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Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately 

 Flowered in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh, chiefly in the 

 Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr GRAHAM, Prof, of Botany. 



March 10. 1837. 

 Begonia plataniiblia. 



B. platanifolia ; fruticosa ; foliis subaequaliter renifbrmibus, lobatis serru- 

 lato-denticulatis, utrinque hispidis, subtus purpurascentibus, lobis acu- 

 tis ; stipulis ovatis, acutis, rigidis, demum marcescentibus. 



Begonia platanifolia, Schott, Sprengel, Syst. Veget. c. p. p. 407. 



DESCRIPTION Stem erect, robust, of rapid growth (in our specimens 

 from 2$ to 5^ feet high) round, joints slightly swollen, and marked with 

 rings from whence the stipules fell, slightly spotted, glabrous, shewing little 

 disposition to develop branches, unless the top be injured. Leaves (8- 

 10 inches across the greatest diameter) alternate, petiolate, reniform, 

 nearly equal at the base, lobed, hispid on both sides, dark green above, 

 paler and becoming purplish below, especially on the ribs, which are strong 

 and prominent ; lobes acute, contorted, serrulate-denticulate, and in the 

 interstices between the teeth crenulate aud ciliated; petioles (2-3 inches 

 long) nearly round, slightly flattened above, erect; stipules opposite, 

 intrafoliaceous, ovate, acute, involute, herbaceous, rigid, marcescent. 

 Cymes axillary, on peduncles as long as the petioles, dichotomous, bearing 

 always a flower in the cleft, fully developed only after the leaf from the 

 axil of which it springs drops, branches slightly hairy, spreading like a fan. 

 Male flowers (there are no others on the only two specimens which have 

 flowered with us) 4-petalous, nearly white, very large (2 inches across) ; 

 petals very unequal, the larger rotundato-ovate, the smaller spathulato- 

 linear. Stamens numerous, connected only at the base, filaments slender, 

 connective thick and clavate, anther-cells small, on the outside of the 

 connective, and towards its edges. I am much inclined to think that 

 this is a dioecious species, and that the male plant only is in cultivation. 



We received this large and handsome species at Edinburgh from Berlin 

 in 1834, but the plants did not grow vigorously, nor flower till the end 

 of last year, when our increased accommodation at the Botanic Garden 

 enabled us to give them greater stove heat. 



Clianthus puniceus. 



C. puniceus ; fruticosus, diffusus, glaber ; foliolis alternis, oblongis, sub- 

 emarginatis ; racemis pendulis multifloris ; calyce 5-dentato ; legu- 

 inine glabro. 



Clianthus puniceus, Soland. MS. in Mus. Britt All Cunningham, in 



Hort. Trans, vol. i. N. S. p, 521. t. 22 Bot. Reg. 1775. 



Donia punicea, Don's Gen. Syst. of Gardening, 2. 468. 

 DESCRIPTION Stem shrubby, round. Bark cracked, but otherwise smooth. 

 Branches diffused, green, glabrous, slightly angled. Leaves alternate, 

 pinnated with an odd leafet; common footstalk, round, with slender fur- 

 row above, tapering to the apex; pinnae 10-12 pairs, subsessile, al- 

 ternate towards the apex of the leaf, subopposite below, largest in 

 the middle, oblong, subemarginate, minutely mucronate, opaque green 

 and glabrous above, paler and with minute adpressed pubescence be- 

 low, edges slightly revolute, middle rib channelled above, prominent 

 and rounded below. Racemes axillary, pendulous, many -flowered ; lower 

 flowers expanded first, flexuose common peduncle and pedicels green, and 

 slightly pubescent, each pedicel springing from the axil of a small green 

 ovato-lanceolate spreading bractea, and with two subopposite bracteoloe 

 in the middle. Calyx campanulate, green, its mouth somewhat oblique, 

 VOL. XXII. NO. XLIV. APRIL 1837. B b 



