middle. SEDs namerous, oblong or pide shapail Emeryo ortho- 
tropous in the axis of a fleshy albumen; cotyledons obtuse, radicle 
pointing towards the umbilicus, centrifugal. 
DescripTION OF THE Hysrip, GLOXINIA SPECIOSA-CAULESCENS. 
Tuper thick. Srem thick, simple, about six inches or more in 
length, hairy. Leaves petiolate, elliptical or oblong, hairy or villose 
on both surfaces, lower one large and distinctly crenate, upper one 
contracted at the base, and obscurely crenate. FLowers large, 
numerous, supported on long peduncles, which are hairy and reddish. 
CaLyx somewhat angular, tube fleshy, limb five-parted, segments 
acute, spreading. Coro..a large, shewy, nodding or pendent, of a 
purplish white colour externally, deeper purple internally, contracted 
at the base, enlarging and becoming ventricose upwards; limb two- 
lipped; lobes unequal, reflexed. Stamens five, cohering to the tube 
of the corolla, didynamous, with the rodiaignt of a fifth. Ovary one- 
celled. STYLE one, stigma capitate. ° 
Popurar AND GeocrapHicaL Notice. Under the head of Glox- 
inia speciosa (Plate 105) it is stated that though cultivators generally 
admit two species, designated respectively Gloxinia speciosa and 
Gloxinia caulescens, these pass into each other by many connecting 
links in the various specimens, and must therefore be regarded as 
mere varieties: of one species. The length of the stem is the only 
prominent character, and so many circumstances influence this, that 
for a specific difference it is quite insufficient. Hybrids are readily 
produced among the different varieties, and that now figured originated 
by fertilizing the seeds of the variety Caulescens with the pollen from 
Gloxinia speciosa, variety alba. The flowers of this present an 
approximation in colour to the white parent, as it is almost invariably 
observed that the colour of the flowers is mostly determined by that 
of the parent which supplies the pollen, while the foliage and organs 
of vegetation generally resemble that of the parent which furnished 
the ovules. The more the hybrid resembles the latter the more likely 
will its seeds be fertile. 
en Re OF THE NAMEs. 
Groxixt A, in compliment to P. Gloxin, who described Martynia diandra, 
and Martynia proboscidea, a allied plants. - Spectosa-cavLEscEns, 
compounded of the names of the parents. 
