Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants. 371 



Combretum grandiflorum. 



C. grandiflwum ; inerme scandens ; folils oppositis breve petiolatis, ob- 



longo-subcordatis, acuniinatis, integerrimis, utrinque ramulisque parco 



hirsutis; spicis secundis, axillarihus terminalibusque ; bracteis ovalia, 



' acutis; Horibus 5-petalis, lO-andris, erectis, confertis, calycibus sub- 



glabris, staminibus inclusis. 

 Combretum grandiflorum, G. Don, in Edin. Phil. Journal, 1824, p. 346. 



— Z)e Cand. Prodr. 3. 21 Dot. Mag. t. 2944. 



Description.— AVint6 low, somewhat climbing, unarmed. Branches long, 

 slender, pendulous, their extremities covered with very short tomen- 

 tum, mixed with longer hairs. Leaves (5 inches long, 24 broad) oppo- 

 site, bright green, paler below, tinged red when young, shortly petioled, 

 oblong, occasionally cordate at the base, acuminate, sparingly pubescent 

 on both sides, entire; middle rib and veins with their reticumted branches 

 prominent behind, and more abundantly covered than the leaves, espe- 

 cially in the angles which the veins form with the middle rib, with yel- 

 low hairs ; petiole pubescent, woody at its base. Spikes axillary and 

 terminal, half the length of the leaves, bracteate. Bractea ovate, acute, 

 entire, pubescent, veined, deciduous. Pedicels very short. Flowers se- 

 cund, reflected upon the peduncle, and therefore erect, as the branches 

 are pendulous. Calyx (9 lines long) funnel-shaped, superior, 5-cleft, 

 slightly pubescent, 5-nerved, veined, herbaceous, thickenwl at the lower 

 part of the tube, where on the inside it is brown ; segments acute, ci- 

 liated. Petah 5 (74 lines long, 2\ broad) spathulate, vermilion^oloured, 

 connivent, carinate, veined, alternate with the segments of the calyx 

 and inserted into the bottom of its fissures. Stamens 10, about equal in 

 length to the petals ; filaments arising from slightly dilated bases, alter- 

 nately opposite to the petals and segments of the calyx, the former five 

 immediately below the insertion of the petals, the latter somewhat lower, 

 very slightly tapering; anthers versatile, yellow, notched at their lower 

 part, lobes bursting along the edges. Pistil single ; stigma minute, ter- 

 minal; style green, longer than the petals, glabrous, slightly compressed, 

 tapering at the apex, adhering to one side of the calyx at its base ; ger- 

 men inferior, slender, resembling a peduncle, green, 5-angled, slightly 

 pubescent, unilocular ; ovules three, suspended from the apex of the ger- 

 men by long funiculi, which cohere for a little way, nucleus inverted. 

 This plant was discovered by Mr George Don when at Sierra Leone, grow- 

 ing plentifully near Free Town, on the road to Congo Town. It flower- 

 ed for the first tiiue in Scotland in the stove of his Grace the Duke of 

 Buccleuch at Dalkeith, in December last, and continued to expand its 

 blossoms in succession during six weeks, producing in that time above 

 100 splendid clusters. 

 "Where there is taste to admire the works of Nature, combined with 

 the ]X)wer of gratifying that taste — where wealth is only valued in its 

 enjoyment, and its enjoyment felt in doing good — I cannot fear tliat the 

 support given to what is considered a characteristic employment of Scots- 

 men, will be measured parsimoniously. It is impossible to doubt, that 

 the new energy infused into the horiicultural department at Dalkeith, 

 will be farther extended to introduce into our country many of the un- 

 seen beauties of little known regions, and that we shall not long have 

 to say, that all the i)rivate establishments which in this way have em- 

 bellished our gardens, ir advanced our knowledge of botany, are to be 

 found at the southern extremity of our island. I take great jileasure in 

 acknowledging the vast obligations I owe to the Countess of Dalhousie, 

 for the numberless additions made to my herbarium from Canada and 

 from India; and I rejoice in I he expectation that botany will receive 

 support from another noble patroness in this neighbourhood. Of the 

 specimens received from Lady Dalhousie, many of them are undescribed, 

 and all are preserved with an unrivalled degree of excellence. With a 

 kindness characteristic of her Ladyship, she has, at my request, confeiTed 



A a2 



