Tab. 5696. 



DICENTBANTHERA machophylla. 



Large-leaved Dicentrantkera. 



JS T at. Ord. Acanthace^i. — Didyhamia Angiospeejiia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx 5-lobus, lobis subulatis. Corolla basi tubulosa, su- 

 perne campanulata ; limbus 5-fidus ; lobi ovato-rotundati, patentes, 2 pos- 

 tici minores, ad medium connati. Stamina 4, didvnama, filamentis fili- 

 iormibus basi per paria connatis ; anther* vix exserta?, 2-loculares, loculis 

 hneanbus, margme minute glandulosis, basi inaequaKter 2-calcaratis. Ova- 

 »?«»« disco tumido impositum ; stylus brevis, stiginate emarginato ; ovula in 

 loculis pauca. Capsula ignota.— SufFrutex glaberrimus, ramulis obscure 

 ■i-goms. Folia elongata, breviter petiolata, obovato-lanceolata, in pctiohtm 

 angustata, abrupte caudato-acuminata, obscure sinuata. Flores speciosi, ver- 

 ticillastris in spicas strictas simplices v. compo&itas dispositis. 



Dicenteanthera macrophylla. T. Anders. African Acanthaceee in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. Lond. v. 7. p. 52. 



This fine plant was discovered by the intrepid African 

 plant collector, Gustav Mann, in the Island of Fernando Po, 

 and the Cameroons and Gaboon river, forming a handsome 

 shrub, eight to ten feet high. It was afterwards collected in 

 the Gambia by Mr. Milne, and the specimen here figured 

 was raised from seeds or plants se'ht home by him, which were 

 flowered at Glasnevin by Dr. Moore, F.L.S., the able super- 

 intendent of that establishment, in June, 1867. In its na- 

 tive country its flowering season is December and January, 

 whence we may hope that it will eventually prove a useful 

 plant for winter stove-decoration — a purpose for which, as I 

 have repeatedly pointed out in this work, the tropical Acaniha- 

 cea? are admirably well suited. 



Descr. A glabrous erect shrub, eight to ten feet high. 

 Branches striate, obtusely tetragonous. Leaves large and 

 membranous, deep green and lucid, ten to fourteen inches 

 long, obovate-lanceolate, tapering into a short petiole, 

 abruptly narrowed to a long point; margin undulate; nerves 

 strong and arching. Spikes terminal, short, erect, a foot 

 long, simple or branched at the base. Flowers almost 

 MAECH 1st, 1868. 



