Tab. 5658. 



PEOSTANTHEEA nivba. 



Sno w-whife Prostanthera. 



Nat. Ord. Labiate. — Dibtnajiia GtI'mnospermia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx campanulatus ; tubus brevis, 13-striatus; labia indivisa 

 tructus clausa. Corolla tubo brevi amplo, fauce campanulata, labio supe- 

 riore erecto subplano, inferiore patente. Stamina 4 ; antherae 2-loculares, 

 iociijjs parallelis, connectivo subtus calcarato. Stylus apice 2-fidus, lobia 

 8uba?qualibus. — Frutices glandulosi. FJores axillares v. racemosi sub cahjce 

 bract eis parvis instructi. 



1 ROstaisTheba nivea ; glaberrima, foliis linearibus v. lineari-lanceolatis 

 niargine (sicco) revolutis, racemis laxis, calycibus glabris, ]abio supe- 

 rjore maximo, inferiore dimidio breviore ciliato, cormectivi calcare 

 altero brevi, altero elongato loculum bis superante. 



Prostantheea nivea. Can)}, in Benth. Lab. p. 452. Benth. in DC. Prodr. 

 v. 12. p. 561. 



The Prostantheras belong to a class of hard-wooded plants, 

 the cultivation of which has of late years given place to that 

 of innumerable varieties of Fuchsias and other more gaudy 

 but in many respects less interesting things, that now form 

 the staple of "our greenhouse furniture. There are some 

 twenty-six species described by Bentham, all Australian. 

 Many of them are pretty and graceful, and they further 

 flower at a season when little else that is not forced for the 

 purpose is to be had in the conservatory. P. nivea is a 

 native of rocky hills in New South Wales and Victoria, 

 where it was discovered by the late Allan Cunningham (for- 

 merly of Kew). The specimen here figured was raised from 

 seeds sent to Kew by Dr. Mueller, and flowered in May of the 

 present year. 



Desck. A glabrous bush, three to four feet high. Stems 

 and branches slender, twiggy, upper four-angled ; branchlets 

 erecto-patent. Leaves one to one and a half inches long, 

 spreading, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute, quite entire, 

 pale-green, nearly flat, margins re volute when dry. Flowers 

 attttst 1st, 1S07. 



