214 GENTIANE/E. XLVI. DESFONTAINIA. 
and quite entire at the base, with spiny-toothed margins; teeth 
large, 7-14 in number. Calyx glabrous, hardly shorter than the 
peduncles. Corolla 4 times longer than the calyx. Berries 
white, size of cherries. 
Spiny-toothed leaved Desfontainia. Shrub 10 feet. 
2 D. vanvirória (D. Don, in edinb. phil. journ. July, Sept. 
1831.) ribs of leaves pilose beneath; calycine segments oval, 
ciliated. h.G. Native of Peru, on the mountains at Munna, 
Ruiz. D. spinósa, Ruiz, herb. but not of fl. per. A much 
branched, compact, evergreen shrub, with quadrangular branches; 
angles prominent. Leaves cuneated, 5-7-toothed, rarely tri- 
cuspidate, shining above ; teeth spiny. Bracteas connate at the 
base, having the edges and ribs pilose. Lobes of corolla ciliated. 
Stigma furnished with 4 tubercles, pruinose. 
Small-leaved Desfontainia. Shrub 5-10 feet. 
Cult. The species of Desfontàinia are shrubs worth cultivat- 
ing in every collection, for the elegance of their foliage, as 
well as the brilliancy of their flowers. We would recommend 
them to be grown in pots filled with a mixture of peat, loam, 
and sand, if they ever should be introduced to our gardens. 
oun cuttings will probably strike root in sand under a bell- 
glass. 
XLVII. PALLA' DIA (meaning unknown to us.) Lam. ill. t. 
285.—Blackwéllia, Gaertn. fruct. 2. t. 117. : 
Lin. syst. Octándria, Monogynia. Calyx funnel-shaped, 
coloured; with a short tube, and 4 obovate segments. Corolla 
funnel-shaped ; tube long, with 8 plaits; limb in 8 oblong seg- 
ments. Stamens 8, united to the tube of the corolla for more 
than half its length, permanent: anthers unknown. Ovaria 2; 
style simple, compressed, situated between the ovaria, and parallel 
to them, and connected with their base; its edges finely-toothed ; 
stigmas 2, spreading. Capsules 2, club-shaped, prismatic, erect, 
parallel, close together, membranous, stiff, obscurely angular 
at-one side, and marked with a deep furrow on the other, each 
of 1-cell, and 2 finally spiral valves. Seeds numerous, minute, 
roundish, rather angular; placentas spongy, as long as the cap- 
sule, to the edges of whose valves, at the furrowed side, it is 
attached, being marked there by a similar furrow; while its 
other side is convex, and its whole surface rough with minute 
tubercles. 
1 P. AxrA'ncricA (Lam. l, c. Smith, in Rees’ cycl.) Native 
at Cape Horn. ? 
Antarctic Palladia. Pl. small. 
Cult. For culture and propagation see Gentiàna, p. 183. 
Orper CLVIII. BIGNONIA'CE/E. R. Br. prod. p. 470. 
H. B. et Kunth. nov. gen. amer. 3. p. 132. D. Don, in edinb. 
phil. journ. july, sept. 1823.—Bignoniz, sect. II. Juss. gen. 
139. edit. Usteri, p. 154. 
Calyx divided or entire, sometimes spathaceous. Corolla 
monopetalous, hypogynous, usually irregular, with a 4-5-lobed 
limb. Stamens 5; filaments unequal, 4 of which usually 
bear anthers, and sometimes only 2 of them, seldom all fer- 
tile, therefore there are either 1 or 3 of them sterile; an- 
thers 2-celled ; cells equal in insertion, usually divaricate. 
Ovarium girded by a glandular disk, 2-celled, or falsely 4- 
celled, many-seeded. Style 1; stigma bilamellate. Capsule 
2-valved, 2-celled, sometimes falsely 4-celled ; dissepiment 
parallel or contrary, at length free, bearing the seeds at the com- 
missures with the valves. 
Albumen none. 
Seeds transversely foliaceous, com- 
pressed. Embryo straight, foliaceous; with a 
XLVII. Parrapia. BIGNONIACEE. 
centrifugal radicle.— Trees or shrubs often twining or climbing. 
Leaves opposite, rarely alternate, usually compound, rarely 
simple, exstipulate. Inflorescence terminal and axillary, some- 
what panicled. 
This is readily distinguished from the allied orders, in the 
fruit, structure, and placentation of the seeds. The showy, 
trumpet-shaped flowers of all the species render them objects of 
admiration. The greater number of them are tropical. Técoma 
is a hardy, climbing shrub, of great beauty when in blossom; 
and the species of Jacaránda are resplendent with blue or 
purple flowers, and elegant supra-decomposed leaves, which 
emulate those of Acacia. The wood is said to resist the attack 
of worms. Nothing is known of their qualities. 
Among the numerous tribes of vegetables which people the 
regions of equinoxial America, the Bignoniacee hold a distin- 
guished rank, whether as regarded for the beauty of their flowers, 
and the diversity of their forms, which give to the vegetation 
peculiar features, or as objects highly deserving the attention and 
investigation of the botanist. Perhaps in no tribe of plants, does 
the form of vegetation assume such variety as in this family. 
In the beautiful genus Jacaránda are contained the loftiest trees 
to be met with either in this or any of the neighbouring orders. 
These splendid trees, which are entirely wanting in the ancient 
continents, form one of the brightest ornaments of the forests of 
tropical America. The genus Jignónia, as constituted by 
Linnzus, contained an assemblage of plants, which, generically 
considered, were widely different from each other. To Jussieu 
we are indebted for having set us an example worthy of imita- 
tion, by his judicious division of this overgrown genus. It is the 
great advantage which a natural system possesses over all artifi- 
cial methods in the studying of vegetables, that it teaches us to 
examine and group them according to their respective affinities ; 
and to give to the different parts their relative importance, in 
characterizing genera. Willdenow, and almost all those bota- 
nists who have followed the Linnzan artificial method of classi- 
fication, have left the genus Bignonia untouched, without even 
adopting the important divisions proposed by M. de Jussieu. 
Synopsis of the genera. 
Trise I. 
Bicwowig;E. Capsule 2-valved, 2-celled. sometimes falsely 
4-celled.  Dissepiment parallel or contrary to the valves, at 
length free, bearing the seeds at the commissures with the 
valves. Seeds transverse, compressed, winged on the margins. 
§ 1. Stamens 4, didymous, mith the rudiment of a sterile one. 
1 Briewówia. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla with a short tube, 
a campanulate throat, and a 5-lobed limb. Stamens 4, didy- 
namous, with a fifth sterile one. Lobes of anthers divaricate. 
Capsule silique-formed ; dissepiment parallel. 
2 SpatHopEa. Calyx spathaceous, cleft on one side, and 
toothed or entire on the other. Corolla funnel-shaped, with a 
5-lobed, somewhat bilabiate limb. Stamens 4, didynamous, 
with a fifth sterile one. Lobes of anthers divaricate. Capsule 
