Tab. 4342. 
GESNERIA TRIFLORA. 
Three-Jlowered Gesneria. 
Nat. Ord. Gesneriace^.—Didynamia Angiospermia, 
Gen. Char. {Vide supra. Tab. 4217.) 
Gesneria trifiora ; caule erecto obscure tetragono subsimplici petiolisque dense 
ferrugineo-lanatis, intemodiis elongatis, foliis amplis ovato-acuminatis 
serratis reticulato-rugosis pubescentibus subtus pallidis dense lanatis, pe- 
dunculis axillaribus umbeUatim trifloris petiolo pedicellisque brevioribus 
lanatis, urabellis basi bibracteatis, calycis lanati tubo hemisphaerico lacinias 
acuminatas sequante, corolla? flavae tubo ventricoso rufo-birsutissimo, limbi 
ore contracto, lobis parvis rotundatis patentibus. 
Tubers of this Gesneria were sent from New Grenada by 
Mr. Purdie, and flowering plants were in perfection in the^ Royal 
Gardens in the summer of 1847, continuing a long time in 
blossom. The flowers are by no means so copious as in the 
G. Hondensis, to which the species is in some respects allied; but 
the corollas and foliage, too, are larger. It has affinity also with 
G. elongata, said to be from “ Quito ? , (I possess specmens 
from Mexico): which has much longer peduncles, and a different 
habit and foliage. i i 
Descr. a foot and a half or two feet high, nearly simple, 
erect, stout, obscurely four-sided, densely clothed with ferruginous 
tomentum. The space between the pairs of leaves is elongated. 
Leaves opposite, four to six inches long, on woolly to, ovate 
acuminate, serrated: upper surface dark green, winkled wit 
copiously reticulated nerves, and downy beneath; the costa an 
main nerves are prominent, and the whole densely covered wth 
pale tomentum. Peduncles axillary, solitary, shorter even than 
the petiole, woolly, bearing, in an umbel, three, elongated pedicels, 
longer than the peduncle, and, at their base, two small opposi e 
ovate bracteas. Calyx woolly, hemispherical, cut half way down 
into five ovato-lanceolato, erect, acununated segments Corolla 
nearly thrice as long as the calyx, tubular, but slightly curve 
and ventricose, yellow, densely clothed with shaggy red hair, 
DECEMBER IsT 184 
