24 



* MINA lobata. 

 Lobe-leaved Mina. 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. Ord. CONVOLVULACEiE. 



MINA, Llave ^ Lexarza. Calyx brevis, nudus. Corolla hypocrateri- 

 formis, tubo brevi intruso, limbo campanulato pentagono ventricoso margine 

 5-lobo. Stamina insequalia, tubo inserta, exserta. Ovarium 4-loculare ; 



ovulis solitariis ; stigma capitatum. lA.exhSi Mexicana, subvolubilis ; racemis 



furcatis ; floribus secundis erectis. 



Mina lobata. La Llaoe ^ Lexarza nov. veg. descr. 1. ^j. 3. 



It is not a little singular that this beautiful plant, culti- 

 vated by the Mexicans for purposes of decoration, and 

 therefore one would imagine common, should have never 

 reached Europe till last year, when a packet of seeds, pre- 

 sented to the Earl of Burlington by Geo. Frederick Dickson, 

 Esq., produced it in the gardens at Holker. It was after- 

 wards given to the Horticultural Society by his Lordship, 

 but, being an annual, it perished, having only produced two 

 seeds, which we fear were imperfectly ripened. They have 

 been sown, and if it is possible to get them to grow, the 

 species may yet be preserved, and it will doubtless be easily 

 multiplied by cuttings in the early part of the year. 



Take away the flowers of this curious plant, and no one 

 would suspect it to be anything more than some common 

 Ipomsea ; but remove the leaves, and it loses all appearance of 

 the Convolvulaceous order, so unusual is it among such plants 

 to have racemose flowers, erect, and arranged almost in the 

 scorpioid manner of a Borage, to say nothing of the uncom- 

 mon form of the corolla, and its peculiar colour, at first rich 



* Named after Don Francisco Xavier Mina, a Mexican minister. 



K. 



