Xnfc upon IP0M.f.V L ATI K i.ou a , 8S0. 
We are informed by the Honourable and Reverend William Herbert, 
that our drawing- of this plant was made, some years since, from a sketch 
and specimen supplied from his collection at SpofForth. Mr. Herbert is of 
opinion that the species is distinct both from the /. grandijioru of Roxburgh, 
and the Ipomcea latijiorn of Desrousseaux. Having-, as we stated at the 
time of publishing the plant, had no opportunity of seeing it, we are glad to 
avail ourselves of the following description and history of the species, for 
which we are obliged to Mr. Herbert, who proposes to call it 
IPOMiEA noctiluca. 
" Planta perennis, sepiaria ; caulis vix sufiniticosus, volubilis, glaber, 
submbescens. Folia glabra, sinu profundo ad basin excisa, acuminata, 
acumine angiisto producto, 3-5-uncialia, petiolo parte superiore canaliculato, 
1-7-unciali, foliis plernmque longiore, ad basin foliorum tomentoso. Pedunculi 
axillares, 1-5-flori, 1 -5-unciales, subrubescentes, glabri, pedicellis carnosis 
parte superiore crassioribus, augescente germine cum fructu nutantibus. 
Calyx brevis, unguiculatus, submbescens, foliolis apice rotundato eroso, 
exteriorum trium costa media in unguem reflexam, internorum duorum 
superioris in unguem longam, inferioris in brevem producta. Corolla limbo 
5^-unciali expanso, breviter quinque-lobo, albo, lobis sub-rotundatis, latere 
exteriore radiis quinque viridibus notato ; tuho cylindrico, 3^-unciali, pallid^ 
virente, ad basin albicante. Stamina faucem exsuperantia ; Jilamenta alba, 
basi pubescentia, Antherce pallidissime flavescentes. Stigma rotundato 
bilobum, album. Capsula uncialis, ovalis, long^ acuminata, bilocularis, 
loculis bispermis. Semina glabra, alba, oblonga, apice acuminato, obsolete 
trigona, uno latere planiusculo, duobus rotundatis, quorum alterum angus- 
tin». Floret noctami, odorati." Herbert MS. 
"Raised from seed from Manilla in 1813, labelled Moonflower, and 
since from Chinese. It flowers regularly at SpofForth after the two equi- 
noxes. Differs from Ipomeea bona nox, in being of inferior stature, flowering 
even in a pot of which the diameter is less than that of its flower, whereas 
bona nox climbs to the top of the loftiest trees, with a stem as thick as a 
man's wrist; in having smooth branches without spinous roots; in not pro- 
ducing sarmentose shoots with halbert-shaped leaves in the autumn, as how 
nox does ; in its leaves being less glossy, paler, flatter, and more roui^ed^. 
with a long taper point ; the outer leaflets of the calyx having the claws ' 
shorter, and bent back, or standing out, instead of being awned with the 
points crossing each other; in its seeds being white, instead of dark brown ; 
in its flowers being larger, produced after the equinoxes in our stoves, where 
bona nox flowers in the summer. Ipomsea grandiflora of Roxbuigh, raised 
several times from Bengal seeds, was similar to bona nox. I never received 
seed of noctiluca from Bengal, but I sent them to Calcutta about the year 
Herbert MS. 
3. L. 
