ISa Dr Giahanrs Lht of' Rare Plants. 



Descbiption Root annuaL Stem erect (in native specimens 3 feet high), 



4-sided, somewhat hairy towards its base, in the specimen described 

 simple, native specimens sparingly branched towards the top. Minute 

 leaves said to be occasionally observed, the only substitutes which I have 

 seen are small scales, screen, somewhat fleshy, ovate, below reflected and 

 hairv, higher up subappressed and smooth, opjxjsile and decussating. 

 Flowers in terminal spicale racemes on the stem and branches, suboppo- 

 site and decussating like the scales, from the axils of which (now reduced 

 to extremely minute subulate bracteae) they spring. Pedicels erect or 

 slightly arched outwards, glabrous, enlarging a little towards the campa- 

 nulate^ o-labrous, 5-toothed, persisting Calyx. Corolla (half an inch long, 

 halt an Inch across) rose-coloured, except in its short n;rrow tube, which 

 iij nearly colourless; above this campanulate, gibbous, and longest on its 

 lower side, and there slightly spotted within ; limb 5-lobed, lobes rounded, 

 entire, veined, ciliated, the lowest the narrowest, two upper ones woolly 

 within at the faux. Stamens included, inserted into the tube of the co- 

 ' rolia, filaments very unequal in length, spreading in the middle, con- 

 verging at the apex, where the two longest meet. Anthers yellow, green- 

 ish alone the edges, oblong, lobes pointed at both extremities, slightly 

 divaricated at the lower, connective slightly pointed at the ajjex between 

 the lobes ; pollen granules pale yellow, very minute, oblong. PMil in- 

 cluded ; stigma blunt, lobes cohering, the lowest the longest ; style pass, 

 ing through the woolly linnig of tlie upjier part of the corolla, and 

 stretching a little beyond the stamens, slightly hairy, flattened towards 

 the stigma ; germen globular, green, shining, placed upon a small disk 

 of darker green, bilocular; ovules very numerous, placed upon the cen- 

 tral placentae. 



This very pretty plant came up in soil in which Mr Cunningham had im- 

 ported'from North America plants of Dionaa muscipula, and flowered in 

 the stove at Comely Bank in Novembei, the first time, I believe, in 

 Britain. The geographical distribution of the species is said by Nuttall 

 to be from North Carolina to Florida. I have excellent specimens from 

 Alabama, communicated by my kind friend Dr Torrey of New York. 



liidigoi'era violacea. 



I. violacea ; fruticosa ; foliolis 6-,jugis, oblongis ; racemis axillaribus folio 



demidio brevioribus ; leguminibus strictis, subcylindraceis, glabris, 



C-10-spermis Roxb. 



Indigofera violacea, Roxb. Fl. Indica, 3. 380— Bot. Mag. 3348. 

 Description. — Shrub (with us 5 feet high) erect, branches suberect, round, 

 pubescent when young, bark brown, with straight, slightly prominent 

 continuous longitudmal lines, slightly warted on the older branches. 

 Leaver (2^ inches long) pinnated, leaflets in five pairs, obovato-ellipticaJ, 

 flat, slightly pubescent on both sides, the hairs, as most commonly in the 

 genus, fixed bv the middle and adpressed, rufous upon the young leaves 

 and on the extremities of the twigs. Stipules and stipellules bristle-like, 

 hairy, marcescent, the former spreading, the latter erect. Racemes axil- 

 larv, longer than the leaves; flowers 12-20, continued nearly to the 

 bottom of the pubescent peduncle ; pedicels nearly twice as long as the 

 concave-subulate deciduous bracteae, tiom the axils of which they spring. 

 Calyx rather shorter than the pedicel, pubescent, rotate, 6-toothed, the 

 lowest tooth the longest, the two upper distant. Corolla large and hand- 

 some, nectariferous at the base ; vexillum erect, elliptical, concave, with 

 a white slightly striated spot ou the inside near its base, above whidi it 

 is reddish-purple, passing into lilac, and becoming gradually paler up- 

 wards, nearly sessile, and somewhat callous at its insertion into the ca- 

 lyx ; aliB scarcely shorter than the vexillum, of a bright deep rose co- 

 lour, spread out horizontally in the centre of the flower, the upper (inner) 

 edges being straight and in contact, the lower (outer) edges hatchet- 

 shaped, attenuated downwai-ds, swollen at the base, and there slightly 

 hairv and gibbous on the outer and upper sides, its short tooth-like claw 



