865 
NOLANA paradoxa. 
Cluster-fruited Nolana. 
— 
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNTA. 
Nat. ord. BORAGINEA. 
NOLANA, L. Cal. 5-fidus: laciniis latis. Corolla campanulata, 
Stigma capitatum, subpentagonum. Nucule 20, nunc quaternatim confer- 
ruminata, nunc discreta quibusdam abortientibus. 
N. paradoxa, caule prostrato et foliis ovatis obtusis petiolatis pilosis, calycis 
laciniis triangularibus, nuculis cumulatis monospermis. 
Caulis prostratus, teres, pilis raris, patentibus, debilibus, pallide viri- 
dis, rufo undique maculatus. Folia geminata, unilateralia, ovata, obtusa, 
petiolata, carnosa, versus basin pilis debilibus ciliata. Flores solitarii, ex 
axillis foliorum, pedunculati, sub sole expansi; pedunculo piloso. Calyx 5- 
fidus, campanulatus, sparsim pilosus, laciniis triangularibus erectis, basi 
nullo modo appendiculatis. Corolla magna, campanulata, limbo 10-lobo 
ceruleo, fauce albidá. Ovaria 20, circa stylum cumulatim congesta. Nu- 
cule abortu 4-6, monosperme, pericarpio crasso duriusculo, putamine gla- 
berrimo: cicatrice basilari magno, areolá unicá. 
This very curious species of Nolana was raised from 
seeds received from Chili, and presented to the Hortieultural 
Society by Francis Place, Esq. Our drawing was made in 
the Chiswick Garden in August last. A hardy annual plant, 
producing its lively blue and white flowers for four or five 
months in the summer. 
What we find remarkable in this plant, is the deviation 
in the structure of its fruit from that of other species of 
Nolana. In N. prostrata, a common garden annual, the 
fruit consists of five little gynobasie nucule attached to the 
base of the calyx, whence they separate when ripe; these 
nuculze contain each four cells and four seeds, corresponding 
with which are four little areolz, or points of attachment 
to the style, on the face of the scar occasioned by the sepa- 
ration of the nucul from the receptacle on which they were 
placed. In N. paradoxa, on the contrary, the fruit consists 
of 20 nucule, of which 14 or 15 are abortive ; but those 
perfect are only one-celled and one-seeded, with one areola 
only on the surface of the scar. Whence it appears that the 
fruit of Nolana should be described as consisting of 20 ovaria, 
either distinct or cohering by fours, and in maturity produc- 
ing five or more nuculee ; in the first case four-seeded, in the 
VOL. X. BB 
