PLATE LXXXVIII. 



ERANTHEMUM PULCHELLUM, 



Blue-flowered 'Eranthemum . 



CLASS II. ORDER I. 



DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Two Chives. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



One Pointal. 



Calyx. Perianthium quinquefidum, tubulo- 



fum, erettum, membranaceum, perfiftens. 

 Corolla monopetala, infundibuliformis ; tubus 



filiformis, longiflimus. Lirubus quinque- 



partitus, planus ; laciniis obovatis, sequa- 



libus. 

 Stamina. Filamenta duo, ad bafin fpiralia, in 



fauce corolla;. Antherae fubovatae, com- 



preffae, extra tubum. 

 Pistillum. Germen ovatum, compreflum. 



Stylus riliformis, longitudine ftaminum. 



Stigmata duo, inaequalia, ereSa. 

 Pekicarpium. Capfula fpathulata, compreffa, 



bivalvis, bilocularis, difiipimento valvulis 



contrario. 

 Semina folitaria, lentiformia. 



SPECIFIC 

 Eranthemum foliis lanceolato-ovatis, nervofis; 



floribus lpicatis ; bracteis lanceolatis, imbri- 



catis. 



Empalement. Cup five cleft, tubular, upright, 



lkinny, and remaining. 

 Blossom one petal, funnel-fliaped; tube thread- 



fliaped, and very long. Border divided into 



five, and flat; the fegments are inverfely 



egg-fliaped, and equal. 

 Chives. Two threads, fpiral at the bafe, at 



the mouth of the bloflbm . Tips nearly egg- 



fliaped, flattened, and without the tube. 

 Pointal. Seed bud egg-fliaped and flattened. 



Shaft thread ihaped, the length of the 



chives. Summits two unequal, and upright. 

 Seed-vessel. Capfule fpatula fliape, flattened, 



two valves, two cells, the partition contra-ry 



to the valves. 

 Seeds folitary, lentil fliape. 

 CHARACTER. 



Eranthemum with lance-fliaped, oval, and ltrongl) 



nerved leaves; the flowers grow in fpikes; 



the floral leaves are lance-ihaped, and tiled. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. The Empalement, with its four fmall leaflets. 



2. The Bloflbm cut open, to fliew the part of infertion of the Chives. 



3. One of the Chives, (magnified.) 



4. The Pointal, (natural fize.) 

 o. The fame, (magnified.) 



rj. The Seed-bud. 

 ". A Seed. 



Eranthemum, although Handing in our ancienteft tables, as a name to different plants; mufl have 

 been, hitherto, conlidered as a dead letter in all our modern ones, as attached to the tribe of plants it 

 now titles: but perhaps, to none of the former more aptly could it have been applied; (elpecially 

 this fpecies, as the Greek word 'Hpd.-Aeij.ov, a compound of Ho the fpring, and ci'/JiM to bloflbm, fairly 

 indicates;) fince the E. pulchellum firft begins to flower in January, and continues to bloflbm till May. 

 Linnaeus in treating this Genus, acknowledges to have feen but one imperfeft lpecimen: and from 

 this circumftance, left the defcription of the feed-veft'el, and feed, to be determined by future 

 Botanifts; as yet, that has not been accompli (lied, even by the indefatigable and accurate Schreber: 

 indeed, had the character of the pointal been likewife omitted, it would have been as well; fince, in 

 place of one, the two unequal fummits, (which might efcape ubfervation in a dried lpecimen, from 

 their difproportion in length, and upright fituation;) point out a ftronger Generical diftinclion from 

 Jullicia, to which it much atfincs, than either, the regular fliape of the limb of the blolfom, or the 

 fituation of the chives. Our fpecies is a native of the coaft of Coromandel, in the Eaft Indies, and 

 was firft received in feeds from Dr. Roxburg, at the Roval gardens Kew, in the year 1"C)L>. It is a 

 moft defirable plant, for although it has hitherto been kept in the hot-houfe, we have no doubt from 

 its flowering and thriving there, with fo little care, in any fituation; but that it will foon be con- 

 fidered as a proper inhabitant of the greenhoufe. It is with the greateft eafe, and certainty, inereafed 

 by cuttings. Our drawing was made this month, from a plant in flower at the Hanmierlniith nurfery. 



