PLATE CCLVII. 



F A L K I A R E P E N S. 



Creep'mg Falkia. 



CLASS V. ORDER IL 

 PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. Five Chives. Two Pointals. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Calyx. Perianthium monophyllum, fub infla- 

 tum, corolla duplo brevius, quinquangula- 

 tura, quinqucpartitum; angulis medio di- 

 laiaiis, compreffis extantibus; laciniis ova- 

 tis, acutis. 



Corolla moiiopetala, campanulata, crenato- 

 deccm-partita; limbo patente. 



Stamina Filamenta quinque, filiformia, tube 

 coroll» inferta, erefta, inoequalia, corolla 

 breviora. Antherae ovatae, compreirae. 



PisTiLLA. Germen quatuor, fupera, glabra. 

 Styli duo, capillares, divaricati, longiludine 

 corollae. Stigmata orbiculata, lanata. 



Pericabpium nullum. 



Semina quatuor, globofa, arillata, in fundo ca- 

 lycis. 



SPECIFIC 



JFalkia foliis cordatis, petiolis longiffimis; caulo 

 repente. 



Empalement. Cup one leaf, a little inflated, 

 fliorter by half than the blolfom, five-cor- 

 nered, five-parted ; the angles widened in 

 the middle, flattened, ftanding out; feg- 

 ments egg-fhaped, pointed. 



Blossom one-petal, bell-lhaped, ten-parted by 

 fcollops; border fpreading. 



Chives. Threads five, hair like, inferted into 

 the tube of the bloflbm, ereft, unequal, 

 fliorter than the blolfom. Tips egg-fliaped, 

 flattened. 



Pointals. Seed-buds four, above, fmooth. 

 Shafts two, hair-like, ftraddling, the length 

 of the bloflbm. Summits orbicular, woolly. 



Seed-vessel none. 



St EDS four, globular, covered by a coat, at the 

 bottom of the cup. 



CHARACTER. 



II Falkia with heart-ihaped leaves, and very long 

 II foot-ftalks; creeping ftera. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 

 ). The Cup. 



2. A Rlolfom fpread open, with the chives in their place. 



3. A Chive magnified. 



4. The Pointals. n.Ttural fize. 



5. The fame, magnified. 



This pretty little plant was firft found by Maflbn and Thunberg, when on their journey together in 

 the interior of tlie country of the Cape of Good Mope, and was named by Thunnerg after Profeflbr 

 Falk of Fcterfburgh. It was introduced to the Kew gardens in the year J 774. Much as it refenibles 

 Convolvulus, it ftill has a greater affinity to Nolana in all its outward parts, but efpecially in the cup 

 of the flower, and the fituation and charaSer of the feeds. Although the plant is not flirubby, the 

 Hems, which are wiry, do not die down in winter, but take root, it" laid dole to the earth. It is 

 encreal'fcd by parting the roots in May ; Ihould be planted in fandy loam, and kept in the green-houfe, 

 where it will blolfom in July or Auguft. Our figure is from a plant which flowered in the colleftion 

 of J. Vere, F^fq. Kenfington Gore. 



" It is rather fingular that the indefatigable, and generally accurate, Willdenow, fliould have con- 

 tinned this plant in the fixth clafs, when he had fuch authority, as may be found, page 325, Vol. I, 

 in the Catalogue of the Kew Garden (where it unqueftionably has flowered) for the removal of it to 

 its proper one, the filth. It is true, he had reafon to fuppofe, that no man would be raili enough to 

 form a new Genus, without a due examination of the plant, on which he grounds his authority; and 

 that, as Thunberg had discovered and named it, his authority was fufficient, and of' greater weight 

 than any other. But, unfortunately, in this inftance, for the tranfcriber, the defcriber has been mif- 

 taken, and has led his followers into error. Indeed, the whole plant in its habit and charafter has fo 

 little affinity to any hexandrous genus, that, although Thunberg might have found a finglc flower, or 

 even a whole plant, whofe flowers had fix chives (a circumftance we have not been able to difcover, 

 upon an examination of the flowers from four different plants), in fuch a cafe, as a botanifl, he ought 

 to have looked farther, before he made fo violent a decifion; and Willdenow ought to have taken it 

 for granted the alteration would not have been made, but upon due confideralioo. 



