1238 



RUELLIA* Sabiniana. 

 Mr. Sabine's Ruellia. 



DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. 



Nat. ord. AcanthacejE. 

 RUELLIA. — Suprd, vol 7. foL 585. 



R. Sabiniana ; foliis ovato-lanceolatis denticulatis glabris subtus discoloribus, 

 bracteis cuneatis glandulosis retusis coroUis ventricosis 4-pl6 brevioribus. 

 R. Sabiniana. Wallich MSS. 



Caulis suffruticosus, 2-3 pedalis, ramosus, geniculatus, quadratus, ad 

 nodos tumidus, subpurpureus. Folia subsessilia, ovato-lanceolata, acuminata, 

 denticulata, glabra, subtus discolora. Spicse terminales et axillares, multi- 

 florcB, semipedales. Bracte?e foliacece, persistejites, cuneatce,retuscB, glandu- 

 loscE, purpurascentes. Flores solitarii. Calyx 5-Jidus, basi d. tergo bi-brac~ 

 teolatus, laciniis subcequalibus, foliaceis, purpurascentibus, glandulosis, tubo 

 brevi jmllido, snbeglanduloso. Corolla magnce , lilacincB, ventricoscB, venoscB, 

 bracteis quadruplo longiores. 



This extremely beautiful flower, which will probably 

 become one of the choicest ornaments of our Hothouses, 

 has been named by Dr. Wallich in compliment to Joseph 

 Sabine, Esq., F.R.S., &c. &c., the indefatigable Secretary 

 of the Horticultural Society. It is a native of the Pundica 

 Mountains, bordering on the district of Sylhet, whence it 

 was introduced to the Botanical Garden, Calcutta, in 1824; 

 but up to 1828 it had not flowered there. 



The leaves when young are of a deep purple on their 



* Jean Ruelle, after whom this genus has been named, was a French 

 Botanist, born at Soissons in 1474, and died in 1537. He was at one time 

 physician to Francis I., but afterwards abandoned medicine, and became a 

 priest. In 1529, he published a good translation of Dioscorides; and in 

 1536, a work, Dc Naturd Stirpirim, which is chiefly remarkable as the first 

 attempt to reduce into order the nomenclature of Botany ; it was, in fact, the 

 first introduction to Botany : that by Fuchsius, his contemporary, to his 

 Historia Stirpium, in 1542, was the second. 



