378 Dr Graliam's Descripti^m of New or Rare Plants. 



Description Root bulbous. Stem erect, various in height (about 7 



inches), (5 ?)-angled, winged. Leaves opposite, at the base of the stem, 

 sometimes shorter sometimes longer than it, erect, elliptico-lanceolate, 

 sharply keeled behind, obscurely nerved, especially in front. Spike 

 many-flowered, bracteate ; bractese single, at ihe base of each flower, 

 pointed. Perianth 5-cleft, three outer segments linear, revolute, in 

 their edges, the upper erect, two lower parallel, projecting forwards, 

 twisted ; the two inner filiform, spreading, and finally reflected : Labels 

 lum shorter than the perianth, Unear-spathulate, channelled, bent in the 

 middle towards the lower segments of the perianth, notched at its ex- 

 tremity, with a point in the notch. Column erect, winged above, con- 

 tracted in its middle, half as long as the labellum. Anther-case termi- 

 nal, keeled above, 2-celled ; cells round, with white, membranous edges. 

 Pollen-masses 2, one in each cell, ovate, sessile, bright yellow. Stigma 

 rounded, white, projecting under the pollen-masses. Germen short, 

 partly superior, angled, clavate, winged, afterwards enlarging very 

 greatly, but retaining the same form, wings crenate. Whole plant, ex- 

 cept the pollen-masses, of uniform green. 



This plant was introducetl into the collection of Mr Cunninghame at 

 Comely Bank, near Edinburgh, in 182G, by Mr Blair, who found it grow- 

 ing in Upper Canada. It bears cultivation well, has been kept by Mr 

 Cunninghame in pots with peat soil, in the stove, and flowered very 

 abundantly in June 1828. It flowered in the open air at the lloyal Bo- 

 tanic Garden in the same month. We owe the plant to the Countess 

 of Dalhousie, who introduced it from Canada. Dr Barton appears first 

 to have discovered the species in rich soil, under damp shady woods, 

 along the banks of the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, in 1815. It has 

 probably, therefore, a pretty wide range in North America, though not 

 mentioned by any American botanist except the tw^o I have quoted. 

 Its period of flowering in Pennsylvania is precisely the same (June) as 

 in cultivation with us, either in the stove, or exposed to the open air. 

 It has neither size nor colour to make it attractive. 



The great resemblance between this plant and Liparis Loeselii of Europe, 

 caused them to be considered the same in America, but Dr Bartoujvery 

 properly points out the distinction in the triangular stem of L. Loeselii^ 

 and the different direction of the perianth ; and I may add, that depend- 

 ing on the lip being entire, and longer than the perianth in the Euro- 

 pean species. The comparative length of the scape and leaves varies so 

 much that it deserves no attention. 



Petunia acuminata. 



'. acuminata ; fol 

 quadruple superante. 



Description Stem herbaceous, erect, round, branched, as well as the 



branches covered with short, colourless, inconspicuous, soft hairs. Leaves 

 (4 inches long, 1^ broad) scattered, petioled, ovate, acuminate, subsinuate, 

 flat or very slightly undulate, erect harsh pubescence diffused over their 

 upper surface, but below chiefly confined to the middle rib and veins ; be- 

 tween these tlie pubescence is much softer, and less conspicuous. Middle 

 rib and veins very prominent below, petiole (about 1^ inch long) very 

 slightly bordered by the decurrent leaf, flat on its upper surface, round 

 on the lower. Peduncle (fth inch long) solitary, single-flowered, round, 

 subopposite to the leaves, erect. Calyx (fth inch long) 5-parted, un- 

 equal, linear, blunt, subappressed, segments keeled, and connected to 

 about their middle by a colourless membrane. Corolla white, striated 

 with green ; tube (2 inches long) cylindrical, with 5 pits rather under its 

 middle, and below this somewhat contracted ; limb (IJ inch across) 

 about a fourth part of the length of the tube, 5-cleft, lobes blunt, slightly 

 emarginate, plicate, with a dark green branched line along the middle of 

 each externally. Stamens unequal, two longer subexserted, three others 

 included ; filament^ arising from the base of the corolla, flat, hairy, and 

 adhering to the tube its fer as the pits, above which they are free, fila- 



