FLORA OF THE ISTHMUS OF PAKAMA. 1S5 
limbo 5-partito. Stamina corolljE tubo inserta, 4, didynama, inclusa, cum rudimento quinti ; antkera 
biloculares, sub antbesiii coliaireutes. Ovarium basi calvce cohsercnsj disco annulari subintegro 
ciBctum, uniloculare. Ovula plurima. Stylus simplex; stigma stomatomorxjlium. Capsula unilo- 
cularisj bivalvis^ valvis medio plaeentiferis. — Herba; America tropicce, hirsutte, stolouibuB squamoso- 
amentaceis perennaidibiiSj caulibus erecfis, foliis oppositts petioJafis ovatis acmmnatis serratis, fioribus 
axillaribm solitariis vel geminis, corollis amplis purpurcis, acruhis vel alhidis. — Seem, in Bot. ^Mag. 
tab. 4743 I— Kegel, Gartenflora, Jahrg. ii. p. 355. cum icon. !— Gard. in Hook. Icon. Plant, t. 472 ! 
The ffenus Scheeria was named in compliment to Frederick Scheer, Esq., to whom European gardeuB 
are iudubtcd for the introduction of Scheeria Mexicana and several other ornamental plants, and to whose 
successful study of Cactacecc science owes many interesting additions. The genus is closely allied to Gloxinia 
(§ Salisia, Kegel) and AcUmencs ; from the former— considering Gloxinia maculata, L'H<5rit., as its type — 
it differs in ha\'ing the spur (gibba) on the upper side of the corolla mure developed, and no inflation on the 
under side ; from the latter it is easily distinguished by its stomatomorplious, not bilobed, stigma. In 
habit it resembles the genus Loeheria, Kegel, which includes the Achimenes hirsuta, A. pedanculata, and 
A. multijlora of botanists. At present there are two species of Scheeria known, viz. S. Mexicana, Seem. 
{Achimenes Scheerii, Hort. Germ., A. Oiirita, Van Houtte), and S. ichthjostoma, Seem. {Gloxinia icUhyostoma, 
Gard. in Hook. Icon. Plant, t. 472). "With some doubt I add here a third species, described from specimens 
in an imperfect state of preservation, but agreeing, as far as they go, better with Scheeria than any other 
genus with which I am acquainted, or with any other Gesneriacea contained in the rich Herbaria of Hooker 
and Bentham. 
788. Scheeria ? Panamemis, Seem. ; hirsuta, caule adsccndcnte basi radicantc, foliis ovatis 
acuminatis serratis, pedunculis axillaribus solitariis vel geminis, calycis lobis o\ato-lanceolatifl 
acuminatis hinc indc dcntlculatis tubo corolljc 4-plo brenoribus, corolla subhirsuta (alba) , staminibus 
inclusis, ovario villoso, capsula subrotuuda, acminibus ovatis acutis nigris. ^Voods near the village 
of Gorgona, Pro\ince of Panama. 
A herb about 10 inches high ; leaves opposite, from 3 to 4 inches long (including petiole), and in the 
middle about 2 inches broad. - 
I sliould call this pknt an annual, having carefully dug for the rhizome, and not been able to find it ; 
' however, it has been frequently observed that Gesneriacece, which were annuals when growing wild, have 
proved perennials when under cultivation. As a rhizome cannot solely be the effect of cultivation, but 
can only have become more developed by artificial treatment, I venture to doubt whether any Gesneriacea 
are annual, and assume that they are either perennial herbs or shrubs. It is Ukely that those Gesneriace(£ 
springing up from seeds, and growing rapidly under the influence of rich soil and excessive moisture and 
heat run so much into leaf that their rhizomes are too smaU and weak to survive the dry season which 
must necessarily elapse before they are called again into operation. This seems to he especially the ca^e 
with those plants growing in dark virgin forests ; those flourishing in exposed situation., and on rocks, waJls, 
etc., as, for instance, the Gesncria spicafa, G. incurva and rh ijnehocarpa of the Panamian Flora, have always 
comparatively large and numerous rliizomes. 
789. KoLLiKEiiiA aryyrostigma, Kegel, Wlprs. Ann. vol. ii. p. 1069.-^c/a»ie«e5 argyrostigma, 
Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4175 ! Hills about Santiago de Veraguas. 
AcUmenes ocellata. Hook., was stated in the ' Botanical Magazine' (sub tab. 4359) to have been sent 
by me from the Isthmus of Panama; but that was a mistake, probably caused by an accidental mis- 
piacin- of the labels in the Koval Botanic Gardens at Kew ; it is a native of some other part of >,ew 
Granada, the Andes of Quindiu, and was discovered in that locaUty and introduced mto Europe by Mr. 
*v A 
