Peduncles thickly clothed with a white pubescence,
and some longer hairs intermixed, before flowering
cernuous, when in flower erect, after flowering recurved.
Sepals 5, clothed with a short white tomen-
tum; 2 outer ones very small, ovately-lanceolate, hairy;
inner ones ovate, concave, bluntish, membranaceous,
strongly 4-ribbed, the ribs more or less hairy. Petals 5,
more than double the length of the calyx, very much
imbricate, rounded, more or less crumpled, of a bright
red inclining to crimson, with an orangy tint near the
base. Stamens numerous, scarcely as long as the style,
from 70 to 80 : filaments slender,' smooth, bright yellow
; pollen yellow. Germen clothed with dense wool.
Style smooth, bent like a bow near the base, the upper
part thicker and erect. Stigma capitate.
This very handsome flowering plant is a native of
Spain, and is one of the most ornamental species for
the adorning of rock-work : it is also quite hardy, our
drawing being taken from a fine plant, growing luxuriantly
with many other handsome species, in the
rock-work of the garden belonging to the Apothecaries’
Company, at Chelsea, in June last; nothing
could make a more brilliant appearance, than the various
species of different habits, with flowers of various
colours with which the plants were decked every day
for about two months; it also makes a handsome appearance
when grown in pots, in which it will thrive
very well, or on a dry bank in the garden ; nothing is
more injurious to this family of plants, than too moist
a situation in Winter; like most of the species of this
genus, the present plant grows freely in a mixture of
sandy loam and peat, or any light sandy soil; and
young cuttings root readily, if planted under handglasses,
in a shady situation.