530 



BYTTNERIACE^E. XV. RIEDLEIA. XVI. WALTHERIA. 



live of New Granada in humid shady places. Mougeotia inflata, 

 H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 330. t. 484. Flowers 

 white, but yellow towards the base. 

 Inflated Riedleia. PI. 1 foot. 



16 R. NODIFLO'RA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 491.) leaves ovate, acu- 

 minated, serrated, smooth, younger ones covered with close- 

 pressed hairs ; flowers axillary, conglomerate, sessile. Tj . S. 

 Native of South America and the West India Islands in hedges. 

 Melochia nodiflora, Swartz. fl. ind. occ. 2. p. 1139. Mougeotia 

 nodiflora, H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 330. Melochia 

 carpinifolia, Wendl. obs. 52. Flowers pale-red. 



Knot-flowered Riedleia. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1800. Shrub 

 2 to 6 feet. 



17 R. BORBO'NICA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 491.) leaves ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, serrated, somewhat villous; flowers axillary, 

 conglomerate, sessile. Jj . S. Native of the island of Bourbon. 

 Melochia Borb6nica, Cav. diss. 6. p. 321. t. 174. f. 1. Corolla 

 yellow, hardly longer than the calyx. Fruit villous. 



Bourbon Riedleia. Shrub 3 feet. 



18 R. BERTERIA'NA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate, 

 somewhat cordate, serrated, smooth ; heads of flowers globose, 

 dense on stalks, which are the length of the petioles, fj . S. 

 Native of Guadaloupe. Mel6chia Berteriana, Balb. in litt. 



Eertero's Riedleia. Shrub 2 feet. 



19 R. ERIA'NTHA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate, tooth- 

 ed, hairy, on very short petioles ; flowers axillary, crowded, 

 sessile ; calyxes villous ; carpels 5, distinct. Tj . S. Native of 

 Cayenne. Flowers yellow ? 



Woolly-flowered Riedleia. Shrub 2 to 3 feet. 



20 R. HIRSU'TA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate, acute, 

 villous; heads of flowers terminal, rather spike-formed, crowded, 

 hairy ; calyxes with 3 bracteas. Tj . S. Native of New Granada 

 and the Caribbee islands. Melochia hirsuta, Cav. diss. 6. p. 

 323. t. 175. f. 1. Mougeotia hirsuta, H. B. et Kunth, nov. 

 gen. amer. 5. p. 331. Flowers yellow. 



Hairy Riedleia. Shrub 1-J- foot. 



21 R. VENO'SA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate, serrated, 

 veiny, tomentose beneath ; peduncles distinct, terminal, many- 

 flowered ; stem hairy. Tj . S. Native of Jamaica in very arid 

 places. Melochia venosa, Swartz. fl. ind. occ. 2. p. 1137. 

 Flowers large, yellow. 



ferny-leaved Riedleia. Shrub 3 feet. 



22 R. CONCATENA'TA (Di C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, toothed, smooth ; racemes terminal, crowded. 2 . S. 

 Native of the East Indies. Melochia concatenata, Lin. spec. 

 944. Cav. diss. 6. t. 175. f. 2. Pluk. aim. t. 9. f. 5. Flowers 

 yellow. Capsule globose, sessile. 



Concatenated-fiowered Riedleia. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1810. 

 Shrub 3 feet. 



23 R. JAMAICE'NSIS (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, toothed, clothed with close-pressed villi, but smooth- 

 ish above ; racemes terminal, leafless, interrupted. Tj . S. 

 Native of Jamaica. Melochia Jamaicensis, Balb. ined. Stamens 

 joined into a cylinder. Fruit velvety. Flowers yellow ? 



Jamaica Riedleia. Shrub 2 feet. 



24 R. CARACASA'NA (D. C. prod. 1. p. 492.) leaves cordate, 

 crenate, tomentose beneath; flowers capitate, almost sessile, 

 axillary, and opposite the leaves. Tj . S. Native of Caraccas. 

 Mougeotia Caracasana, H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 

 329. Melochia Caracasana, Jacq. icon. rar. 3. t. 507. Flowers 

 large, white. 



Caraccas Riedleia. Fl. May, July. Clt. 1817. Shrub 2 feet. 



25 R. SERRA'TA (Vent, choix. t. 37.) leaves ovate, cordate, 

 acuminated, serrated, villous on both surfaces ; petioles and 

 branches hispid ; stipulas lanceolate-linear, almost the length of 

 the petioles ; flowers axillary, glomerate, almost sessile. If. . S. 



