Tab. 4294 . 
COLUMNEA AUREO-NITENS. 
Golden Colunmea. 
Nat. Ord. Gesneriace^.—Didynamia Gymnospermia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx liber, 5-partitus. Corolla tubulosa, rectiuscula, basi posticc 
gibba, ringens, lobis superiore erecto fornicato, inferiore trifido patente. Sta¬ 
mina 4 didynama, antheris connexis, quinti ^postici rudimentuin. Glandula 
1-5 circa basin ovarii. Baeca 1-locularis, placentis 2 parietabbus bilobis. 
Semina oblonga.—Frutices Americani Jlexiles, erecti aut scandentes. Folia oppo- 
sita brevi-petiolata crassimcula subserrata, hirmita vel pubescentia. Pedunculi 
axillares solitarii aut conferti. Corollse coccirieee. DC. 
CoLTJMNEA aureo-nitems fruticosa erecta subsimplici tota aureo-sericea, foliis 
oppositis subsessilibus distichis, altero obovato oblongo acuminato denticu- 
lato serrato basi valde inaequilatera bine decurrente, altero multoties minore 
ovato-acuminato inaequilatero sessili, floribus sessilibus aggregatis (2-3) 
bracteatis deorsum versis, bracteis sepalisque appressis lanceolatis longe 
acuminatis laciniatis, corolla tubulosa calyce duplo longiore compresso- 
subangulata, paululum ventricosa basi iidlata curvataque, limbi parum 
decurvi laciniis 5 aequalibus erecto-incurvis. 
From the Royal Gardens of Kew, where it flourishes in a 
moist stove, producing its blossoms sometimes in autumn, some¬ 
times in early spring. These flowers and nearly the whole plant, 
but especially the younger portions, are densely covered with a 
rich gold-coloured clothing of silky hairs. We owe the posses¬ 
sion of it to Messrs. Hendersons, Pine-Apple Plaee, Edgeware 
Road. Native specimens are in our Herbarium from Columbia. 
Descr. Our tallest plant is a foot and a half high, sufirutieose, 
but succulent, erect, or nearly so, scarcely branched, everywhere 
of a golden hue from the copious golden-coloured silky shaggy 
hairs, most abundant in the young parts. Leaves opposite, but 
of two kinds; one of each pair is from four to six inches or more 
long, on a short footstalk, ovato-oblong, acuminate, serrated, deeply 
penninerved, the veins very prominent beneath, the base very 
unequal, one side terminating very abruptly, the other decurrent 
to the base of the petiole; the other opposite leaf is very small, 
scarcely an inch long, sessile, ovate, acuminate, and also unequal 
at the base. Flowers axillary, fascicled, directed towards the 
