Tas. 6281. 5 
DRACOCEPHALUM speciosum. 
Native of the Himalaya Mountains. 
Nat. Ord. Lasrara.—Tribe NEPETE. 
Genus Dracoceruatum, Linn. (Benth. et Hook. fil. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 1699)” 
Dnracocepuatum (Boguldia) speciosum ; ascendens Vv. erectum pubescenti-tomen- 
tosum v. subvillosum, foliis rugosis crenatis utrinque viridibus radicalibus 
longe-petiolatis late cordiformibus caulinis paucis sessilibus v. breviter 
petiolatis subtus laxe pilosis, floralibus orbiculatis subbracteseformibus, ver- 
ticillastris supremis in spicam latam oblongam obtusam dense congestis, 
‘bracteis inciso-crenatis calyce multo brevioribus, calyce infandibulari- 
campanulato curvo dentibus 4 triangulari-ovatis acutis quarto orbiculato 
dilatato, corolla purpurea albo maculata. 
D. speciosum, Benth in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. vol. ii. p. 65, nom Sweet; Gen. 
et Sp. Lab. p. 494; Wall, Cat. no. 2128. 
Discovered by Wallich’s collectors in Nepal, and afterwards 
almost simultaneously found by Madden in Garwhal, by 
Strachey and Winterbottom in Kumaon, and by myself in 
the Sikkim Himalaya, all at elevations ranging from 12000 to 
15000 feet above the sea, where it forms a robust handsome 
plant in grassy places. The genus is a very considerable 
one, containing many species well worth cultivation, espe- 
cially on a rock-work. It extends from Europe to the Altai 
and Himalaya, where about 30 species are known. Of these 
only one bas been previously figured in this work, the D. 
peregrinum, t. 1084, the D. sibiricum, t. 2185, being a true 
Nepete. The D. speciosum of Sweet’s Flower Garden, vol. 1. t. 
98, is Physostegia virginiana (see Benth. in DC. Prod. vol. xii. 
p. 404). 
The specimen here figured was received at Kew from the 
Rev. Mr. Harper Crewe, who raised it from seeds sent from 
Sikkim by Mr. Elwes. It flowered in June last. : 
Desc. More or less clothed with spreading pubescence or 
almost woolly. Root of very stout fleshy fibres. Séem, 
