PLATE CIII. 



PROTEA SPECIOSA, nigra. 



Black-flowered Protect. 



CLASS IV. ORDER I. 

 TETRJNDRIA MONOGYNU. Four Chives. One Pointal. 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Corolla 4-fida, feu 4-petala. Antherae line- 

 ares, infertse petalis infra apicem. Calyx 

 proprius, nullus. Sem. folitaria. 



Blossom 4-cleft, or of 4 petals. Tips linear, 

 inferted into the petals below the points. 

 Cup proper, none. Seeds folitary. 

 See Protea Formosa, Vol. I. Plate XVII. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Protea foliis longis, lineari-lanceolatis; fquamae 

 calycinae interiores apice incurvatae, bar- 

 batae, nigra?. 



Protea with long leaves, between linear and 

 lance-fhaped; the inner fcales of the em- 

 palement are turned inward at the end, 

 bearded, and black. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



J. A Bloflbm complete, as it flands in the Empalement. 



2. The four Petals of the Flower thrown open, to fhew the fituation and character of the tips. 



3. The Seed-bud, Shaft, and Summit. 



It is to the curious and beautiful ftru&ure of the empalement, (the flowers being nearly concealed 

 within it,) that this fpecies of Protea owes its fpecific title, and for which it is fo much admired. There 

 are different varieties of it, which are conlidered by Thunberg, in his Diff. de Prot. of 1 781 , as diftind 

 fpecies; but which are certainly only varieties of one flock : we have drawings of two of thefe, the one 

 flefh-coloured, the other white; and hope to be able to demonstrate as juft, our poftulatum, when the 

 fynonims are given, as propofed, at the clofe of this volume. This plant was firft introduced to the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew, from the Cape of Good Hope, in 1786, by Mr. F. Maffon : it flowers at a very 

 early age, and when the flem is not more than two feet high, moflly from the centre or leading 

 branch of the plant. It is propagated by cuttings, which fhould be put in about the end of May, 

 three or four, at moil, in a pot, filled with good ftiff loam, which fhould be preffed hard to the lower 

 end of the cuttings, and the pot placed under a hand-glafs in the fliade. When the plants are to be 

 removed into feparate pots, it will be neceffary to add a fmall portion of peat earth to the loam, and 

 place them in an airy and dry part of the greenhoufe. Thefe directions are neceffary to be obferved, 

 in the culture of nearly every fpecies of this extended genus. Our figure was taken in the month of 

 July 1799» from a plant in the Hibbertian collection, Clapham-common. 



