PLATE CCXXVIII. 



HIBISCUS MUTABILIS. Var.Jlor.pleno. 



Change ahle-Uofe HihifcUS. Doulle-Jlowered Far. 



CLASS XVL ORDER VL 



iMONADELPIIIA POLVANDRIA. Threads united. Many Chives. 



GENERIC 

 Calyx. Perianthium duplex. 



Exterius polyphyllum, perfiftens; foliolis 



linearibus, rarius monophyllum, multifi- 



diim. 



Intcrius monophyllum, cyathiforme, femi- 



quiuquefidum, perlillens; feu quinquedcn- 



tatum, deciduum. 

 Corolla. Petala quinque, fubiotundo-oblon- 



ga, bafi angulUora, pateiUia, tube flami- 



num interne adnata. 

 Stamina. Filaraenta phirima, inferne coalita 



in tubum, fuperne ^in luijiis apice et fuper- 



ticie) divila et laxa. Antherae renitbrmes. 

 PisTiLLUM. Germen lubrotundum. Stylus iili- 



formis, llaminibus longior, fuperne quin- 



quefidus. Stigmata capiiata. 

 Pericarpium. Capfula quinquelocularis, quin- 



quevalvis; diUepimentis contrariis, dupli- 



catis. 

 Semina Iblitaria feu plura, ovato-reniformia. 



01 s. Capfula aliis ovata, aliis longa; calyx 

 exterior 3-12-phyllus, 



CHARACTER. 



Empalement. Cup double. 



Tlie outer many leaved, permanent; leaf- 

 lets linear, more rarely one-leaved, many- 

 cleft. 



The /?(«er one-leaved, cup-(haped, half tive- 

 clfft, permanent; or five toothed, and de- 

 ciduous. 



Blossom. Petals five, roundifli-oblong, nar- 

 rower at the bafe, fpreadihg, -faftened at 

 bottom to ihe tube of the chives. 



Chives. Threads numerous, ui/iied at the b ife 

 into a lube, at top (in its apex and furlace) 

 divided and loofe. Tips kidney-lhaped. 



Pointal. Seed-bud roundiih. Shaft thread- 

 fhaped, longer than the chives, at top five- 

 cleft. Summits headed. 



Seed-vessel. Capfule five-celled, five-valved; 

 partitions contrary, doubled. 



Seeds folitary, or many, between egg and kid- 

 ney-ih iped. 



Ols. The capfule of fome fpecies is egg- 

 lliaped, of fome long j the outer cup, 3- 

 12-leaved. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER 



Hibifcus foliis cordatis, angulatis, quinquelobis, J Hibifcus with heart-fliaped leaves, angled, five 



acuminatis, dentatis; calyce exteriore o6to- 

 phyllo; caplula villofa; caule arboreo ; flo- 

 ribus plenis. 



lobed, pointed and toothed; outer cup 

 eight-leaved; capfule hairy; ftem growing 

 to a tree ; flowers double. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. The double cup with the Seed-bud, Shaft, and Summits in their place. 



2. The Threads cut and fpread open, with thofe which are perfeft and have the tips, remaining; thofe 



which give the plant the double flowered charafter being cut away ; one tip detached and magnified. 



3. The Seed-bud, cut tranfverfeiy to iliew the perfeft feeds in their cells. 



Barnard Dickinson, Efq. of Monks. Houfe, near Devifes, Wilts, we believe to be, at prefent, the 

 only polfeffor, in Britain, of this fine variety of Hibifcus mutabilis. The plants were produced in 1 788, 

 from fome Jamaica feeds, which were fown at Bowden, another adjoining leat of that gentleman, and 

 where they have flowered for fev.'ral years. Although the flowers are double; yet good feeds are pro- 

 duced, which is common to moft plants of this natural order, fuch as Alcea Malva, &c. the fullnefs of 

 the bloifoms being, as ufu.al, formed from fome of the cliives becoming petals, many neverthelefs re- 

 maining perfeft; which in thefe plants Itand particularly diltinft from the pointal, being leated on the 

 upper part of the tube, lormed by the connexion of the lower part of the threads, leaving the pointal 

 as perieft as in a (ingle flower. It is alfo propagated by cutting, and thrives in rich earth. It ni.iy be 

 confidered rather a tree, than flirob, as even in this country, it acquires the height of from \5 to 20 

 feet. It is a native of Japan, China, and the Eaft Indies; where it is much efleemed for the extreme 

 beauty of its flowers, as well as in our Wed India iilands, where it is also cultivated. Tiie Single- 

 flowered has been known in England above a century, having, fays the Kew Catalogue, been intro. 

 duced by Mr. Bentinck in the year Itigo. The fpecitic title is alVumed on the fingulai cliange of the 

 flower, from white to flefh colour, before its decay, as fliewn in our figure; which was taken from a 

 fine branch received in a perfedt fiate from Bowden in the month of November 1801, and obligingly 

 communicated, to the author, by Mrs. Dickinfon. 



