Glasgow Botanic Garden, and, unlike many of its conge- 

 ners, is not of very tardy growth, flowering freely at from 

 a foot and a half to two feet high—a circumstance, which, 

 along with the fine colour of the flower, cannot fail to 

 render it popular among cultivators. In its native country 

 it grows abundantly in a rather boggy soil, at an elevation 

 of upwards of 3,000 feet above the sea level. 



From its hairy stamens, this plant would be referred to 

 the Genus Lasiandra, were it not that Mr. Bentham has 

 satisfactorily shown (Hook. Journ. Bot. 2. p. 288) that 

 Pleroma and Lasiandra are not genericatly distinct; and 

 Fleroma being the older name, it must be retained. His 

 observations on this subject are, " Pleroma of Don is, evi- 

 dently, the same Genus as Lasiandra of De Candolle, 

 including, according to Chamisso, Diplostegium of Don ; 

 and the former name, being the older, should be retained, 

 i He original species have now all been re-examined, and 

 are all tound to have a dry, dehiscent fruit, although the 

 calyx is more completely and more permanently adherent 

 tnan in most capsular Genera. The separation of Pleroma 

 irom Usbeckia is, as observed by Martius, but very slight; 

 both Genera being distinguished from Ch^etogastra by the 

 same character, the deciduous lobes of the calyx. In Os- 

 beckia the calyx is usually more or less covered with 

 palmate or stellate, hairs, or appendages, and the stamens 

 are smooth; in Pleroma, the hairs, or bristles of the calyx, 

 are usually simple, and the filaments more or less hairy; 

 but neither of these characters is constant. In habit, Os- 

 beckia agrees rather with some sections of CWogastra, 



1 ln , that Genus - the flowers are sometimes penta- 

 nescen s E Z" 1 * tet »™erous; but the Osbeckia ca- 

 ?h™^L Ti. app ? ara reall y to be nearer Pmhoma 



DfSr Th U ^ h a Imtive ^ South-East Africa." 



winJS «# I 1 " lar \ 1S shru bby, with four-sided branches 



j^^aSSiS* w with v he pe v!, io,es ' 



i nnr ,. n i„ f , ttU l J,C!,:seu nai rs> y ne [ eaves are Q f a OD on n-. 

 icute t, L nilv T"*?' ° r somevvhat co ' da 'e at the base, 

 S^faTiriMkME e . ' e ' lhe "PP er surface r ° u 8 h wilh 

 hair. T^ tin J^ l° W , er is covered with adpres S e°d, si | ky 

 are of ? e^n.l '. ^ m< i asure about tw ° »«=hes across, 

 eentre »« \™ W e Colour > almost w hite in the 



duUr hairs. G GaTdnek "^ C ° ¥ered with ^ a ~ 



R». 1. 2. S.nmens. a Tra „ 3versc Sec(ion of ihe 0rary : _~^ 



