PLATE DCX. 



RUELLIA FORMOSA. 



Beautiful RuelUa, 



CLASS XIV. ORDER IL 

 DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. Two Chives longer. Seeds covered. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Calyx 5-partitus. Corolla 1-petala, limbo in- 

 aequali 5-lobo. Capsula bilocularis, bivalvis, 

 dentibus elasticis dissiliens. 



Cup 5-parted. Blossom of one petal, with the 

 limb unequally 5-lobed. Fruit a two-celled, 

 tvvo-valved capsule bursting with elastic 

 teeth. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



RuELLiA caule sufFruticoso erecto j foliis pilosis, 

 petiolatis, integerrimis, ovatis, obtusis ; pe- 

 dunculis iateralibus foliis duplo seu triple 

 longioribus, ramosis ; ramulis subtrifloris. 



RuELLiA with a sufFruticose erect stem; hairy, 

 entire, oval, blunt leaves upon footstalks; 

 the flower-stalks twice or thrice as long as 

 the leaves and branched ; the branches three- 

 flowered. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1 . The empalement. 



2. A blossom spread open. 



3. The seed-bud and pointal. 



For this very elegant species we are indebted to Mr. Donn, Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cam- 

 bridge, who informs us that it is a native of Brazil, and was introduced from Portugal in 1808 by sir 

 Charles Cotton, bart. The plant in the Cambridge garden is now nearly four feet high, with many 

 branches, and has continued flowering profusely since the beginning of May, and appears as if it would 

 continue to blossom during the summer. It is propagated by cuttings, and has as yet been kept in the 

 hothouse. 



We have found no figure or description of the plant in any author, but have seen a very fine dried 

 ipecimen of it brought from Portugal by sir Thomas Gage, bart. in the herbarium of A. B. Lambert, 

 esq- with this note affixed : " I found this Ruellia growing, and ripening seeds abundantly, amongst the 

 hothouse-plants in the Botanic-Garden at Lisbon." So ornamental a plant we trust will soon be equally 

 abundant in the hothouses of our own country. 



