A sufFruticose plant, about 3 feet high, with erect, 

 branching, purple stems, which are slightly downy all over, 

 but more so upon two of their sides than elsewhere. Leaves 

 small for so large a plant, and compared witii those of 

 many other species, generally stained with dingy purple, 

 ovate, simply serrated, or rather crenate, entire at the base, 

 slightly pubescent on each side. Flowers bright purple, 

 very handsome, about an inch long, including the calyx. 



This begins to flower in July, and continues in beauty 

 till October : its flowers are not so shewy as those of 

 S; fulgens and splendens ; but the richness of their purple, 

 and their constant succession, amply compensate for infe- 

 riority of size. It should be planted out in the open 

 border in May, and transferred to the greenhouse at the 

 approach of frost; or if cuttings, by which it increases 

 freely, are struck in the autumn, as a provision for another 

 year, the old plant may be abandoned to its fate. 



Our drawing was made in the Garden of the Horticul- 

 tural Society, where it had been named by Mr. Benthani 

 in compliment to the gentleman by whom it was discovered 

 and introduced. 



The upper and under surfaces of the leaf of this species 

 abound with spherical particles of concrete oily matter 

 lying in depressions of the surface. We cannot, however, 

 discover that they are secreted in sacs within the tissue of 

 the leaf, or that there is any peculiar provision for their 

 elaboration. The only remarkable circumstance that we 

 have observed connected with them is, that each spherule, 

 when placed in water and slightly bruised, discharges an 

 inconceivable quantity of active molecules. 



J. L. 



