Tab. 5711. 



EEANTHEMUM aspersum. 



Speckled-flo wered Eranthemum. 



Nat. Ord. Acanthace^.— Diandria Monogtnia. 

 Gen. Char. (Fide supra, Tab. 5410.) 



Eranthemum punctulatum; fruticosum, glaberrimum, ramulis laevibus, folna 

 petiolatis oblongo-ovatis obtusiusculis obscure repando-smuatis,cymis 

 axillaribus breviter pedunculate foliia brevioribus multi-densinons, 

 calycis puberuli lobis subulatis erectis corolla multo brevioribus co- 

 rolla bvpocraterimorpha, tubo gracillimo polhcan albo, limbi plam 

 lobis oblongs obtusis albis 4 superioribus disco excluso purpureo- 

 punctulatis, inferiore majore disco sanguineo-purpureo margme punc- 

 tulato, filamentis ciliatis, antheris oblongis obtusis. 



A remarkablv-beautiful stove shrub, sent from the Solomon 

 Islands by Mr. John Veitch during his Australian voyage, and 

 communicated to the Royal Gardens in 1867, without name, 

 where it flowered fully in March of the present year. It appears 

 undescribed, but is manifestly closely allied to & ^e" a ~ 

 num (Tab. nost. 5467) and E. tuberculatum (Tab. nost. 54Uo). 

 It differs remarkably from any species known to me m tlie 

 very straight, slender corolla-tube, and white limb, curiously 

 speckled with purple, all but one lip-like lobe which is 

 almost wholly purple, giving the corolla-limb the appear- 

 ance of an Orchid flower. , . 



Descr. Apparently a slender shrub, much branched gla- 

 brous; stems and branches tetragonous. Leaves on short 

 petioles, two to three inches long, ovate or ovate-oblong, 

 subacute, obscurely sinuate, waved at the margin, dark green 

 above, paler below; petioles a quarter to half an inch long. 

 Cymes numerous, axillary, shorter than the leaves Pedmicles 

 half an inch to an inch long, three- to five-flowered ; pedicel, 

 very short, and, as well as the calyx, puberulous. Corolla-tube 

 four or five times as long as the calyx, straight, very slender, 

 white; limb flat, an inch to an inch and a quarter in its 

 longest diameter, five-lobed; lobes oblong, obtuse, four upper 



June 1st, 1868. 



