16 



GESNERA zebrina, 



TJie Zebra Gesnera. 



DIDYNAMIA ANOIOSPERMIA. 



Nat. ord. Gesnerace^e. 



GESNERA. Botanical Register, vol.4.fol. 343. 



G, zehrina ; molliter tomentosa, herbacea, foliis oppositis subrotundis cor- 

 datis subundulatis secus costas discoloribus, raccmo miiltifloro subco- 

 rymboso pcdunculis inferioribus quam flores duplo longioribus, bracteis 

 linearibus involutis, corollis ventricosis bilabiatis laciniis subsequalibus 

 rotundatis erectis, disco annulari 5-dentato. 



G. zebrina. Paxton^s Magazine of Botany, vol. 8. no. 96. 



Whether in leaf or flower this is a plant of striking beauty. 

 Its leaves are soft with down, broad and beautifully stained 

 with purple in the direction of the principal ribs, so as to have 

 the banded appearance which has given rise to the name. 

 The flowers, scarcely less than an inch and half long, hang- 

 gracefully at the end of long slender stalks, and are of the 

 richest scarlet and yellow, variegated with crimson spots. 



Nothing in the foreign books within my reach is to be 

 found which at all answers to the peculiar characters of the 

 species, whose name, introduced from the continent, may well 

 be retained. 



Although no doubt an inhabitant of the hotter parts of 

 South America, yet there seems to be no evidence of its pre- 

 cise locality. According to Mr. Paxton it was introduced by 

 Messrs. Low and Co. of Clapton, from the Botanic Garden of 

 Ghent ; the specimen here figured was communicated by 

 Messrs. Veitch and Son, of Exeter. 



Little is yet known of its habits. It does well in a damp 

 stove when kept rather cooler than those houses generally 

 are, and produces a succession of flowers for many months in 



