18 THE PURPLE GESNERA. 
respects, but its flowers have a rich deep rose-colour, relieved by the characteristic spots of ©. Douglasii, 
and the leaves are deeply heart-shaped, which never happens in the latter species; scarcely even in 
the beautiful verticillate form figured by Sir William Hooker in the Botanical Magazine. 
But what is the history of this G. purpurea? It has the tender constitution and the general aspect 
of the tuberous stove plants with which it is associated ; requiring the very same cultivation as they 
do. ‘Travellers and botanists appear, however, to have been alike unacquainted with it in a wild 
state. Its introduction is unknown. The name which it bears seems confined to gardens, never 
having been registered in works of science. For these reasons we venture to suspect it to be a 
mere hybrid, produced perhaps between G. Douglasi? and G. discolor. At all events it is one of the 
most striking of the noble race to which it belongs. 
