Dr Grahanrs Description of New ot- Hare Plants. S83 



In a most valuable collection of Ledebour's plants which I possess through 

 the inexhaustible kindness of my friend Mr Hunneman, I have a 8])eci- 

 nien illustrating the singular appearance occasioned by the protmsion 

 of the unripe seeds through the ruptured membranous capsule. 



While this sheet was in the press, the excellent figure by Mr James Mac- 

 nab of the specimen described, with dissections by Dr Hooker, appeared 

 in the* Botanical Magazine. 



Libertia crassa. 



L. crassa ; caule subcompresso, flexuoso, pruinoso ; floribus capitatis, ca- 



(titulis multifloris, terminalibus lateralibusque, inferioribus peduncu- 

 atis, superioribus sessilibus ; perianthii segmentis exterioribus ovato- 

 ellipticis subherbaceis subcarinatis, interioribus subemarginatis cor- 

 datis; staminibus monadelphis ; foliis margine exteriore minutissime 

 serrulatis. 

 Description. — Root throwing up many crowns and fiowering-stems. Leaves 

 (6-14 inches long, half an inch broad at the base) sword-shaped, strongly 

 nerved, the inner edge towards the base sheathing membranous and 

 glabrous, above this sBghlly scabrous, the outer edge very minutely ser- 

 rulate, the serratures being only visible under a pretty high magnifying 

 power. Stem (1 foot 9 inches high) suberect, fiexuose, stout, subcom- 

 pressed, pruinose, each angle bearing a sheathing leaf-like spathe, which 

 contains a single many- flowered capitulum, peduncled at the lower part 

 of the stem, sessile above, external spathes gradually diminishing up- 

 wards, till they pass into the form of the internal, which are numerous, 

 membranous, withering. Flowers on short pedicels. Perianth rotate, 

 the three external segments subherbaceous, sessile, ovato-ellipticaL, blunt, 

 the three internal (9 lines long, 74 broad) twice the length of the exter- 

 nal, and more than three times their breadth, pure white, cordate at the 

 base, clawed, blunt or emarginate at the apex, with a conspicuous dia- 

 phanous middle rib, and faint diverging lateral veins. Stamens mona- 

 delphous ; filaments white, diverging a little, shorter than the inner, 

 longer than the outer segments of the perianth ; anthers large, incum- 

 bent, yellow, cleft at the lower end, lobes parallel, bursting along their 

 sides; pollen granules very minute, oblong, yellow. Stigmata minute, 

 terminal. Style trifid for about two-thirds of its length, the lower part' 

 round, and insheathed by the cohering portion of the filaments, segments 

 diverging between the stamens, angular, and each larger than the united 

 portion. Germen green, glabrous, 3 sided, equal in length to the pedicel, 

 and shorter than the outer segments of the perianth. 

 This was received, like the other species of the genus here described, at 

 the Comely Bank Nursery from Mr Low of Clapton, and was, like it, 

 imported from near Cape Horn by Mr Anderson. It is a much stronger 

 plant than any of the other species w ith which I am acquainted, and 

 flowered very abundantly in the open air. The flowers are larger, but 

 in the present state of the plants, at least, this is less elegant than the 

 next species. Bermudiana Narcisso-Leucoii flore of Feuillee, vol. ii. 

 p. 9. t. iv. belongs to this genus, and is this, if either of the species now 

 described ; But I think it is different from both. 



Libertia formosa. 



la.formosa; caule folioso; foliis radicalibus caule brevioribus, margine 



laevibus; laciniis perianthii exterioribus ovatis, apice subherbaceis, 



carinatis, interioribus unguiculatis, cordatis, retusL<<, filamentis basi 



cohserentibus, fructibus flore minoribus. 



DESCRirxioN. — Root-leaves (6 inches to 1 foot long, 2 lo A^ lines broad) 



equitant, every where glabrous, membranous at the edges of the sheath, 



Uiiear-swordshaped, acute, nervetl, the central nerve thicker and stronger 



than the rest ; stem-leaves few (about 3) sheathing, smaller upwards (the 



uppermost IJ^ inch long) in form and structure like the root-leaves, 



