PLATE XV. 



1. CHELONE OBLIQUA. 



RED-FLOWERED CHELONE. 



THIS genus comprehends plants of the flowery herbaceous pe- 

 rennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Didynantia Angiospermia, and 

 ranks in the natural order of Personates. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a one-leafed, five-parted, 

 very short, permanent perianlhium: divisions erect and ovate: the 

 corolla monopetalous and ringent: tube cylindric, very short: throat 

 inflated, oblong, convex above, flat beneath: border closed, small: 

 upper lip obtuse, emarginate; lower almost equal to the upper, very 

 slightly trifid : the stamina consist of four filaments, hid beneath the 

 back of the corolla; the two side ones a little longer: the anthers in- 

 cumbent: the rudiment of a fifth filament, like the point of a dagger, 

 between the upper pair of stamens: the pislillum is an ovate germ: 

 style filiform, situation and length of the stamens: the stigma is ob- 

 tuse: the pericarpium is an ovate capsule, two celled, longer than 

 the calyx: the seeds very many, roundish, surrounded with a mem- 

 branous rim. 



The species cultivated for ornament are: 1. C. glabra, White 

 Smooth Chelone; 2. C. obliqna, Red Oblique-leaved Chelone; 3. C. 

 hirsuta, Hairy Chelone; 4. G. penstemon, Forking Chelone. 



The first has a pretty thick jointed root, which creeps under 

 ground to a considerable distance, sending up smooth channelled 

 stalks, which rise about two feet high, with two leaves at each joint, 

 standing opposite without foot-stalks; these are three inches and a 

 half long, and about three quarters of an inch broad at their base, 