Native of Porto-Rico and St. Domingo. Flowers purple, 3 to 

 5 in a bundle, disposed in an interrupted spike. 



Serrated-leaved Riedleia. PI. 1 to 2 feet. 



Cult. Riedleia is a genus of plants not worth cultivating ex- 

 cept in botanic gardens ; they will thrive well in any light rich 

 soil, and cuttings of the shrubby and herbaceous perennial kinds 

 will root freely in sand under a hand-glass, in heat, but this will 

 in most cases be unnecessary, as the greater part of the species 

 ripen seed freely in this country ; these require to be sown in 

 pots in spring, and placed in a hot-bed, as well as those of the 

 annual species, and when the plants are of a sufficient size they 

 should be potted off into separate pots, and placed in the stove. 



XVI. WALTHE'RIA (in honour of Augustus Frederick 

 Walther, a German botanist, once professor of medicine in the 

 university of Leipsic ; he described the plants of his own garden 

 in 1735. It is also understood to commemorate Thomas Walter, 

 an English botanist, author of Flora Caroliniana in 1798, and 

 Richard Walter, who went round the world with Admiral An- 

 son in 1740 and 1744.) Lin. gen. no. 827. D. C. prod. 1. p. 

 492. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Pentandria. Calyx 5-cleft, fur- 

 nished with a lateral 1-3-leaved deciduous involucel. Petals 5. 

 Style 1. Stigma pencilled or tubercled. Capsule 1 -celled, 2- 

 valved, 1 -seeded, or truly of 5 carpels, 4 of which are abortive. 

 Shrubs with the habit of Melochia. Flowers small, usually 

 yellow, disposed in terminal or axillary, stalked heads, rarely in 

 panicles, rising in clusters from the branches. 



1 W. AMERICA'NA (Lin. spec. 941. exclusive of the synonymes 

 of Smith and Breyn,) leaves ovate-oblong, plaited, acutely and 

 unequally toothed, tomentose on both surfaces ; heads of flowers 

 axillary, stalked; calyx very villous ; petals rather pubescent. 



$ . S. Native of the Bahama Islands, Surinam, and Caribbee 

 Islands. W. arborescens, Cav. diss. 6. p. 316. t. 170. f. 1. 

 W. I'ndica, Jacq. icon. rar. 1. t. 130. There is a variety of 

 this plant which bears sessile heads of flowers, and perhaps not 

 distinct from W. I'ndica ; and there is also another variety with 

 elongated peduncles, bearing as if it were many concatenated 

 bundles of flowers. Flowers yellow. 



American Waltheria. Fl. May, Oct. Clt. 1691. Shrub 4 ft. 



2 W. I'NDICA (Lin. spec. 941.) leaves oval, plaited, downy, 

 bluntly-toothed ; heads of flowers axillary, sessile. Jj . S. Na- 

 tive of the East Indies. The heads of flowers being sessile, of 

 a tawny-yellow colour, is sufficient to distinguish it from W. 

 Americana. 



Indian Waltheria. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 1759. Shrub 1 to 3ft. 



3 W. VISCOSI'SSIMA (St. Hil. fl. bras. 1. p. 150.) plant very 

 clammy ; stem suffruticose ; leaves ovate-oblong, acuminated, 

 cordate at the base, somewhat falcate, velvety-tomentose on both 

 surfaces ; panicle leafy ; flowers glomerate ; calyx hairy ; tube 

 of stamens nearly entire ; stigma oblong, tuberculated. fj . S. 

 Native of Brazil in the northern parts of the provinces of Minas 

 Geraes and Minas Novas. Flowers of an orange-yellow colour. 



Very-clammy Waltheria. Fl. May, June. Shrub 1 to 2 feet. 



4 W. FERRUGI'NEA (St. Hil. fl. bras. 1. p. 150.) stem arbores- 

 cent, branched ; leaves oblong, acute, velvety-tomentose above, 

 but truly tomentose beneath ; heads of flowers axillary, on short 

 peduncles ; petals shorter than the calyx ; tube of stamens 5- 

 cleft ; stigma simple, fj . S. Native of Brazil in the province 

 of Minas Geraes, not far from Villa do Principe. Flowers 

 yellow. 



Rusty Waltheria. Fl. March. Shrub 5 to 6 feet. 



5 W. ANGUSTIFO'I.IA (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 

 332.) leaves oblong, narrow, and acute at the top, rounded at the 

 base, serrated, clothed with soft tomentum ; spikes of flowers 

 glomerate, stalked, much longer than the petioles. I? . S. Native 



