STREPTOCARPUS 



SPECIES. 



THE species composing the beautiful race of Gesneraceous plants, mostly natives 

 of South Africa and Madagascar, are allied to the Gloxinia, Achimenes, Tydsea, 

 and other favourite garden genera. 



Some dozen are in cultivation which may be for horticultural purposes classed 

 in three groups : (1) The one-leaved or monophyllus, of which Streptocarpus 

 Wendlandii is a familiar example ; (2) the stemless or acaulescent, typified by 

 S. Rexii, an old garden plant ; and (3) the caulescent, of which S. caulescens is 

 perhaps the best known ; these have stems 6 to 8 in. high and opposite leaves, but 

 are seldom seen in cultivation. 



The acaulescent or stemless species which form the first two groups are the most 

 frequently met with, the caulescent species of botanical interest only. The 

 plants belonging to the latter have insignificant flowers, which refuse to cross 

 with other species, and are hardly worth cultivating. 



The first Streptocarpus to be introduced to British Gardens was-* Streptocarpus 

 Rexii of Lindley, figured in the Botanical Magazine as Didymocarpus Rexii, and 

 sometime known in gardens as Streptocarpus biflorus or S. floribundus. This 

 species, sent to Kew in 1824 by Mr. Bowie, His Majesty's collector in South 

 Africa, was found on the estate of Mr. George Rex, after whom it was named. 

 It belongs to the stemless group, has several prostrate leaves from 3 to 9 in. long, 

 white flowers, with a tube 3 in. long of a delicate pale-blue inclining to purple ; 

 the lateral lobes have each two, and the lower three purple lines. 



Following Streptocarpus Rexii came f S. polyantha, a native of Natal, acci- 

 dentally introduced to Kew in 1853 in some material surrounding the trunks 

 of tree-ferns sent from Natal by Captain Garden. With one, or occasionally two, 

 pairs of leaves, one of which grows to a much larger size than the other, reaching 

 1 ft. or more in length, the plant produces from the base upright flower-scapes. 

 The flowers. 1 $ in. broad, are of a delicate pale-blue coloration. 



+ Streptocarpus Gardeni, also introduced in 1853 from the same country through 

 the same channel, and named in compliment to Captain Garden, who sent seeds 

 to Kew, bears a tuft of radical leaves from which the flower-scapes rise, each 

 bearing at the apex a greenish-white flower with a lilac lip. 



In 1860 a species was sent from Natal to Kew by Mr. Wilson Saunders, and 

 received the name of Streptocarpus Saundersii. It forms a solitary prostrate 

 leaf 1 ft. long and 8 to 9 in. broad, flowers pale lilac in colour with two deep purple 

 blotches separated by a yellow line at the throat, and closely allied to the above- 

 mentioned S. polyantha. 



* Bot. Mag. t. 3005. f Bot. Mag. t, 4850. 



J Bot. Mag. t. 4862. Bot. Mag. t. 5251. 



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