Tab. 5659. 



OESTRUM ELEGANS. 



Purple Habrothamnus. 



Nat. Ord. SoLANACE-aS. — P-ENTAN.DBIA MotfOGYIflA. 



Gen. Char. Calyx 5-fidus 5-dentatus v. 5-partitus. Corolla inftmdibuli- 

 iormi-tubulosa, tubo ventrieoso, fauce constricta, limbo parvo 5-lobo. Sta- 

 mina 5, tubo adnata, rarhis libera ; antbera? 2-lobse, longitudinaliter dehia- 

 centes. Ovarium breviter stipitaturo, stipite disco circumdato, 2-loculare, 

 septo medio placentifero ; stylus simplex, stigmate vario ; ovula pauca. 

 Bacca ovoidea v. globosa, 1-2-locularis, oligosperma. Semina compressa, 

 albuminosa ; cotyledonea parvae, foliaceae. — Frutices v. arbusculae. Folia 

 solitaria v. gemina, petiolata, penninervia. Flores racemosi. 



Cestrum (Habrothamnus) elegans; fruticosa, ramis herbaceis teretibus 

 pubescenti-tomeutosis, foliis petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis 

 basi rotundatia, cymis terminalibus, calyce obconico glabro, corolla? 

 laciniis acutis. 



Oestrum elegans. ScMecht. in Linn. v. 19. p. 261. Dunal in DC. Prodr. 

 v. 13. pars I. p. 000. 



Habrothamnus elegans. A. Brong. Kerb. Gen. de VAmat. ser. 2. v. 4. et 



Hort. Univ. v. 5. p. 293. 

 Habrothamnus purpureus. Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1844, t. 43, et Misc. p. 12. 



The figures hitherto published by Van Houtte and Lind- 

 ley give no idea of the size and beauty of the flower of this 

 fine plant, and these are succeeded by magnificent grape- 

 like clusters of deep purple globular berries one-third of an 

 inch in diameter. 



The Habrothamnus section of Cestrum are all natives of 

 Mexico. Several species are described, evidently very closely, 

 if not too closely related. The present grows at elevations 

 of 3-4000 feet, and succeeds well in a temperate house. The 

 plant fruited was sent by Mr. Henderson, of Wellington 

 Nursery. 



The genus Habrothamnus of Endlicher, established as a sec- 

 tion by Schlechtendal, has been reduced again to Cestrum by 

 Dunal in the ' Prodromus ' of A. De Candolle, in conformity 

 with which work we have described the above species. 



AUGUST 1st, 1867. 



