1386 



CUPHEA* Llavea. 

 Me(vican Two-petalled Cuphea. 



DODECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Salicari^e Juss. {Introduction to the natural system of 

 Botany, p. 59.) 



CUP HE A. —Supra, vol. 3. fol. 182. 



§2. LoNGiFLOR^, caulibus herhaceis aut vix suffruticosis, Jioribus 

 alaribus fere, racemoso-spicatis, calycibus lonyk tubulosis basi fere cal- 

 caratis nee tantum gibbosis, petalis minimis aut nullis. — Dec. prodr. 

 3. 84. 

 C. Llavea ; caulibus plurimis hispidulis, ramis ascendentibus, foliis subses- 

 silibus ovato-lanceolatis strigosis, pedicellis interfoliaceis erectis, petalis 

 2 obovatis magnis, cseteris abortivis, staminibus 11. — Dec. I. c. p. 85, 

 no. 13. 

 C. Llavea. La Llave et Lexarsa novorum vegetabilium descriptiones fasc. 

 l.p. 20. 



Herbacea, perennis ; caules plurimi, erecti, teretes, tactu scabi'iusculi, 

 sesquipedales. Folia opposita, ovato-lanceolata, integerrima, utrinque acu- 

 minata, scabra. Racemi breves, pauciflorce, interpetiolares, ereetce. Calyx 

 villosus, viridis, basi gibbosus, apice obliquus, purpureus, 6-dentatus, ijiflatus. 

 Petala duo oblonga, atropurpurea, undulata, unguiculata ; 4 minima nunc 

 defcientia. Stamina s«p?£^s undena, nunc duodena, flamentis pilosis, longiori- 

 hus exsertis. 



A native of the mountains of central Mexico, in the 

 neighbourhood of Valladolid, the capital of the province of 

 Mechoacan, where it w^as originally discovered by La Llave, 

 flowering in March and April. It was introduced to this 

 country by Mr. Ackermann, who presented its seeds to 

 Mr. Tate, in whose Nursery it flowered in August last. 

 It is a herbaceous plant, scarcely hardy enough to bear 



* So named from xy<poj, curved, or swelled ; in allusion to the pro- 

 tuberance at the base of the calyx. 



