cat 
Tas. 4458. 
DIELYTRA specTaABILIs. 
Moutan Dielytra. 
Nat. Ord. FumMARIACEH.—D1IADELPHIA HEXANDRIA. 
_ Gen. Char, Petala 4, 2 exteriora basi equaliter calearata aut gibbosa. Siliqua 
bivalvis polysperma.—Herbe perennes. Flores racemosi, albi aut purpurascentes. 
Drexytra spectabilis ; caulescens, foliis subbipinnatis, pinnis petiolatis plerumque 
ternatis segmentis late ovato-cuneatis incisis, racemis elongatis bracteis 
subulatis deciduis, petalis ext. basi gibboso-rotundatis, int. oblongis cari- 
natis supra medium valde constrictis, filamentis diadelphis, ultra medium 
geniculatis liberis. 
Dietyrra spectabilis. De Cand. Syst. Veget. v.2. p.110. Prodr. v.1. p. 126. 
Fortune, in Journ. Hort. Soc. Lond. v.2. p. 178. t. 3. 
Evcapnos spectabilis. Sieb. et Zucc. Abhandl. der Munchen. Akid. (Physick. 
Math. Classe) v.8. p. 721. t.1. f. 2. ex Walp. Repert. v. 5. p. 23. 
_Corypatis spectabilis. Pers. Syn. v. 2. p. 260. 
Fumarta spectabilis. Linn. Ameen. Acad. v. 7. p. 437. t. 7. 
Of this truly fine and hardy herbaceous plant, there seems no 
reason whatever for constituting a new genus, as Professors 
Martius and Zuccarini have done. Both in habit and structural 
character it is entirely a Dielytra, DC. The flowers are the 
largest of the genus, and the leaves and leaflets the broadest, 
and so much resemble those of the Paonia Moutan that, as 
Mr. Fortune assures us, the Chinese give the plant the name of 
the “ Red-and-white Moutan-flower.” We learn from the same n- 
telligent traveller, that it is one of the plants of which the Chinese 
Mandarins are so fond, and that they cultivate with so much 
pride in all their gardens. He first saw it in the artificial rocks 
in the Grotto-garden, Island of Chusan, growing along with the 
equally beautiful Weigelia rosea. It appears to have been known 
only in northern China or the borders of Tartary and China, and 
not to be a denizen of any part of the Russian Empire ; for it is 
not included in Ledebour’s Flora Rossica. Nor, indeed, have 
we any clear account of its being seen otherwise than in culti- 
vation. Linneus, who first published it, does, it Is true, give 
in the Species Plantarum, ‘‘ Siberia (Demidof)” as the habitat : 
but the late possessor of the Linnean Herbarium does not seem 
Satisfied on that point, for he says in Rees’ oo. that “it is a 
I 
AUGUST lst, 1849. 
