Tas. 6181. 
ERANTHEMUM HYPOCRATERIFORME. 
Native of Tropical Western Africa. 
Nat. Ord. AcantHacem.—Tribe ERANTHEMEE 
Genus Erantuemum, Linn. ; (Nees in A. DC. Prodr., vol. xi. p. 445). 
a 
ErantuEmum hypocrateriforme ; fruticosum, fere glaberrimum, caule 4-gono, 
foliis ovatis subacutis petiolatis subtus pallidis, spicis terminalibus pube- 
rulis solitariis v. fasciculatis, bracteis parvis ovatis setaceo-acuminatis, 
sepalis subulato-lanceolatis, corolla tubo gracili pollicari, limbi patentis 
extus straminei intus coccinei lobis subequalibus elliptico-obovatis ob- 
tusis basi saturate rubris et nigro punctulatis, antheris parvis exsertis 
brunneis. 
E. hypocrateriforme, Br. ex Rem. & Sch. Syst. Veg., vol. i. p. 175; 
Willd. Sp. Pl. ed. Dietr., vol. i. p. 445; Ves in DC. Prodr., vol. xi. 
p. 454; Benth. in Hook. Niger Flora, p. 484; T. Anders. in Journ. 
Linn. Soc., vol. vii. p. 52. 
E. affine, Spreng, Syst. Veg., vol. i. p. 69. 
Justicra hypocrateriformis, Vahl, Enum., vol. i. p. 165. 
The genus Hranthemum, of which there are so many Indian, 
Pacific Islands, and Brazilian species, is comparatively scarce 
in Africa, where only six species have been hitherto detected, 
though no doubt many more await discovery. Of these, the 
present is much the handsomest, and is indeed one of the 
most attractive of the genus. It is apparently confined to 
the West Coast, extending from Accra to Sierra Leone, from 
which latter place seeds were received in 1870 from the Rev. 
Mr. Bockstadt, a very intelligent gentleman attached to the 
mission there, to whom the Royal Gardens are indebted for 
many interesting plants, and who has since fallen a victim to 
disease contracted in that pestilent climate. E. hypocratert- 
forme flowered in the Royal Gardens in May of the present 
year. 
Descr. A small shrub, glabrous throughout, except the 
rachis and peduncle of the spikes. Stem and branches acutely 
quadrangular, rather stout. Leaves two to three inches long, 
ovate, with an obtuse contracted point, contracted at the base 
Auaust Ist, 1875. . 
