Tar. 8344. 
COLUMNEA OrrstTepDIANA. 
Costa Rica. 
GESNERACEAE. ‘Tribe CyRTANDREAE. 
CotumngEA, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 1009. 
Columnea Oerstediana, AJotzsch ex Oecrst. Centralam. Gesner. p. 61, t. 8; 
Hanst. in Linnaea, vol. xxxiv. p. 407; affinis C. microphyliae, Klotzsch & 
Hanst., a qua foliis supra glabris subtus minute puberulis reeedit. 
Suffrutex vel herba epipbytica caule lignoso subtetragono fuscescente glabro 
nitidulo ramoso, ramis elongatis, teste Oersted strictis patenti-arrectis, 
indivisis superne sparse appresse pubescentibus, internodiis 1-1-7 em. 
longis. Folia opposita, breviter petiolata, late ovata vel ovato-oblonga, 
apice acuta vel subacuta, basi obtusa vel rotundata, 1-1°5 cm. longa, 
7-10 mm. lata, carnosa, supra convexa, saturate viridia, nitidula, glabra, 
subtus pallida, minute appresse puberula; nervi laterales utrinque 3-4, 
valde obliqui, subtus conspicui; petioli 2-3 mm. longi. Flores axillares, 
solitarii, erecti. Peduncu/us circiter 1 cm. longus. Sepa/a erecta, valde 
imbricata, ovata, caudato-acuminata, inferne repando-dentata, ultra 
1:5 em. longa, 7 mm. lata, extra appresse puberula. Corolla coccinea, 
in toto circiter 7 em. longa, bilabiata, extra pilis articulatis sparse villosa ; 
tubus angustus, faucem versus sensim ampliatus, 4-4°5 cm. longus, inferne 
postice gibbosus; labium posticum galeiforme, apice rotundatum vel sub- 
cuspidatum ; lobi laterales patentes, triangulares, cum galea alte connati ; 
lobus anticus reflexus, lineari-lanceolatus, circiter 1°7 ecm. longus. 
Stamina 4, exserta ; filamenta glabra; antherae in quadram cohaerentes. 
Disei glandula unica, postica, emarginata. Ovariwm appresse pubescens; 
placentae bilamellatae.—T. A. SpraGur. 
The Columnea here described, a native of Costa Rica, like 
its congener, C. magnifica, Klotzsch & Hanst., figured at 
t. 8225 of this work, does not appear to have been collected 
since its first discovery fifty years ago. This suggests that 
many of the Central American Gesnerads may have a 
limited distribution, and that further exploration of this 
region may lead to the introduction of forms that are as 
yet unknown. The plant on which our plate is based 
flowered in February, 1910, in the collection of Col. R. H. 
Beddome, Sispara, West Hill, Putney. This plant was a 
young cutting rooted in a propagating frame and grown in 
a small pot kept close to the roof-glass of a stove ; another 
plant flowered simultaneously in a stove at Kew. Old plants 
rarely flower freely, but from the pendent habit assumed by 
Novemper, 1910. 
