Tas. 6134. 
BLUMENBACHIA (CatopHora) ConToRTA. 
Native of Peru. 
Nat, Ord. LoasEez. 
Genus Biumensacnta, Schrad. ; (Benth. § Hook. f. Gen. Pl., vol. i. p. 805). 
Biumensacuta (Caiophora) contorta; caule volubili pilis urentibus patulis 
reflexisque hispido, foliis breviter petiolatis triangulari-v.-oblongo-ovatis 
pinnatifidis laciniis acutis acute inciso-dentatis lobatisve utrinque his- 
pidis, pedunculis elongatis axillaribus, calycis lobis pinnatifido-lobatis, 
petalis patentibus, squamis cucullatis, staminodiis falcatis unidentatis, 
capsula ellipsoideo-oblonga 15 pollicari. 
Loasa contorta, Lamk. Dict., vol. iii. p. 579; IU. t. 426, f.2; DC. Prodr., 
vol. iii. p. 840; Juss. in Ann. Mus., vol. v. p. 25, t. 3, £1; Tratt. Archiv, 
vol. i. p. 17, t. 33. 
Caropnora contorta, Pres! Relig. Haenk:., vol. ii. p. 42; Walp. Rep., vol. ii. 
p. 227, and vol. v. p. 781. 
Although described by Jussieu and (copying him) by 
Trattinick as having a capsule a foot and a half long, “ sesqul- 
pedalis,’” I have no doubt but that this is Lamarck s Loasa 
contorta, which that author describes as having a capsule 
about two inches long, as indeed it 1s figured by Jussieu. 
Lamarck’s figure, again, a very indifferent one, represents the . 
calyx-lobes as entire, though that, author describes them as 
toothed.  Presl, who founded the genus Catophora on De 
Candolle’s first section of Loasa, proposes besides the @. con- 
torta, two other species from the Andes of Peru, C. cirsitfolia 
and carduifolia; but judging from his description and the 
figures he gives of C@. cirsiifolia, I suspect that they are 
varieties of C. contorta, which, according to numerous specl- 
mens preserved in the Kew Herbarium, varies extremely in 
the breadth and amount of division of the leaves. 
B. contorta is a native of Peru and Equador, where it 
ascends to an elevation of 12,000 feet; should it prove as 
hardy as the charming B. /ateritia (Loasa lateritia, Tab. nost. 
3632), it will be a very ornamental wall-plant in most parts 
NOVEMBER jst, 1874. 
