198 Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants. 



towards their apex. Leaves lanceolato-linear or spatlmlato-linear, gla- 

 brous on both sides, recurved, mucronulate, middle rib strong, with 

 obscure diverging veins. Capitulum terminal, hemispherical, many- 

 flowered, dense. Involucre 4-leaved, leafets broadly ovate, glabrous on 

 both sides, ciliated, as long as the Jloicers, which are rose-coloured, and 

 handsome. Perianth with long spreading hairs upon the lower half of 

 the tube, silky in the upper, segments of the limb ovate. Stamens and 

 pistU as in the genus. As the plant is a very rare one, and not my own 

 property, I only felt myself at liberty to dissect two flowers. In one 

 of these, from the outer edge of a capitulum, I foimd the germen bilo- 

 bular, and the style terminal between the lobes. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that this is an accidental deviation from the normal structure, 

 and that it will not be found common. 

 The species, which seems to me to be quite distinct from any one hither- 

 to described, must be placed between P. decussata and P. rosea. It is a 

 native of King George's Sound, and was raised by Messrs Eagle and 

 Henderson from seed sent to them by Captain Cheyne, in May 1837, 

 and, when about 18 inches high, and covered with flowers, was exhi- 

 bited in the Experimental Garden of the Caledonian Horticultural 

 Society in July 1838. It will be found one of the most ornamental 

 species of the genus. 



Torenia cordifolia. 



T. Cordifolia ; caule erecto, ramisque patulis glabris ; foliis petiolatis, cor- 

 dato-ovatis, inciso serratis, supra parce pilosis, subtus glabris ; pe- 

 dunculis unifloris, sub-umbellatis. 



Torenia cordifolia, Roxb. Corom. PI. 2. 32. fig. 161. Ibid. Fl. Indie. 3. 95. 

 Pers. Synops. 2, 167- Benth. Scroph. 



Corosinam, Rheed. Mai. 9. t. 68. 



DESCB.IPTION. — Root annual. Stem (4-8 inches high) erect, square, acute 

 angled, or slightly winged, green, with spreading cilise on the angles ; 

 branches opposite, decussating, spreading wide, resembling the stem. 

 Lea/ces petiolate, cordato-ovate, simply inciso-serrate, bright green, and 

 distantly hairy above, paler and glabrous below, where the midrib, 

 and oblique, little divided veins are prominent, but channelled above. 

 Petioles channelled above, ciliated, shorter than the leaves. Peduncle 

 at first about as long as the petiole, afterwards elongated, exceeding 

 the leaves, 4-sided and ciliated, resembling the branches. Flowers sub- 

 umbellate at the extremity of the branches, arising from the axils of 

 leaves, which are crowded, resembling in effect an involucre. Calyx 

 bilabiate, the upper lip 3-toothed, the lower more deeply bifid, teeth 

 acute, green, ovate, with five ciliated wings, the upper wing only not 

 being produced in form of an acute angle along the peduncle, teeth 

 acute. Corolla pale lilac, one-third longer than the calyx ; tube clavate, 

 slightly curved downwards, glabrous ; limb bilabiate, spreading, the 

 upper lip crenate, slightly emarginate, the lower tripartite, the lobes 

 rounded. Stamens four, didynamous, shorter than the upper lip ; fila- 

 ments arched laterally ; anther-lobes divaricating. Pistil as long as the 

 longer stamens ; stigma bilabiate, lobes spreading, hairy upon their inner 

 surface ; style compressed, enlarging upwards, germen green ovato- 

 conical, furrowed on each side, placed on a small thin light coloured 

 disk, which is broadest on the upper side ; ovules very numerous, fixed 

 to large central placenta). Capsule bivalvular, bilocular, shorter than 

 the persisting calyx, with which it is covered. 

 This little annual, which, as we learn from Roxburgh, is a rare native of 

 the moist pastures about Samulcottah, in the northern Circars, flower- 

 ing in the dry season, blossomed in the stove of the Royal Botanic 

 G«urden, Edinburgh, in October and beginning of November 1838. We 

 received the seeds from my friend Dr Falconer at Saharunpoor, but 

 whether collected in that neighbourhood I cannot say j if so, it has a 

 wider geographical range than was supposed. 



