Tas. 6464. 
SCUTELLARIA PURPURASCENS, 
Native of South America. 
Nat. Ord. Lasrata#.—Tribe StacHyDEZ. 
Genus Scuretrarta, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 1201.) 
ScuTettarra (Heteeantheria) purpurascens ; erecta, herbacea, puberula pubescens 
v. patentim pilosa, caulibus ramosis teretibus, foliis longe petiolatis ovato-cor- 
datis subacutis grosse sinuato-dentatis pallide viridibus pubescentibus v. 
glabratis, floralibus parvis v. minutis deciduis, racemo laxifloro, floribus subse- 
cundis sparsis v. inferioribus oppositis, calycibus pedicello subzequilongis, fructi- 
feris obovato-orbiculatis, corolla pollicari tubo gracili cceruleo, labio superiore 
fornicato acuto, inferiore obtuse 4-lobo saturate violaceo linea media albida. 
8. purpurascens, Swartz Fl. Ind. Oce. vol. ii. p. 1013; Benth. in DC. Prodr. 
vol, xii. p. 416. 
S. Felisberti, ees et Mart, in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. vol. ii. p. 77. 
This appears to me to be one of many varieties of a 
common South American Scutellaria, of which the published 
type is Swartz’s S. purpurascens, and which has been 
described under various names from various parts of that 
continent, according to its pubescence, length of petiole, 
&c. I have compared Herbarium specimens of what appears 
to me the same thing from Dominica, Martinique, St. 
Lucia, St. Vincent’s, Trinidad, Guatemala, Venezuela (as 
S. meridana, Moritz), and Costa Rica. It appears in 
Guiana under the name of 8S. wliginosa, St. Hil., under 
which name also it extends to Rio de Janeiro and the 
provinces of St. Paul and St. Catherine. There are further 
Some very nearly allied plants which may prove to be, 
varieties with petioles much shorter than the leaf, as 8. 
tubiflora, Benth., of Brazil; a tomentose Cuban plant 
named purpurascens by Grisebach;,and a Mexican one 
(Orizaba Herb. Bourgeau, No. 2796) with rather larger 
flowers. 
Our plants of S. purpurascens e received from Mr. 
DECEMBER Ist, 1879. a Kerrnsnrce my 
