CUPHEA COKDATA, 



89 



The most striking peculiarities of the Cupheas are the irregularity in the number 



and si2e of the petals, and the mode in which the membranous seed-vessel and 



calyx-tube are ruptured laterally by the deflexed placenta before the seeds are 



ripe ; but all the details of the flower will be found of interest. In many of the 



species the calyx is the most conspicuous part of the blossom ; in all it is tubular, 



strongly ribbed, more or less curved (as seen in our figure), with a projecting heel 



or blunt spur ; the mouth is rather spreading, its margin divided into six teeth, 



of unequal size, the upper one usually being the largest, as in C. silenoides and C. 



lanceolata. Between the six teeth referred to, there are sometimes intermediate 



smaller ones ; these are well seen in C. silenoides, where they assume the form of 



scales, fringed with short, spreading, clammy hairs. In nearly all the species it is 



highly coloured, as in cor data and the well-known platy centra, but in a few green 



predominates, as in lanceolata. The normal number of the petals is six, but they 



are occasionally either wholly abortive, or so minute as to be scarcely discernible ; 



this is the case in C. platy centra; in strigiUosa only the two upper ones are present, 



in a very diminutive ear-like form. In those species in which six occur, the two 



upper ones are much the largest, as seen in lanceolata, silenoides, verticillata, purpurea, 



and in our illustration cordata, where they are so conspicuous, and arranged in such 



a manner, as to give the flower the appearance of being winged. 



Although placed in the Linnaean Class Dodecandria, the stamens are not 

 invariably twelve; in C. decandria there are but ten; in C. cordata they are 

 eleven in number, and in some of the species as many as fourteen are found ; 

 they are generally inserted in the throat of the calyx, as in cordata, but sometimes 

 arise from the bottom of the tube, as in silenoides. In cordata they will be seen 

 to project considerably beyond the mouth of the calyx. 



The seed-vessel, which is the most curious feature of this genus, has its walls 

 composed of a thin membrane, the seeds themselves being attached to a central 

 partition by short, but veiy evident stalks ; after the flower has partially faded, 

 but long before the seeds are mature, the capsule and the calyx tube in which it 

 is enclosed are burst longitudinally on their upper side, and the placenta or central 

 portion of the capsule to which the ovules are attached, assumes an erect position, 

 leaving them completely exposed, where they continue to increase in size, and 

 remain adherent until quite ripe. There is something exceedingly curious in 

 this premature exposition of the seed, and, as far as we are aware, it occurs in no 

 other genus of plants. The seeds of all the species are of a flattened disk-like form. 

 The number of species of this genus known to Botanists is considerable, but only 

 a few of them are in cultivation, or readily attainable. Several of them are 

 destitute of horticultural interest, being mere weeds, such as viscosissima, parviflora, 

 procumbens, and some others. Of those worth cultivating, and, at the same time, 

 procurable without difficulty, we will briefly notice the best. 



