Tas. 6478. 
: PHYTEUMA comosvm. 
Native of the Austrian Alps. 
Nat. Ord. CAaMPANULACEH.—Tribe CAMPANULEA. 
Genus Puyrevma, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen, Pi. vol. ii. p. 561.) 
Payteuma (Synotoma) comosum ; glabrum, caulibus e rhizomate ramoso gracilibus 
decumbentibus dein ascendentibus simplicibus, foliis polymorphis radicalibus 
cordatis v. orbicularibus longe gracile petiolatis, caulinis brevius petiolatis 
lanceolatis ovatis ellipticis ovato-lanceolatisve omnibus grosse et argute den- 
tatis, floribus umbellatim capitatis, capitulo bracteis foliaceis involucrato, 
cealycis lobis filiformi-subulatis, corolla basi inflata subglobosa 5-rimosa dein in 
tubum tenuem ore minuto desinente, ovario 2-loculari. 
P. comosum, Linn. Sp. Pl. vol. i. p. 242; DC. Prodr. vol. vii. p. 450; Jacg. Fl. 
Austr, Append. t.50; Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. vol. xix. t.1579 ; Sturm Deutsch. 
Flora, vol. vi. t. 22; Tratin. Archiv. t. 364, 
A very rare and interesting little plant, hardy, and for 
the first time introduced into cultivation in Britain by 
George Maw, Esq., F.L.S., who procured roots at Monte 
Tombea in the Southern Tyrol, and transporting them to 
his rich collection at Benthall Hall, flowered them in July of 
last year. As a species it is unique in the genus as to the 
form of the corolla, the lobes of which are free only in the 
inflated basal part, and are above that combined into a very 
slender tube, with an entire or merely toothed mouth, which 
closely sheaths the style; in all the other species of the 
genus, of which there are between forty and fifty, the 
corolline lobes, though coherent for a considerable period 
before fertilization is effected, are finally free. In P. comoswm 
the openings at the base of the corolla are no doubt efficient 
promoters of cross-fertilization, for insects seeking the 
honey secreted by the disk capping the ovary, would ine- 
vitably carry away pollen with them, wherewith to dust 
the forest of exserted stigmas. 
P. comosum is a native of the Eastern Alps of Austria, 
Lombardy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Transylvania, where it 
inhabits elevations of 4000 to 5000 feet, its favourite site 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1880. 
