Branches obscurely four-sided, but compressed, younger ones 
and young leaves quite silky and shining. Leaves large, deep 
green, soft and submembranaceous when fresh, more hard and 
almost coriaceous when dry, ovate, acuminate, very obtuse or 
subcordate at the base, above in the adult foliage glabrous or 
nearly so, beneath and on the petioles (half an inch long) pubes- 
centi-tomentose, paler in colour, veins pinnated, prominent, be- — 
neath, a good deal reticulated, the reticulation most distinct in 
the dry state. Stipules deciduous from the older leaves, broad 
ovate, spreading, membranaceo-herbaceous, downy. Panicle 
downy, trichotomously divided and bearing numerous flowers, 
so as to form a more or less dense cyme, everywhere very downy, 
even the outside of the corollas. Calyzx-tube small, globose: 
teeth five, small. Corolla hypocrateriform; the /imh of five, 
spreading, rather wavy lobes, silky in the disc. Stamens quite 
included. Style a little exserted. Stigma two-lobed. W. J. H. 
Curr. This is a tropical evergreen shrub, flowering freely 
when not more than two feet high. It may be grown in a mix- 
ture of light loam and leaf-mould, or peat containing a portion 
of sand, well drained with potsherds. It requires a warm and 
moist, close atmosphere, and will grow more vigorously if placed 
in bottom-heat. Being an erect grower, it is desirable to stop 
the leading shoot, in order to form a bushy plant. It is readily 
increased by cuttings planted under a bell-glass and placed in 
bottom-heat. J. 8. 
Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Pistil :—magnified. 
