ECHEVERIA lurida. 
Lurid Echeveria. 
DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 
Nat. Ord. CRASSULACES. 
ECHEVERIA. Botanica! Register, vol. 15. t. 1247. 
E. lurida; foliis rosulato-confertis oblongis concavis glaucis discoloribus, 
racemo apice nutante, floribus pedunculatis. 
This plant is in many respects similar to EZ. secunda, being 
like that species stemless, with the leaves collected into a 
circular patch, in the manner of a House-leek. It differs how- 
ever in having longer and more blunt leaves, which are deeply 
stained with dull purple. The flowers too are aricher scarlet. 
The genera Echeveria, Cotyledon, and another or two of 
the Crassulaceous order are truly monopetalous, that is to 
say, their petals are united by the edges into a single organ; 
and yet the Crassulaceous order is arranged in the Polypeta- 
lous division of the Natural System of Jussieu. What are 
we to infer from this? Is it that Echeveria and the others 
are not Crassulaceous ? or that the distinction between Mono- 
petalous and Polypetalous structure ought not to be taken 
as a fundamental character by which to classify plants ?— 
The latter is surely the inevitable conclusion; and there 
can be no doubt that the first step to be taken in arriving at 
a truly natural system of classification, is to discover some 
means of dispensing with modifications of so unimportant an 
organ as the corolla, in framing the distinctive characters of 
the higher systematic divisions under which the natural 
orders are to be grouped. 
A hardy greenhouse perennial, requiring about the same 
treatment as the various species of Fig Marygolds, and 
smaller Crassulas ; thaé is, it should be kept in small pots, 
well drained, and filled with a mixture of leaf-mould and 
brick-rubbish, covering the surface of the pot with silver sand. 
January, 1841. B 
