La ec ee eee ee 
Tas. 5800. 
BIGN ONIA PURPUREA. 
Nat. Ord. BigNoNIAcEZ.—DipyNamIA ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Gen. Char.—Calyx margine 5-dentatus, rarius integer aut 5-partitus 
aut 2-3-lobus. Corolla bilabiata aut subequalis, 5-fida. Stamina 4 
fertilia, didynama, quinto sterili. Amnthere loculis glabris, sepissime dis- 
cretis. Stigma bilamellatum. Capsula valvis vix convexis planisve, septo. 
plano valvis parallelo. Semina ad quodque septi latus uniseriata, utrinque 
alata, ala pellucida.—Caules nune frutescentes arboresve erecti, nunc fruticoso- 
scandentes. Folia fere ubique opposita, petiolata, sed ceterum valde varia. 
Flores s@pe speciost. 
Biegnon1a purpurea, glaberrima, foliis breviter petiolatis 2-foliolatis petiolo 
sepissime in cirrhum producto, foliolis oblongis obtusis v. subacutis re- 
curvis breviter petiolatis, floribus inaxillis foliorum 2-nis, breviter pedun- 
culatis, pedunculis basi minute bracteolatis, calyce tubuloso campanulato, 
ore plicato plicis in dentes 5 conicos breviter productis, corolle pallide 
lilacine fauce albo tubo infundibuliforme, limbi lobis obovato-rotun- 
datis, ovario tuberculato. 
Bignowia purpurea, Lodd. D, C. Prod. v. ix. p. 171 (name only). 
This magnificent stove climber has long been cultivated in 
the Palm House at Kew, and is no doubt the Bignonia pur- 
purea of Loddiges’ catalogue, an undescribed plant, of which 
there is a named specimen in the Hookerian Herbarium, col- 
lected in the Liverpool Botanical Garden, probably thirty 
years ago. 
As a species B. purpurea 1s closely allied to B. speciosa, 
Hook. (Tab. nost., 3888), a native of Uraguay, resembling it 
altogether in habit and foliage, and in size and colour of the 
flower, but differing in the longer calyx, with short conical 
teeth, and narrower corolla tube. 
Duscr. A lofty glabrous climber. Stem slender. Leaves 
bifoliolate ; petioles short, one-third of an inch long, some- 
times ending in a long flexuous tendril; leaflets two and a 
half to three and a half inches long, obovate-lanceolate, 
ocToBeR Ist, 1869. 
