Plate 380. 

 TAPEINOTES CAROLINiE. 



The family to which this boautiful stove ])\ant belonpjs 

 furnishers perhaps as large a iinniber of really handsome and 

 valuable decorative plants as any in the whoh^ ran<j:e of flower- 

 ing plants. "Whether we consider those which are cultivated 

 in the stove, greenhouse, or open air, the Gesneriaceous plants 

 contribute largely to our enjoyment, and this, one of the latest 

 additions to our stoves, fully bears out the statement we have 

 made. 



We saw it in flower this season in the establishment of Mr. 

 W. Bull, of Chelsea, and through his kindness we have been 

 enabled to figure it. It has already been figured in the 

 'Botanical Magazine' (tab. .5023), and from that source we 

 extract the following description : — " It was discovered in 

 Mexico during the Brazilian travels of his present IVIajesty, 

 Maximilian I., in lS.")9-60, and was introduced into the Impe- 

 rial garden of Schonbrunn (Vienna), and published by Dr. 

 Heinrich Wawra, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon 

 and naturalist. It bears the name of the Empress of Mexico 

 (Charlotte)." 



From the botanical description, we learn that "it is a small 

 undershrub ; stem and branches red-brown, rather succulent, 

 leaves curved towards the end of the branches, dark bluish- 

 green above, and shining, bright red-purple and hairy below. 

 Corolla an inch and a lialf long, white ; tube curved upwards, 

 inflated and gibbous below, bulbous with long hairs, mouth 

 contracted ; lobes short, broad, rounded, glabrous." We would 

 add to this that the metallic lustre on the surfixce of the leaves 

 is very decided, and that in the young growth there is a 



