portlanwa HOItTUS JAMAICT.NSIS. 91 



No English Nqvie. TOttTI ANDIA. 



Cl. 5, or. \:~Paitandria mdnogynta. NaT. on. Ilubacefc. 

 This was so named by Dr. -P. Browne after tiu Dutchess of Portland, who was a'grea*' 

 lover of botany, and well acquainted with English plants. 



Gen. char. Calyx a five-leaved perianth, superior; leaflets olAong, lanceolate, 

 permanent ; corolla one-petaled ; tube long, funnel forni-veiuricose; border 

 shorter than the tube, five-parted, acute'-; stamens five awl-shaped declined fila- 

 ments, almost the length of the corolla, from the bottom of the tube; anthers 

 linear, erect, very long ; the pistil has a five-cornered, roundish, inferior, germ ; 

 style simple, the length ojf "the stamens ; stigma oblong, obtuse; the pericarp a 1 

 ob-ovate capsule, five-streaked, live-cornered, retuse, two-celled, two-valved, 

 opening at the top ; partition contrary ; seeds very many, roundish, compressed, 

 imbricate. Two species are natives of Jamaica. 



1. GRANDIFLORA. GREAT-TLO'vVERE'i). 



Foliis majoribus nitidis ovalis-oppositis, Jiuribus amplissiihis. 'Browne, 

 p. 164, t. 11. 



Flowers pentandrous ; leaves lanceolate-elliptic. 



Stem shrubby, upright, branched, knotty, with a smooth bark, cracking longitudi- 



'nally; branches opposite, spreading, round, scarcely divided, leafy, covered with 

 smooth greeti bark; buds- gummy. Leaves opposite, spreading, somewhat lengthened! 

 at the point, equal at the base, entire, very smooth, paler beneath, marke I with al- 

 ternate veins, projecting on both sides; footstalks very short, thick, round below, but 



flat tish above ; stipules between the leaves connate, triangular, pointed, very smooth, 

 pale, closely pressed to the branch. Flowers axillary, mostly solitary, between the 

 stipules, ptduncled, a little nodding, very large, white, beautiful, most fragrant at 

 night, in the bud yellowish, tipped with red ; peduncles shortish, round, smooth; no 

 bractes. Calycine leaflets ovate, pointed, a little curved backwards, keeled at the 



base, reddish towards the top. Tube of the corolla with live sharp downy angles, in- 

 flated at the top; limb in five nearly equal somewhat triangular segments, margins 

 spreading, at length revolute; filaments on the germ, scarcely so long as the tube, 

 downy p.t the base ; anthers very long, vertical, straight; germ smooth ; style a little 

 longer than the stamens, declined, spiral, angular; stigma at length trifid ; segments 

 revolute. ''Smith. Capsule sub-turbinate, crowned with the leaflets of the calyx, 

 spreading very much, coriaceous, unequally five-cornered, ribbed at the corners; par- 

 tition thin. Seeds elliptical thickish, fiat on both sides, having raised dots scattered 



' over them, rufescent, horizontal, with an umbilicus before they are fully ripe, fleshy, 

 white, of a sharp pointed pyramidal form, fastened to the partition. Gartner. 

 Browne, who gives an excellent figure of this plant, observes that it grows chiefly at 

 the foot of the mountains, thriving luxuriantly among rocks, shooting generally to the 

 height of eight or nine feet, but seldom exceeding two or three inches in diameter, 

 covered with a thick furrowed bark. This plant has frequently flowered in the English 

 gardens. Dr. Wright says the external bark has no taste. The inner is very thin and 

 of a dark brown colour, and bitter astringent taste, and possessing virtues similar to 

 the Jesuit's bark. Infused in spirits of wine, with a little orange peel, he recommends 

 it as an excellent stomachic tincture. 



M 2 2. COCCINEA, 



