wm JC, Men, Chasm, . 342- 
Tas. 4849. 
TRADESCANTIA Martenstana. 
Martens’ Spiderwort. 
Nat. Ord. ComMELYNEM.—HEXANDRIA MOoNOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Flores regulares. Sepaia 6, libera, patentia; tria exteriora navi- 
cularia, persistentia; tria interiora majora, petaloidea, breviter unguiculata, mar- 
cescendo persistentia. Semina 6, subhypogna, omnia fertilia. Filamenta \ibera, 
plerumque barbata. Anthere conformes, loculis reniformibus, connectivo varia 
forma distinctis, interdum tres sepalis exterioribus opposite robustiores, loculis 
replicatis, extrorsee, filamentisque brevioribus sustentee. Ovarium sessile, trilo- 
culare; ovula in loculis 2, superposita. Stylus 1. Stigma simplex, obtusum, 
infundibulare vel peltato-ampliatum. Capsula trilocularis, trivalvis ; valvis medio 
septiferis. Semina bina, superposita, angulata.—Herbe Americane, erect@ vel 
diffuse, sepe repentes. Folia indivisa. Vagine integre. Pedunculi azillares et 
terminales, solitarii, gemini vel plures, apice umbellato-pauci-multiflori, sepe brevis- 
simi, subnulli folioque duplici involucrati. Kunth. 
TRaDEScANTIA Martensiana ; pubescenti-glandulosa, caule procumbente geni- 
culato radicante apice nudo, foliis oblongo-ovatis acuminatis sessilibus va- 
ginatis, vaginis villosis, panicula terminali elongata effusa ditrichotoma, 
pedunculis fasciculatis umbelliferis ex axilla bractez scariose vaginantis, 
pedicellis calycibusque pubescenti-glandulosis, floribus triandris, petalis albis, 
filamentis glabris, antheris oblongis, stylo perbrevi, stigmate trilobo lobis 
globosis hirsutis. 
TRADESCANTIA Martensiana. Kth. Enum. Pl. v. 4. p. 697; Commelina multi- 
flora, Mart. et Galeot. En. Synops. Pl. Mex, p. 3. 
It is not a little remarkable that a plant of Mexico, possessing 
so little beauty as the present, should come to us vid the East 
Indies: but certain it is that the Royal Gardens of Kew received 
the present Zradescantia from Mr. Manley, of Calcutta : and no 
sooner did our late lamented friend Dr. Wallich see it growing 
in our stove, than he assured us it was a plant with which he 
was familiar at the Calcutta Botanic Garden, where it was con- 
sidered an exotic, and it was endeared to him in consequence of © 
the powerful smell of violets emitted by the flowers. Our Her- 
barium shows the plant to be a native of Mexico (Xalapa, Linden, 
and Martens and Galeotti), and Guatemala (Mr. Skinner), and 
the 7 Martensiana, Kth. 1. c. Messrs. Martens and Galeotti 
MAY Ist, 1855. 
