154 . THE BELL-FLOWERED SPATHODEA. 
In the Niger Flora Mr. Bentham speaks of the plant thus :— 
“Although the descriptions differ in several points, there is every reason to conclude that 
Beauvois’ and Thonning's plants belong to one species. Beauvois’ characters are generally drawn 
up from mere fragments, his drawings made on the spot of this and other plants having been 
destroyed by fire at St. Domingo, and he is very likely to have committed the mistake of describing 
the leaves as alternate instead of opposite. The corollas in Ansell’s specimens are fully as large as 
that figured by Beauvois ; those which are well dried, are even larger; Thonning says they are as 
large as the largest tulips. The leaflets in Ansell’s plant are rather broader than in Beauvois'; 
they are covered on the underside with a minute tomentum, which is scarcely perceptible in the 
older leaves; they are also marked on the same side with innumerable small black dots, only visible 
under a lens. Thonning’s detailed description is very accurate.” 
We believe the introduction of this plant to our gardens is owing to Mr. Whitfield, well known 
as an indefatigable collector of objects of natural history in Tropical Western Africa. 
