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 TORENIA ASIATICA, 



Asiatic Torenia. 

 Cfoss— Didynamia. Order — Angiosperma. Natural Order — Sceophulaiuaceve. 



This lovely plant when first introduced was supposed to require stove treatment, and 

 had this proved to he the case, the present number of our little work would have been 

 deprived of one of its most attractive features. Fortunately for us, although the plant 

 undoubtedly needs a warm atmosphere in the winter season, it will, during the summer 

 months, bear a considerable reduction of temperature below that originally believed 

 to be necessary for its healthy condition, growing luxuriantly in the green-house, or the 

 window of an ordinary apartment, and, under certain conditions, in the open air. 



As its specific name implies, it is a native of Asia, ' growing throughout Bengal, in 

 Amboyna, Ceylon, Merqui, Chittagong, Sylhet, on the Madras Peninsula, and it is also 

 widely diffused in alpine regions.' By some writers' it is said to be an annual plant, 

 but as it may certainly be preserved, in a proper temperature, one winter at least, this 

 designation can hardly be correct ; neither can it be called a perennial, as we believe, 

 however warmly nursed, it rarely survives the second winter ; we think therefore it may, 

 with more propriety, be termed biennial. 



Its pale-green serrated foliage is not devoid of interest, but its chief attraction resides 

 in its charming violet flowers, which are produced profusely through the summer months, 

 up to a very late period. 



The pencil of the most skilful artist is inadequate to imitate successfully, (for, ' who 

 can paint like nature?') the rich velvet purple of the blotches on the two lateral and 

 lower lobes of the corolla, which is most intense in the earlier stages of the flower's 

 expansion, losing a little of its depth by exposure to strong sunshine. 



The young botanist will be interested in observing the stamens, which, as in nearly 

 all the Figworts, to which order our plant belongs, are didynamous, or in two pairs, 

 one of which is considerably longer than the other ; in both pairs, the filaments are so 

 curved as to bring into contact the one-celled anthers, which adhere closely to each other ; 

 and at the base of the two longest stamens will be found an appendage, differing but 

 in length from the filament itself, and which is one of the distinguishing marks of 

 the genus Torenia. The two-lipped stigma, indicative of the two-celled seed vessel, 

 appears to be sensitive to the touch, and closes when irritated, resembling in this 

 respect, most of the species of Mimulus, a genus belonging to the same order. Many of 

 the Figworts have round stems : but in Torenia, this is four-angled, as in Scrophularia, 

 Mimulus alatus, and some of the mulleins. 



