Gardneriana:. N. O. Gentianc-E. 



TABS. CCXXV. CCXXVI. 



w 



Prepusa connata. Gardner msL 



Herbacea, foliis caullnis connatis, calyce latissime campanulato 



maxime inflate exalato. 

 Hab. Growing gregariously on the nearly bare face of a dry rock 



in the Organ Mountains, Brazil, at an elevation of about 5000 



feet above the level of the sea. Mr Gardner (2d Coll. ». 541). 



Few plants among Mr Gardner's many Brazilian discoveries 

 have given me more pleasure than this, a second species of 

 Martius' fine Gentianeous Genus Prepusa:^ for such it most 

 unquestionably is, differing from the generic character only in 



t 



the wingless calyx, which, in this case, I consider of value only 



■ 



as a specific distinction. I shall give Mr Gardner's own descrip- 

 tion, drawn up on the spot. 



Root perennial. Stem herbaceous, a foot or a foot and a half 

 high. Leaves oblong, obtuse, about 5-nerved, somewhat 

 fleshy, those of the root 4-5 inches long and spreading, of the 

 stem much smaller, opposite, and connate; those at the fork- 

 ings of the branches united almost for their whole length, and 

 forming a large two-lipped sheath. Flowers large. Calyx 

 particularly large, inflated, membranous, reddish-purple, 6- 

 toothed; teeth apiculate. Corolla yellowish, with a few faint 

 purple streaks, a little longer than the calyx ; tubular below, 

 ventricose in the middle; limb erecto-patent, 6-lobed, lobes 

 broadly ovate, slightly crenulate, apiculate. Stamens 6, ris- 

 ing from the bottom of the ventricose portion of the corolla, 

 and included. Filaments filiform. Anthers versatile, purple, 

 2-celled. Pollen brown. Ovary cylindrical, 1 -celled, 2-valved, 

 many-seeded. Seeds attached to 4 parietal placentae, which 

 are obviously formed by the inflexed margins of the valves. 

 Style subulate, of the same length as the filaments. Stigma 

 bilamellate, green. Gardn. in HtL 



The other species of the genus is P. montana^ a shrub 8-10 

 feet high, inhabiting the interior mountains of Bahia. 



Fig. K Corolla :—wa^. size. / 2. Stamen. /. 3. Pistil :—wa^w. 



F 



* So named from 'r^i'^owx, on account of the conspicuous character of the plant. 



