whose beautiful red-vemned bracts, looking like a calyx, persist 
long after the blossoms have passed. 
Drscr. The plant before us is one and a half foot high, at pre- 
sent unbranched, woody below, more herbaceous above. Leaves 
alternate, large, petiolate, ovate, often broadly so, acuminate, pen- 
ninerved (with three principal nerves from near the base), the 
upper half sinuato-dentate at the margin. Peduncles short, ag- 
gregated in the axils of the leaves (and often remaining after 
the leaves are fallen, above the scars), scarcely half an inch long. 
Involucre of four, erect, pale yellowish-white, cordate dracteas, 
striated and veined with red, including a single fower, whose 
stigmas alone are sometimes protruded beyond the involucre. 
Calyx nearly white, or greenish, cut into five, erecto-connivent, 
acuminated lobes. Corolla of five, obcordate, veiny, small 
petals, which are united by their base to the cylindrical tube of 
the filaments of the anthers, shorter than the calyx. Anthers 
reniform, one-celled, exserted beyond the calyx, as is the free 
portion of the filaments. Ovary subglobose, five-furrowed. Style 
as long as the tube of the anthers, then separating into ten 
branches, each bearing a capitate stigma. 
Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Two of the petals united with the tube of the anthers. 
3. Pistil:—magnified. 
