Tad. 7577. 

 RICHARDIA Elliottiana. 



Native of South Africa. 



Nat. Ord. Aroide^e.— Tribe Philodendee/e. 

 Genus Richardia, Kunth ; (Benth. & Hooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 982.) 



Richardia Elliothana; olata, foliia amplis late ovato-rotandatis apiculatis 

 basi profunde cordatis lobis approximatis v. incumbentibus albo-maculatis, 

 costa crassa, spatha infundibiilari-campanulata apice recurvo subulato 

 tertia parte laxe convoluta tota aurea ore expansa intus laevi, marginibus 

 recnryis, spadice subsessile, ovarii apice tumido, stigmate sessili, fnictibus 

 crassis. 



R. Elliottiana, Knight ex W. Wats, in Gard. Chron., 1892, vol. ii. p. 123 

 Eng. de Duren in Rev. Sort. Belg. vol. xxiii. (1897) p. 13. 



B. Elliottiana is much the largest species of the genus 

 hitherto described. It is alluded to under Tab. 7397, also 

 a golden-spafched species, as a then imperfectly known 

 plant, which may be a variety of B. albo-maculata, Hook., 

 a suggestion endorsed by M. de Duren when figuring it in 

 the " Revue Hort. Belgique," though on comparison of 

 these two plants the differences between them are abun- 

 dantly manifest. B. albo-maculata (see Tab. 5740) belongs 

 to the hastate-leaved section of the genus, and has a 

 comparatively small white spathe, with a much longer, 

 narrower, tapering limb, and the base of the spathe is 

 purple within. From B. Pentlandii (Tab. 7397) the only 

 other known golden-spathed species, B. Elliottiana differs 

 in its much larger size, broad spotted leaves, more deeply 

 cordate at the base, the smooth surface of the limb of the 

 spathe within, and the absence of purple colouring at its 

 base, also in the large ovaries and sessile stigma. The 

 precise habitat of B. Pentlandii, which was not known 

 when the species was first published, is the Mapoch 

 district, Lydenburg, Transvaal. 



B. Elliottiana was raised from a batch of South African 

 seeds by Mr. Knight, gardener to Captain Elliott, of Farn- 

 boro' Park, Hants, in 1896, and was exhibited in London 



February 1st, 1898. 



