GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA 
1. Aristolochia picta. Karsten. From the Caraccas. A curious and rather 
handsome stove twiner, belonging to the Natural order of Birth worts. In the 
nursery of Mr. Yan Houtte of Ghent. (Fig. 1.) 
A smooth twining plant, with deeply cordate acute leaves, and purple tessellated flowers, whose 
limb is 3 inches long, and terminated by a short tail. In the centre, leading to the throat, is a rich 
spot of a golden colour. * This Birthwort requires all the heat and light which the sun can give it ; 
in its own tropical plains it is exposed to extreme atmospheric vicissitudes, for in the day the 
earth in which it grows is heated to 167° Fahr.; while at night, under a cloudless sky, radiation and 
evaporation lower the temperature of the surrounding air to 59°. But these variations are little 
felt by the roots, which are plunged in a soil covered with dead leaves, &c, which check both solar 
heat and nocturnal cold. And thus its roots are exposed to a warmth which is not onlv more 
less 
cal 
air is surcharged. Thus, at Puerto Caballo, on a wet day (December 4), at 1 
in the evening, I found the temperature of rain-water to be 78° 25, while that of the air 
was only 74° 80. Observe, I had previously remarked it to be 77° 25 R for rain-water, 
and only 76° 80 for the air ; and what is more, on the next day (Dec. 5), after a whole 
night of rain, at half-past 8 in the evening, I found the rain-water still at 75° 37, 
past 
air marked 
Van Houtte 9 s Flora, v. t. 521. 
2. Oncidium hastatt m (alias Odontoglossum phyllochilum. 
