Tas. 6313. 
TOVARTA OLERACEA. 
Native of Temperate Sikkim. 
Nat. Ord. Lin1aces#..— Tribe Tovarizm, 
Genus Tovaria, Neck. (Baker in Journ. Linn. Soe. vol. xiv. p. 564.) 
Tovarra oleracea ; caule 2-8-pedali simplici, basi nudo, medio foliato, sursum 
flexuoso dense piloso, foliis 8-14 breviter petiolatis magnis oblongis acutis 
membranaceis facie glabris dorso puberulis, venis 7-9 magis conspicuis, 
floribus in paniculam amplam dispositis, ramis flexuosis dense pubescentibus, 
pedicellis solitariis flore equilongis vel longioribus, bracteis minutis lineari- 
bus, perianthii campanulati albi rubro tincti segmentis oblongis obtusis, 
staminibus perianthio subtriplo brevioribus, antheris parvis, oblongis filamento 
lineari, ovario globoso, stylo brevissimo apice stigmatoso tricuspidato. 
Tovaria oleracea, Baker in Journ. Linn, Soc. vol. xiv. p, 569. 
Smitacina oleracea, Hook. fil. et Thoms. Herb. Ind. 
Smilacina, sp., C. B. Clarke in Journ, Linn. Soe. vol. xv. p. 122. 
This is far the most striking of the eighteen species of 
Tovaria, a genus better known by its much later name of 
Smilacina. Itis an inhabitant of the temperate region of 
Sikkim, at an elevation of from eight thousand to twelve 
thousand feet above sea-level, and, as might be expected, 
proves to be perfectly hardy in English gardens. It was 
gathered first by Griffith, in 1849 by Sir Joseph Hooker, 
whose sketch made on the spot from the living plant is now 
in the Kew collection of drawings, and recently by Dr. — 
Treutler and Mr. C. B. Clarke. It is the Smélacina described 
without a name by the latter gentleman in the account of his 
journey from Darjeeling to Tonglo, printed in the fifteenth 
volume of the Journal of the Linnean Society. We owe its 
introduction into cultivation to Dr. Treutler, who presented 
some of the rhizomes which he brought home to the Kew 
collection, where they flowered in the herbaceous ground this 
present summer. According to Dr. Hooker’s note (see his 
AuGusT Isr, 1877. 
