57 



HUDSONIA tomentosa. 



Tomentose Hudsonia. 



H. tomentosa, caespitosa et incano-toraentosa, caulibus intricatis den- 

 sis, foliis minutis dense imbricatis ovato-acutis, floribus aggrega- 

 tis subsessilibus, calycibns subcylindricis partitionibus obtusis, 

 capsulis monospermis, valvis ovatis laevibus. DC. prodr. 1. p. 285. 



Hudsonia tomentosa. Nutt. gen. 2. p. 5. Spreng. syst. 2. p. 452. Swt. 

 hort. brit. add. p. 469. 



A short, densely tufted suffmticose plant, about a span 

 high : branches short, crowded, ascending, densely to- 

 mentose, and thickly clothed with leaves, which are per- 

 sistent, and remain on long after they are turned brown, 

 so that the branches are always crowded with them. 

 Leaves crowded, minute, scarcely a line in length, close- 

 ly imbricated, oblong or ovate, acute, densely clothed 

 with a white silky tomentum, which gives the plant a 

 sort of silvery appearance. Flowers small, of a pale 

 bright yellow, sessile or on very short footstalks, each 

 seated on one of the little gemmae, or small tufts of 

 leaves with which the branches are crowded, so that 

 when they are expanded they appear in clusters. Calyx 

 cylindrical, 5-cleft, clothed with a silky tomentum, the 

 segments obtuse, two of them much smaller than the 

 others. Petals 5, distinctly spreading, obovate, concave, 

 longitudinally lined. Stamens from 10 to 18; filaments 

 slender, smooth, longer than the style, but scarcely so 

 long as the petals. Ovarium 3 -sided, smooth, and glossy. 

 Style smooth, erect. Stigma simple. 



Our drawing of this rare plant was made in July 

 last, at the Nursery of Mr. Colvill, where several plants 

 of it have been lately received from North America ; it 

 was first discovered by Mr. Nuttall, and described by 

 him in his Genera of North American Plants, in 1818, 

 where he notices it as a very distinct species, " growing 



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