100 TACSONIA MANICATA. 



that so many plants perish in winter, which, with proper care, might he preserved 

 many years. 



In their hahit of growth, the Tacsonias resemble very closely the common 

 Passion-flowers, being, like most of them, of vigorous growth, the shoots extending 

 ten or twenty feet in a season, according to the age of the plant. 



The resemblance between the two genera, is indeed carried so far, that some of 

 the most acute Botanists of the present day are unable to give the precise grounds 

 for the separation of the Tacsonias from the true Passion Flowers. 



This leads us to the botanical structure of the plants of this order, which is too 

 remarkable to allow of being passed over. And as the Tacsonias possess its chief 

 characteristics, our illustration will serve as the text of our remarks. The 

 climbing stems (which are somewhat rounded, and not four-sided, as in T. pinnatis- 

 tvpula) and three lobed foliage do not claim any special notice, unless it be to 

 point out the glands on the upper edge of the leaf-stalks, and which are found in 

 most Passion-flowers. Occasionally, they are placed at the base of the leaf, near 

 its junction with the petiole, and sometimes on the back of the leaf. These glands, 

 although not conspicuous, are easily perceptible to the naked eye, and have the 

 appearance of small greenish yellow projections rough to the touch. The stipules, 

 or small wing-like expansions, at the foot of the leaf-stalk, are another peculiarity 

 of the true Passion-flowers. In T. pinnatistipula, they are deeply divided, as the 

 specific name implies ; and in T. manicata, they are toothed in a crested manner. 



The chief interest of the plants of this order, however, centres in their elegant 

 flowers. These are, at a glance, seen to consist of ten segments or divisions, the 

 lower portions of which are united into a tube, surrounded at its base by three 

 leaf-like bodies, termed bracts. These bracts, which are shown in our plate, arc 

 common not only to the Tacsonias, but also, to nearly all the other Passion-flowers, 

 though in a few species they are placed at a considerable distance below the flower, 

 and are extremely small. In one or two species they are cut into hair-like 

 segments, and give a very interesting appearance to the flower, as in the P. 

 ciliata, and P. fatida. These bracts are not much larger in the T. manicata than 

 in many other Passion-worts ; but from the shortness of the tube, which is almost 

 concealed when the flower is expanded, ' it may not unaptly be compared to an arm 

 thrust into a large loose glove ; ' from which circumstance, it is presumed that 

 Jussieu gave it its specific name of manicate, or gauntletted. 



Some difference of opinion exists with regard to the real nature of the coloured 

 portions of the flower. Lindley considers the five outer segments to be the true 

 calyx, and the five inner ones as the corolla ; whilst others look on the filaments, or 

 ray-like appendages, as the true petals, and consider all the segments as sepals. 

 Each segment of the outer series is terminated by a horn-like process, which is, in 

 fact, a prolongation of the keel-like ridee on the back of the sepals. The inner 



