308 XEW PLAXTS, ETC., FROM THE SOCIETY'S GAKDEN. 



cuttings. The seed was only sown on the I7th of May, 1845, 

 and the plant was in flower by the end of July, 1846. 



Sept. 11, 1846. 



57. Batatas Jalapa. Choisy Conv. rar. p. 125. De Cand, 

 Prodr., 9, 388. 



Sent to the Society from Mexico by Mr. Hugo Finck. 



A perennial plant with a great tuberous root, v^hich appears to 

 be one of the kinds of jalap used in medicine. It was introduced 

 in the time of Miller, but has been long lost to our gardens, and 

 is well figured in the ' Botanical Register,' t. 621, The leaves 

 are deep green, white with wool underneath, very much wrinkled 

 on the upper side, and wavy, but never lobed. The calyx is per- 

 fectly smooth, and the corolla, of a rich rose colour, is between 

 2 and 3 inches long. The ovary is two-celled, with two ovules 

 in each cell. 



This is certainly a very distinct plant from the Ipomoea ma- 

 crorhiza of Michaux, which has been confounded with it by all 

 botanists, and whose root, which weighs it is said fifty or sixty 

 pounds, is eatable ; for that species has deeply-lobed leaves and 

 a hairy calyx. 



Its cultivation is very easy, for it grows freely in any good 

 garden soil, and strikes readily from cuttings. It is a climbing 

 plant like the Convolvulus, and requires a trellis on which it can 

 be trained and its flowers shown to advantage. Water should 

 be liberally supplied during the growing season, but the roots 

 must be kept rather dry in winter, when the plant is in a resting 

 state. 



The large rose-coloured flowers of this species are very hand- 

 some, and as its habit is good it is well worthy of being again 

 introduced to our gardens. 



Aug. 26, 1846. 



