180 Dr Graham's Description of' New o?- Rare Plants. 



gatis, erectis, corolla calycem acutum excedente, laciniis linearibus. 



retusis, foliis supra sub-pubescentibus, linearibus, acutis, apice sub- 



dentatis. 

 Description — Plant caespitose. Leaves all radical, linear or spathulato- 

 linear, acute, generally with a few teeth near the apex, somewhat fleshy, 

 veinless, concave above, middle rib somewhat prominent below. Scape 

 (7^ lines long) erect. Umbel about 6-flowered. Involucre segments 

 ovate-acute. Pedicels (1 inch long) longer than the scape, and, like it, 

 filiform, erect. Calyx 5-cleft,' segments ovate, acute, spreading a little, 

 resembling the involucre, and equal to it in size, reddish, as well as the 

 pedicels scape and upper part of the leaves minutely and indistinctly 

 pubescent : pubescence most distinct on the leaves, and decreasing up- 

 wards. Corolla longer than the calyx. 5-cleft, red when opening from 

 the bud, but soon becoming white, yellow in the throat, segments linear, 

 retuse ; tube ovate, greenish, 5-nerved. Stamens included ; anthers pale 

 yellow, cordate, notched at the apex ; filaments equal in Isngth to the 

 anthers. Stigma capitate, reaching to the base of the anther. Style fili- 

 form. Germen top-shaped, green, 5-valved. Ovules about 10. 

 This species was raised in the Royal Botanic Garden from seeds presented 

 by Mr Drumrnond. It flowered freely in April, IVIay and June, and 

 is chiefly interesting as extending a genus which has been hitherto be- 

 lieved to be of rare occurrence in America. Nuttall and Pursh describe 

 only one, A. occidentalis ; but we have alive in the Edinburgh Garden 

 three other species, from the kindness of our enterprising countrj'men 

 who have within these few years visited the Arctic shores of America. 

 These are the two now described, and A.septenfrionalis, which differs only 

 from European specimens in being smoother, and more entire in the 

 leaves. 



Begonia scmpei-florens. 



B. semperfiorens ; caule herbaceo erecto glabro flexuoso, foliis subaequa- 

 liter ovato-cordatis, subacutis, cucuUatis, glabris, serratis, setaceis ; sti- 

 pulis ovatis ciliatis ; capsula alis inaequalibus, duabus acutis, tertia 

 obtusa. 

 Begonia semperflorens, Locld. Bot. Cab. t. 1439. 



Description Stetn herbaceous, succulent, erect, branched, flexuose, 



reddish or green, slightly marked with oblong red spots. Leaves »3 

 inches long, by 2^ broad) petioled, subequaUy cordato-ovate, subacute, 

 cucullate, green, glabrous and shining on both sides, dotted above, paler 

 below, serrated, and serratures acute and crowded at the base, more 

 sparse and blunter above, each terndnated with a bristle. Petiole (2 

 inches long in the lower leaves, generally much shorter in the upper,) 

 channelled above, often stained bright red at its origin, and at its 

 termination in the leaf, the stain at its origin generally passing round 

 the stem at the insertion of the stipul*-. SlipulcB geminate, ovate, 

 large, ciliated, erect and apjdied to the stem, submarcescent. Peduncles 

 axillary and terminal, longer than the petiols, slightly compressed, erect, 

 glabrous, shining, dichotonious. Flwvers monoecious. Corolla spread- 

 ing, white : male, large, tetrapetalous, two of the ])etals subrotund (74 

 lines broad), two others rather shorter, narrow, and spathulate, as 

 long as the pedicel ; stamens scarcely monadelphous : female smaller, 

 with three small marceseent bractese at the base, tetrapetalous, petals 

 subequal ; sli;/mus three, each cleft to its base, and segments screw-like, 

 yellow. Germen imequally winged, the largest and one of the other 

 wings acute, the third rounded. Biparted receptacle of the seeds in 

 each of the three loculaments of the germen of bright green. Ovules 

 very small, very numerous, and white. 



Seeds of this species were received from M. Otto at Berlin under the name 

 of B. setaria. It has reached this country under other names, and with 

 one of these, B. semperflorens. it has been published in the Botanical Ca- 



