Tab. 5876. 

 TACSONIA quitensis. 



Quito Tacsonia. 



Nat. Ord. Passifeore^e. — Pentandria Trigynia. 

 Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tab. 5571.) 



Tacsonia (Bracteogamia) quitensis; ramulis angulatis pubescentibus, foliis pro- 

 funde o-lobis lobis ovatis acuminatis serratis supra glabriuaculis subtu3 

 molliter pubescentibus v. velutinis, petiolo brevi glandulis sessilibus, 

 stipulis dimidiato-orbiculatis v. falcato-ovatis denticulatia acutis, 

 bracteis in tubum velutinum non venosum 3-lobum basi subventri- 

 cosum connatis, calycis tubo cylindrico elongato lobisque extus cano- 

 pubescentibus, sepalis intus petalisque oblongis coccineis. 



Tacsonia quitensis, Benth. Plant. Hartweg, p. 183. Masters, in Gard. 

 Chron. 1869, p. 388, 1870, p. 955. 



This is another New Grenadan and Equador Tacsonia of 

 the same section as T. mollissima (Tab. Nost. 4187) and 

 T. eriantha (Tab. Nost. 5750), from both of which it differs 

 by slight, and perhaps not altogether constant characters— 

 from mollissima in the much less tomentose branches, stem, 

 and leaves; from eriantha in the shape of the bract-tube, 

 which is here not ribbed and veined ; and from both in the far 

 more beautiful flower, which is of a bright rose-crimson colour. 

 It is a native of the Quitenian Andes, whence we have dried 

 specimens collected by its discoverer, Hartweg, who states 

 that it grows wild in ravines near the city, and is also culti- 

 vated ;— from Dr. Jameson, who gives its range in altitude as 

 8500 to 13,000 feet ;— from Spruce, who found it in woods on 

 the western slopes of Pichincha;— and from McLean, gathered 

 in Peru (but without locality). There are still several other 

 very similar Venezuelan, New Grenadan, Equadorian, and 

 Peruvian species of this section to be introduced, amongst 

 which it is very difficult to find specific characters, if indeed 

 most may not prove to be varieties of one widely diffused 



DECEMBER 1ST, 1870. 



