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STERCULIA* lanceoláta. 
Lanceolate Sterculia. 
MONCECIA MONADELPHIA. 
Nat. ord. STERCULIACER. 
STERCULIA. — Suprà, vol. 3. fol. 185. 
S. lanceolata ; foliis integerrimis lanceolatis, carpellis oblongis oligospermis. 
Decand. prodr. 1. 481. 
S. lanceolata. Cavanilles dissert. 5. p. 187. t. 143. f. 1. Spreng. syst. 
3. 81. 
Arbor mediocris, ramis teretibus, glabris. Folia angustè lanceolata v. 
oblongo-lanceolata, acuminata, membranacea, utrinque glaberrima, petiolata ; 
petiolisque utrinque tumidis. Flores parvi, paniculis parvis pilosis dispositi. 
Calyces stellati, patentes, rubro-fusci. Cetera Sterculie. 
This species is a native of China, whence it was brought 
to the Horticultural Society, in 1822, by Mr. John Potts, 
one of their collectors. It is a stove tree, producing its 
inconspicuous, dull-red flowers in May and June: the 
foliage is remarkably like that of Reevesia chinensis, and 
constitutes its only claim to notice as an ornamental garden 
plant, unless it should hereafter produce ripe fruits, which, 
according to Cavanilles, are bright scarlet, with black round 
seeds, that stick to each side of the follicle when it opens. 
It was first described by this writer from a Chinese 
drawing sent to Jussieu by the Father D'Incarville, in 
which the leaves are much smaller than those here repre- 
sented ; but we have seen the size of the leaves of the 
cultivated plant vary so much, that we cannot attach any 
value to that circumstance. 
Professor Sprengel refers to this the Helicteres undulata 
* So called from the foetid smell of some of the species, 
