Calyx of 3, 4, or 5 sepals, when more than 3, the outer
ones are smallest: sepals ovate, acute, villous, fringed,
margins more or less membranaceous. Petals 5, white,
with a yellow spot at the base, imbricate at the base
and distinct at the points, obovate or obcordate, very
slightly crenulate, about half an inch long, and nearly
the same in breadth. Stamens from 30 to 40, spreading,
the inner ones longest, about the length of the style:
filaments yellow: anthers orange-coloured. Germen
conical, densely tomentose. Style smooth, narrow at
the base and thickened upwards. Stigma capitate,
slightly 5-lobed, granular.
The present sp e c ie s 4s-described as 3-sepalous in M.
Decandolle’s Prodromus, but the calyx varies with from
3 to 5 sepals, and this is also represented in Clusius’s
figure. It forms a handsome snug compact bush, and
is pretty hardy, as it will stand the Winter well in a
sheltered situation, thriving best in a dry sandy soil,
and producing abundance of its neat little white flowers
; it is a very different species from any other, approaching
the nearest to C. monspeliensis, and is at
present very little known4 it ia also a scarce plant;
but we hope it will now come into notice, as it is deserving
a place in every collection. Cuttings of it root
freely, if planted under hand-glasses. The beginning
of the present month, and from that time to the latter
end, is as good a time as any for planting cuttings of
all the different sorts; they will then strike root, and
may be potted off before the Winter sets in.
Our drawing was made from a plant communicated
by Messrs. Whitley, Brames, and Milne, last Summer.