Tab. 5365. 

 PYCNOSTACHYS urticifolia, 



Nettle-leaved Pycnostachys. 



Nat. Ord. Labiatje. — Didynamia Gymnospeemia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx ovatus, subaequalis, dentibus 5 subulato-spinosis. Corolla 

 iubo exserto defracto bilabiata, labio superiore quadridentato, inferiore integro 

 eoncavo. Stamina 4. Filamenta libera, edentula. Stylus apice subulatus, bre- 

 vissirae et aequaliter bifidus. Nucula subrolundae, laeves. — Herbse Jfricance vel 

 Mascarenses, erectce. Verticillastri densi, in spicas terminates simplices arete ap- 

 proximate foliis foralibus bracteaformibus calyce brevioribns. Beuth. 



Pycnostachys urticifolia ; foliis ovatis acuminatis basi truncatis vel obtusissime 

 subcuneatis longe petiolatis grosse serratis subtus pubescentibus, spica ter- 

 minali ovata acuminata magna thyrsiformi, corolla? labio superiore erecto 

 canaliculato lobis 4 incurvatis, inferiore amplo eoncavo apice insigniter iu- 

 truso. 



The genus Pycnostachys is peculiar to tropical or subtropical 

 Africa. The first-described species is a native of Madagascar, 

 P. cesrvlea; the second, P. reticulata, is derived from Natal, 

 and the country north of it, Macalisberg ; while a third, dis- 

 covered by Riippell in Abyssinia, has since been sent to us from 

 the peak of Fernando Po, altitude seven thousand feet, and from 

 the Cameroon Mountains, altitude six thousand, by Mr. Gustav 

 Mann. The probability is that the genus extends across the 

 whole continent of Africa from east to west. The three now 

 enumerated, however, it must be confessed, have a great resem- 

 blance to each other specifically, and they are possessed of no 

 great beauty to recommend them to cultivation. The one here 

 represented is quite a new species, and very distinct from all the 

 preceding, and well worthy of cultivation, from the size and 

 beauty of the flower-spikes. Seeds of it were sent by Dr. 

 Livingstone to Messrs. Backhouse, from " Mount Zaniba," on 

 the " Shire river," where they were gathered in September, 

 1859; and both seeds and dried specimens have been sent to 

 Kew, gathered by Drs. Kirk and Meller, of the same (Zambesi) 

 mission, on the Manganja hills, altititude three thousand ket, 



viakch 1st, 1863. 



