NAT. ORDER. 



Scitaminea. 



STRELITZIA REGIN^. LANA-LEAVED STRELITZIA. 



Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Cahjx, superior. Corolla, irre^lar and tubular. Petals, 

 three. 



Spc. Char. Ovarium, three-celled. Fruit, capsular. Seeds, round, 

 without arillus. 



This is a g-enus affording a plant of the herbaceous^ exotic, peren- 

 nial kind. The calyx is a universal spathe, terminating-, one-leafed, 

 channelled, acuminate, from spreading- declining, many-flowered, in- 

 volving the base of the flowers ; partial spathes lanceolate, shorter than 

 the flowers ; perianth none ; the corolla is irregular ; j)^^^^^^ three, 

 lanceolate, acute, the lowest boat-shaped, the two upper bluntly keeled ; 

 nectary three-leaved ; the two lower leajlets a little shorter than the 

 petals, from a broad base awl-shaped, waved at the edges, folded to- 

 gether, including the genitals, towards the tip, behind augmented with 

 a thick appendix, in form of half an arrow-head ; the lowest leaflet 

 short, ovate, compressed, keeled ; the stamens have five filaments, fili- 

 form, placed on the receptacle ; three in one leaflet of the nectary, two 

 with the stile enclosed in the other leaflet ; anthers linear, erect, com- 

 monly longer than the filaments, included ; the pistil is an inferior 

 germ, oblong, obtusely three-cornered ; style filiform, the length of the 

 stamens ; stigmas three, awl-shaped, higher than the petals, erect, at 

 the beginning of the flowering time glued together ; the pericarp is a 

 subcoriaceous capsule, oblong, obtuse, indistinctly three-cornered, three- 

 celled, three-valved ; the seeds are numerous, and adhering in a double 

 row to the central receptacle. 



Vol. hi.— 138. 



