234 EXTRACTS. 



never foriniug any hard wood, or well ripened shoots, it Is peculiarly liable' to 

 injury from over-watenng, or from the earth in which it is planted becoming 

 saturated; if this happens, it immediately sickens, its leaves losing their dark 

 green colour. Flowers, white. Anthocerssi, from Kerkis, aray, and authos, a 

 flower, from the radiated form of flower, being star like in appearance. 



3. Leplotes bicolor. Two coloured flowered GynaudriaMonaudria. Orchideae. 

 This pretty little plant flowered in April, 1833, in the Stove of Mrs. Arnold 

 Harrison. Tt is a native of the Organ Mountains of Brazil. Its habit 

 seems to be to grow among broken potsherds, decayed vegetable matter, and 

 moss; treated in this way, a small portion will strike root. Flowers. Racemes 

 three flowered sepals white, Labellurn white, and blood coloured. Colnmn 

 green. Leptotes from Leptos, slender; in allusion to the leaves. 



4. Petunia violacea. Purple Petunia. Peutandria Monogynia. Solanese. 

 Synonyms. Salpiglossis integrifolia. NierembergiaPhaeuicea. See page 144. 



We adopt the first name in preference, for the following reasons. Salpi- 

 glossis is a genus now common in this country, with didynamous stamens and 

 an imbricated corolla, two highly important characters, which are wanting in 

 this plant. Nierembergia is, like it, pentandrous; but the peculiar form of 

 the corolla, the absence of teeth upon the disk and the singular lunate stigma 

 of that genus render it impossible to place this iu Nierembergia without vio- 

 lating every principle of generic distinction : if there is any one genus in 

 Solanesp more natural and more positively defined by obvious and important 

 characters than another, it is Nierembergia properly so called, with which this 

 ought on no account to be confounded. But from Petunia, of which the now 

 common Petunia, nyctaginiflora may be taken as the type, the plant before 

 us differs in nothing whatever except the inflated tube of its corolla, and the 

 size of its embryo : Petunia is remarkable for the thickened bases of its fila- 

 ments, which all arise upon the same plane from the middle of the tube, for 

 its capitate stigma, the oblique limb of its corolla, the leafy segments of its 

 calyx, and for its disk, which bears a distinct tooth on each side where it 

 touches the suture of the ovarium. Now there is not one of these highly cha- 

 racteristic marks in which this plant diflers from Petunia, to which we, without 

 any scruple refer it. Dr. Lindley. 



5. Calceolaria sessilis. Sessile leaved. Deandria Monogynia. Scrophula- 

 rineas. The Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert raised this species from seeds col- 

 lected by Mr. Ccming. It is always a neat looking herbaceous species, with 

 a tendency to become shrubby, and is very beautiful when growing vigorously 

 iu the open border. Its habits are no doubt those of C. integrifolia, to which 

 it is nearly related ; it is readily known by the hoary colour of the under side 

 of the leaves, and by the upper leaves being generally sessile, with almost tri- 

 angular bases. Calceolaria, see page 107. 



6. Hibiscus spleiidciis. Splendid Hibiscus. Monadelphia Polyandria. Mal- 

 vacea?. A native of New Holland, whence seeds were sent by the late Mr. 

 pRAZER in 1828. In this countrj' it is a stove plant, requiring plenty of light 

 and atmospheric moisture during iis season of growth. It flowers in August, 

 and is readily propagated by cuttings. Dr. Graham first described the species 

 from a plant that flowered iu the Edinburgh Botanic Garden; and speaking 

 of its great beauty, quotes the following pas.-;ige from one of Mr. Frazer's 

 letters: — "This I consider the King of all the known Australian plants. I 

 have seen it twenty-two feet and a half high; the flowers this year measured 

 nine inches across; they were of the most delicate pink and crimson colour, 

 and literally covered the whole plant." Hibiscus from Ibis, a Stork; said to 

 chew this plant, and inject as a clyster. 



7. Ojcalis diveryens. Diverging Wood Sorrel. Decandria, Pentagynia. 

 Oxalideae. A. native of Mexico, whence bulbs were sent, a few years since, to 

 the Horticultural Society, by Mr. Graham. It is easily cultivated under a 

 frame which excludes all wet and very severe cold ; and like all the American 

 species of the same habit, prefers the open soil to the confinement of a pot. 

 It flowers from June to September. Leaves wedge shaped. Scape many 

 flowered, of a pure white. 



