with a short white tomentum and a few hairs intermixed,
nodding before the flowers expand, erect when
in bloom, afterwards reflexed. Calyx of 5 sepals ; the
two outer ones small, oblong or Ovate, obtuse, very hairy
and fringed; 3 inner ones ovately lanceolate, acute,
concave inwards, membranaceous, strongly 4-nerved,
the nerves very hairy. Petals 5, variable in breadth,
obovate or broadly wedge-shaped, or sometimes rounded
at the points, the margins generally a little crenate,
generally more or less imbricate, but sometimes distinct,
of a bright yellow; in some plants having a bright
orange-coloured lunulate spot near the base, in others
of a plain yellow. Stamens about 70 \ filaments smooth,
scarcely as long as the style. Germen downy. Style
smooth, nearly straight, or a little bent towards the
point. Stigma capitate, papillose.
Our drawing of this species was taken from plants
growing wild in Croome Hurst Wood, near Croydon,
in which neighbourhood all the banks and sides of the
hedges are covered with it, the soil being of a chalky
nature, in which it delights ; in the same wood we, in
company with Mr. Charlwood, discovered a large patch
of H. surrejanum, most probably the very one from
which the late Mr. Dickson originally procured his
plant, which is somewhat altered by culture, as may be
seen by comparison of our figure of that species, and
the branch given at the bottom of this plate; a plant of
it which we planted in our garden has already much
broader and flatter leaves, more like Mr. Dickson’s
plant; the present is certainly the plant of Dillenius’s
Hortus Elthamensis, as it agrees entirely with his figure
and description: both species may be grown in rock-
work, and if some chalk be added to the soil, so much
the better; they are readily propagated by cuttings,
planted under hand-glasses in Autumn.
1. The commonest yellow variety. 2. A scarcer variety, with an orange coloured
spot at the base of each petal. 3. Helianthemum surrqjamon, from a specimen
gathered growing wild in Croome Hurst Wood, Surry, differs from the
cultivated plant already figured, in being weaker, with fewer flowered racemes,
and the leaves being canescent underneath.