38* 



PHILADELPHIA mexicanus. 



Mexican Syringa. 



' 



ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Philadelphace-e. 

 PHILADELPHUS. Botanical Register, 1838, /. 14 



P. mexicanus ; ramis laxis pubescentibus dependentibus, foliis oratis acutis- 



rviis 



subtus birtellis supra dein glabris, floribus solitariis temisve in apicibus 

 ramulorum. calvcis obconici dense pubescentis laciniis late ovatis quasi 



amin 



(petalis subrotundis) . Schlecht. in Linncea, vol. 13. p. 418. 



This new half-hardy, or perhaps hardy, shrub has been 

 introduced by the Horticultural Society from Mexico, by the 

 assistance of Mr. Hartweg. It forms a small bush, with 

 weak branches, and has the merit of being an excellent plant 



for forcing. 



I refer it to the P. mexicanus of Schlechtendahl, but with 

 some doubt, for that author says his styles are almost distinct 

 to the base, which is by no means the case here. I perceive 

 however no difference between the garden plant and his own 

 specimens, now before me, except that they are, as he says, 

 double, and that may account for the disunion of the styles. 



It is cultivated at Jalapa, and grows wild in the hedges 

 there ; also at Oaxaca and the city of Mexico, according to 

 Schlechtendahl. Hartweg found it at the Hacienda del 

 Carmen, which is mentioned in the Linnaea as the locality of 

 Philadelphus affinis, a species with 5-flowered racemes, and 

 therefore very different from this. 



Schlechtendahl is probably right in regarding this plant 

 as the Acuilotl or climbing aquatic of Hernandez ; at least 

 his figure is a fair representation of it. This old author 



