PLATE CCCCXLVII. 
PROTEA ARGENTIFLORA. 
Stlvery-flowered Protea. 
CLASS AV. ORDER I. 
TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal. 
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Bossom four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips li- 
“near, inserted into the petals below the 
points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary. 
Cornotta 4-fida, seu 4 petala, Anthera li- 
neagres, petalis infra apices inserte. Calyx 
proprius, nullus, Sem. solitaria, 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Prorga argentiflora; floribus paniculatis, densis- | Prorga with silvery flowers : theflowers grow in 
sime confertissimis, parvis rotundatis capita- panicles, closely crowded together, in little 
tis, fragrantibus, nitidissimis ; foliis bipinnatis, round heads, sweet-scented and very shining: 
linearibus, apice acutis, erecto-patentibus. leaves twice divided, linear, sharp-pointed, 
‘ ae ! and between erect and spreading. 
a 
# i: REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 
1. One of the scales. ‘ 
Wik. 2. A blossom detached from the umbel. 
| 3. A section of it magnified, 
4. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified. 
5. The cone with the scales attached. 
6. The same without the scales, 
7. The naked cone, 
oe RIT 
Frow the shining silvery appearance sof this Protea we have drawn its specific title, alitoagh aware of 
the insurmountable difficulty of doing justice to it : but in so extended a genus it will be frequently 
impossible to give a discriminating or unoccupied specific from. its foliage :—our title may always be 
ascertained when the plant is in bloom, whether in perfection or not, as the flowers living oF dead 
always retain a shining silvery aspect. It also possesses a most exquisite sweet scent; but its superiof 
fragrance only exists whilst the flowers are in perfection ; as after that period it grows fainter, and is at 
last scentless, Our figure was made from the collection of G. xabbert, €39. 
