Tab. 5499. 

 IRESINE Herbsti 



Mr. Herbsfs Iresine. 



Nat. Ord. Amaranthacej?:. — Dkecia Pentandria. 



Gen. Char. Mores dioici vel hermapliroditi, raro polygamo-monoici, tribracteati. 

 Calyx 5-sepalus, sepalis subaequalibus erectis glabris. Stamina 5, rarissime 

 pauciora, basi in cupulam connata. Filamenta filiformia. Staminodia nulla. 

 Anther ee uniloculares, ovatae. Ovarium unilocular e, uniovulatum. Stylus brevis. 

 Stigmata 2-3, teretiuscula. Fructus (utriculus) ovato-ovbicularis, evalvis, mono- 

 spermus, calyce inclusus. Semen verticale, sublenticulare ; testa cnistacea. Albu- 

 men centrale, farinaceum. Embryo annularis, periphericus, radicula ascendente. — 

 Herbge raro suffrutices, in America tropica et subtropica obvia, in Nova-Hollandia 

 intertropica rara,flaccida, glabriuscula vel glabra. Caules erecti vel procumbentes, 

 ramosi. Folia opposita, petiolata. Plores minuti, dense spicato-capitati vel. laxe 

 paniculati, plerique nitore metallico splendentes. Braetese concave ; inferior per- 

 sistens. Pubes pauca, simplex. Moquin. 



Iresine llerbstii; herbacea, erecta, pilosiuscula, deraum glaberrima, tota (flo- 

 ribus exceptis) pulcherrime purpureo-rubra atro-violaceo picta, caule angu- 

 lato ramoso, foliis sublonge petiolatis oppositis cordato-rotundatis concavis 

 apice profunde emarginatis subbilobis, paniculis copiosis terminalibus viiidi- 

 stramineis subfoliosi3 subnutantibus. 



Iresine Hevbstii. Hook, in Gard. Chron. July Wi, 1864,^. 654, and December 

 llth, 1864. Dombr. Floral Mag. t. 219 (foliage only). 



Achybanthes? Verschaffeltii. Ch. Lemaire in Illustr. Horticole, Aug. 1864, 

 rf. 409 (foliage only). 



Amidst the many coloured-leaved plants which have been of 

 late introduced into ornamental gardening, few are more striking 

 than the one we now represent, and few have excited more in- 

 terest among horticulturists, as may be inferred from the fact of 

 its having been figured in two horticultural works before the 

 flowers were known to the authors, and a first-class certificate 

 was awarded to Mr. Herbst, of the Kew Nursery, Richmond, 

 who introduced it to this country from the river Plate, South 

 Brazil. Mr. Lemaire gives Para, in North Brazil, at the mouth 

 of the Amazon, as its native country, whilst I myself possess a 

 fine native specimen, with all the characters of the cultivated 

 one, from Moyabamba, in the Andes of Peru, situated on a small 



MARCH 1st, 1865. 



