Tas. 4254. 
DIASTEMA ocuHROLEvUCA. 
Pale yellow Diastema. 
Nat. Ord. GEsNERIACEZ.—DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Gen. Char. Calye basi breviter adnatus, limbo 5-partito. Corolle tubus 
subsequalis, exsertus, declinatus ; Jimbus patens, 5-fidus. Stamina 4, didynama, 
cum rudimento quinti; anthere libere, subrotunde. Glandule perigyne 5. 
Stylus apice bilamellatus, lobis membranaceis intus stigmatosis, valvulis medio 
placentiferis. Semina numerosa. Benth. 
DiasteMa ochroleuca; erecta herbacea pubescenti-hirsuta, foliis sublonge petio- 
latis ovatis acutis grosse serratis rugosis, paniculis terminalibus trichotomis 
subfoliosis, corollis glabris, glandulis hypogynis clavatis ovario longioribus. 
A very pretty and ready-flowering Gesneriaceous plant, of 
which tubers were sent to the Royal Gardens of Kew by Mr. 
Purdie, from the Sierra Nivada of Santa Martha, New Grenada. 
It is evidently nearly allied to Achimenes, and apparently identical 
with Mr. Bentham’s Diastema,* (Saornpa, intervallum ; mm allusion 
probably to the genus being intermediate between <Achimenes 
and Gesneria), of which he remarks, “the free stamens of this 
plant indicate an affinity with Achimenes, and the form of 
the corolla is not unlike that of some of the small-flowered 
Species of that genus, but the tube is neither gibbous nor spurred 
at the base, and the five equal perigynous glands are more 
prominent even than in Gesneria and Gloxinia. It is not 
improbable, however, that 4.erinoides, DC., and A. conifera, DC., 
may be congeners of our plant.” It flowered in August, 1846, 
and requires the heat of a stove. 
Desor. Stems herbaceous, erect, branched, rather stout, ve 
obtusely four-sided, slightly downy, more or less tinged wit 
purple. Leaves opposite, hairy, especially above, on rather long, 
stout, succulent petioles, ovate, acute, wrinkled with veins, paler 
and less hairy beneath. Panicles terminal, trichotomously di- 
* In ‘Botany of the Voyage of the Sulphur,’ p. 132. 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1846. 
