasiliense, H.
carolinianum, and the other American species ; it grows
freely in an equal mixture of turfy loam, peat, and sand;
and young cuttings, planted under hand-glasses, in
Spring, root readily; they may also be raised from seeds.