we have given it, having seen many fine specimens of
it in Mr. Lambert’s Herbarium, which were collected
in Crete, of which country it is a native; most authors
have described it as bearing only three flowers on the
peduncle, but amongst Mr. Lambert’s specimens were
several producing the flowers in a sort of cyme, as in
our figure. In the same collection, and from the same
country, were two other species, one marked C. salvi-
folius, the other C. monspeliensis, both of which were
different from the original species; and we have since
found living plants of both at the Nursery of Messrs.
Whitley, Brames, and Milne, at Fulham, and have
procured fine figures of them ; they were most probably
introduced by Dr. Sibthorp, when he returned from
Greece, and have been in our collections ever since,
without being ever noticed.
As the present species is a native of Crete, it will
require protection in severe weather, either to be kept
in a greenhouse or frames, or to be planted against a
south wall or in rock-work, and to be covered with
mats or some other covering in severe frost, but to be
exposed as much as possible in mild weather: a light
sandy soil will suit it best; or if grown in pots, an
equal mixture of light turfy loam and peat will suit it
very well. Young cuttings taken off at a joint, and
planted under hand-glasses, in September or October,
will soon strike root; it may also be raised from seeds,
which will ripen occasionally.
The present species, and also C. purpureus, belong
to the second division of M. Decandolle’s section
E rythrocistus, containing those with a very short
or scarcely any style.