PLATE CCLXXVI. 



MONSONIA FILIA. 



Hairy-leaved Monfonia. 



CLASS XVIIL ORDER IL 

 POLYADELPHIA DODECANDRIA. Threads in many Sets. Twelve Chives, 



GENERIC 

 Calyx. Perianthium pentaphyllutn ereauni ; 



foliolis lanceolatis, fub apice mucronatis, 



sequalibus, peififtentibus. 

 Corolla. Petala quinque, obovata seqnalia, 



flaccida, plicata, margine inequaliter deiitata. 



Stamina. Filan;enta quindecim, ereSa, con- 

 nata in qviinque corpora, e i fingula. An- 

 therse oblongae, verlatiles. 



PisTiLLUM. Gerrai-n pentagonum, breve. Sty- 

 lus columnaiis. Stigmata quinque, recurva, 

 oblonga. 



Pericarpu-'m iiullmn. Friidus rollratus, pcn- 

 tacoccus. 



Semina folitaria, arillata: arifta longillima de- 

 mum ipirali. 



CHARACTETx. 



11 Empalement. Cup five-leaved upright; leaflets 

 lance-fliaped, pointed at the end, equal, and 

 l| remaining. 



ji Blossom. Five petals, inverfely egg-lliaped, 

 equal, flaccid, plaited, unequally toothed at 

 •y. the margin. 



Chives. Fifteen threads, upright, formed into 

 five bodies, three to each. Tips oblong, 

 verfatile. 

 Point al. Seed-biid five-fided, fhort. Shaft 

 columnar. Five fummits, recurved and 

 oblong. 

 Seed vessel none. Fruit funiiflicd with long 



awns, five dry berries. 

 Seeds folitary, in a feed-coat with a very long 

 awn, becoming fpiral. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER 



Monfonia foliis incifo-lobatis, hirfutis; lobis 



iuequalitfr dentatis. 



Monfonia with deeply-cut lobes, hairyj lobes 

 unequally toothed. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. The Empaleraent. 



2. A Petal of the flower, fliewn from the backfide. 



3. A Petal of the flower, fhewn from the infide. 



4. The Chives and Pointal diverted of the petals. 



5. The Chives fpread open, to fliew the number of diftinft bodies into 



which they are divided. 



6. The Seed bud. Shaft, and Summits. 



7. A Seed-bud cut tranfverfely. 



8. One of the berries, taken from its coat, a little advanced to maturity. 



The Genus Monfonia was formed by T.innaeus, in honour of the Right Hon. Lady Ann Monfon, whofc 

 enthufiafm, in purfuing the ftudy of natural hillory, knew no bounds; and whofe liberal and foftering- 

 hand contributed more, perhaps, than any of her cotemporaries, by her encouragement and example, 

 to the then incipient, but now fo prevailing talle for the liudy of Botany. 



The Monfonias are all natives of the Cape of Good Hope; are rather herbaceous plants than flirubs, 

 at leaft, thofc generally denominated fuch; for although the Geranium fpinol'um has been given to 

 this genus, we have our doubts whether it ought not to remain with Geranium. They are hardy 

 green-houfe plants, flower in the months of July and Augufl; are propagated by the cutting fmall 

 portions from the roots; and ihould be planted in a mixture of fandy peat and loam. This fpecies 

 was introduced by MeflVs. I,ee and Kennedy in the year 1788. Our drawing was made from a plant 

 in the Hibbertian collection. 



It is rather flrange that Thunberg in the fecond part of his Prod. Plant. Cap. publiihed in 

 1800; and Wildenow in his Spec. Plant, volume the third, part I, publiihed the fame year, 

 fhould both, in the claflification of this genus rather wifli to alter its claft, as Schreber and Cavaniiles 

 had done before them, than give it, in their works, under the clafs and title where it was originally 

 placed, by the founder of the genus; or take it up on the authority of the catalogue of the plants in 

 theKew gardens; where, unqueltionably, two fpecie's, at leaft, had flowered antecedent to the publica- 

 tion of that work. But indeed both of them, have fo jumbled the different fynonims which they 

 have adapted to the three fpecies known at prefent in our gardens under the names of M. I'peciofa, 

 M. lobata, and M. rilia, that it is nearly impoflible to recognize in either publication the different 

 plants under the charactered titles they bear with us. As for Thunberg, he has thrown them all to 

 Geranium, under new fpecific names: and thus, has made his alteration complete. Wildenow indeed 

 has but changed the clafs, and altered one fpecific title; but by new naming that which is our M. fpe- 

 ciofa he bas been obliged to give the name of fpeciofa to our prefent plant, and place the fpecific^'//", 

 as given by Linnxus to this, as a fynonim to M. lobata, upon the authority of Cavaniiles; who, we 

 muft prefume, had never feen more than dried fpecimens of any fpecies of this genus. lUit however, 

 we fliall not pretend to clear up the bewildered ftate, in which we there find tliis tribe of plants; or 

 attempt to throw any farther light on a fubje6t that feems to have been, fliort as it is, a complete 

 puzzle to two fuch eminent bolanifts; but merely (tate our ideas, that we think thefe plants were 

 fufficiently well arranged under the hvft afl'umed clafs, and equally readily to be known by their old 

 fpecific titles. 



