Tab. 4155 



WHITFIELDIA lateritia. 



Brick-colored Whitfieldia. 



Nat. Ord. Acantha.ce.e. — Didynamia Angiospermia. 



WHITFIELDIA, nob. — Calyx amplus, coloratus, subinfundibuliformis, 

 basi bibracteatus, profunde 4 — 5-fidus, laciniis lanceolatis, acutis, erectis, 

 concavis, linearis ; bracteis ssepissime coloratis majusculis oppositis obova- 

 tis, acutis, trinerviis, appressis. Corolla infundibuliformi - campanulata, 

 calyce duplo longior, tubo striis 15 elevatis, limbo bilabiato patente, labio 

 superiore minore bifido, inferiore trifido segmentis omnibus ovatis, acutis. 

 Stamina 4, didynama, fere inclusa, rudimento quinto obsolete. Filamenta 

 glabra. Anthers oblongo-lineares, biloculares, loculis oppositis, longitudi- 

 naliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium compressum, ovatum, glabrum, biloculare, 

 loculis biovulatis, ovulis ascendentibus. Discus hypogynus magnus, carno- 

 sus, cupuliformis. Stylus stamina vix superans, filiformis. Stigma parvum 



capitatum Fructus — Frutex Africa tropica occidentalis, subhu- 



milis, ramosus, glaber, ramis patentibus, Jlexuosis. Folia oblong o-ovata, 

 opposita, subcoriacea, integemma, undulata, penninervia. Racemi termi- 

 nates subsecundi deflexi. Pedicelli brachiatim oppositi, basi bracteati brac- 

 teis lanceolatis membranaceis coloratis (paribus oppositis foliaceis). Flores 

 subpubescentes deflexi: calycibus corollis bracteisque calycinis omnibus 

 lateritiis. 



Whitfieldia lateritia. 



Our plant, here figured, is a very desirable inmate of the 

 stove, forming a small bushy shrub, with spreading branches 

 and copious evergreen foliage; the branches terminated by 

 racemes of flowers of a rather large size, of which the calyx 

 and corolla, and often large bracteas, are of one uniform 

 brick-red color. It is one of the many novelties brought 

 home to Lord Derby from the interior of Sierra Leone. As a 

 Genus of Acanthacea, I can refer it to no described one ; 

 though its affinity (yet not very close) is probably with 

 Geissomeria, Lindl., and I have dedicated it to Thomas 

 Whitfield, Esq., who, at the risk of his life, and, as we have 

 reason to know, with much injury to his constitution, has 

 made several voyages to, and journies into, the interior of 

 xv «-tern-tropical Africa, and formed extensive collections oi 



