Tas. 4981. 
BEFARIA Maruewsit. 
Mr. Mathews’s Befaria. 
Nat. Ord. Ertcacra.—DeEcanpRIA Monoeynia. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4433.) 
Berarta Mathewsii; ramulis glabris subtomentosisve, foliis oblongo-ellipticis 
acutis subtus pallidis glaucis tomentellisque, racemis laxis subcorymbosis 
ferrugineo-tomentosis, pedicellis elongatis strictis bracteatis, calycibus 5-7- 
lobis basi tomentosis lobis acutis, petalis oblongo-spathulatis pallide sulphu- 
te staminibus styloque longe exsertis sursum curvatis, filamentis inferne 
irsutis. 
Beraria Mathewsii. Fielding and Gardner, Sertum Plant. tab. 69 (before 1844): 
Beranrta phillyresfolia. Benth. Plant. Hartweg. p. 225 (1846). 
The petals of many of the Rhodoreous group of Hricacee 
undergo such a change of colour in the process of drying for 
the Herbarium that it is there difficult to say what was the ori- 
ginal colour in the living state. De Candolle says of the genus 
Befaria, “Flores seepissime purpurei;” and I do not find that 
any species is described otherwise. In the present plant, the 
living specimens of which we have received from Messrs. Veitch’s 
Nurseries (Exeter and King’s Road, Chelsea), the flowers are 
sulphur-yellow. The species is now for the first time cultivated, 
having been raised by Messrs. Veitch from seeds, which were 
accompanied by specimens sent by Mr. Wm. Lobb from the 
mountains of Peru. It has appeared under two names: firstly 
as described and figured by Messrs. Fielding and Gardner from 
Mr. Mathews’s specimens gathered in Chacapayos (n. 1424, 1425) 
and at Sesuya (n. 3039); and secondly by Mr. Hartweg in the 
Andes of Popayan, frequently at an elevation of 6-11,000 feet 
above the level of the sea (n. 1231). ‘These, as well as Mr. Wn. 
Lobb’s specimens, are assuredly one and the same species, but 
varying considerably in the size of the leaves (from three-quarters 
of an inch to two and two and a half inches), and somewhat in 
MAY Ist, 1857. 
