Tab. 4327. 
CHIRITA WalkeritE. 
Mrs. Jf^alkers Chiriia. 
Nat. Ord. DlDYMOCAKPjSA'.—D iDYXAMIA AKGI 0SP15K31JA. 
Gen. Char. {^Vide supra. Tab. 4183.) 
* 
Chirita JFilkericB ; caule suiFruticoso ramoso, ramis teretibus villoso-tomentosis, 
foliis ternatim verticillatis petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis basi acutis apice 
acuminatis minute glanduloso-dentatis utriuque pubescenti-tomentosis, pe- 
dunculis axillaribus solitariis folio brevioribus 3-4-lloris, lobis calycinis 
lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis tomentosis, corolla extus puberula. 
Chirita TValkeriae. Gardner, in Mem. on DidyuocarpecB of Ceyl. p. 26. 
]\Irs. General Walker detected this fine species of Chirita 
in Ceylon, in 1830, and her specimens are deposited in my 
Herbarium. It remained for Mr. Gardner, the able Director of 
the Botanic Garden, Peradenia, Ceylon, to send the seeds to us, 
m 1845, and to establish it as a new species, with a full 
and accurate character, in the work above quoted. In 1846 
our plants blossomed, and proved the species to be well worthy 
of a place in every collection, from the beauty of the flowers 
and their continuing long in perfection. Indeed there is scarcely 
a month throughout the year that it does not produce blossoms. 
With bottom heat it becomes a luxuriant plant and it must 
always be considered an inhabitant of the stove. 
Descr. Stem shrubby but succulent, stout, branched, downy, 
especially the young shoots and branches, which are herbaceous. 
Leaves ternately whorled, soft and downy on both sides, ovato- 
lanceolate, acuminate, penninerved, acute at the base, the mar¬ 
gins denticulate with glandular teeth. Petioles about an inch 
long, thick, succulent. Peduncles axillary, solitary, slender, 
bearing from two to three floivers, which are drooping, shorter than 
the leaf. Calyx half the length of the corolla, downy or tomen- 
tose, tube almost cylindrical, the teeth equal in length with the 
tube, linear-subulate, erect. Corolla twice as long as the calyx, 
between infundibuliform and campanulate: the tube downy, 
OCTOBER 1st. 1847. ^ ~ 
