16 University of California "Publications in Botany [Vol. 5 



duced into cultivation the same year apparently. It was 

 originally collected by Langsdorff, who sent the seeds to Wein- 

 mann. The description speaks of the flowers as green and the 

 anthers as azure. The type of the species is a fairly well-known 

 garden plant. It has been cultivated in the U. C. B. G. under 



22 102 



various numbers, such as 02 and 05. The latter number is 



well represented in the photograph reproduced as plate 17. 



N. Langsdorfjii is a plant of three or four feet in height, of 

 loose and spreading habit. Its leaves are elliptical-lanceolate, 

 patent, narrowed and sessile by a long decurrent base. They 

 are decidedly rugose above. The corollas are funnel-shaped 

 below with a gibbous ring above and a concave, spreading limb 

 slightly notched in five broad, shallow lobes. They are 

 greenish yellow and pendent, or at least nodding. The pollen 

 is azure. The capsules are for the most part 2-celled, but 3-celled 

 capsules are not uncommon. 



While the type is unmistakable and is well represented in 

 the plates in the Botanical Magazine (cf. Sims, 1821, pi. 2221 

 and 1825, pi. 2555), there are plants often referred to it which 

 Comes has mentioned as varieties. 



N. Langsdorffii var. grandiflora Comes (1899, p. 28) is the 

 plant of the gardens usually known as N. commutata Fischer et 

 Meyer (1846, III, p. 377). It is a plant of less slender and 

 less spreading habit, larger flowers, which are more deeply 

 notched, more decidedly zygomorphous, and with the limb more 

 spreading. The outside of the corolla is greenish yellow as in 

 the type, but the inner (upper) surface of the corolla is milk- 

 white. The flowers also are ascending, not pendent or hanging. 

 The pollen is slightly bluish, not at all azure, but the anther 

 coats are purplish brown. Altogether, the characters recall 

 those of Nicotiana alata var. grandiflora Comes (1899, p. 37) 

 which is N. affinis Moore (1881, p. 141, fig. 31), except that the 

 flowers are smaller and more decidedly yellow outside. It may 

 be of hybrid origin. It is said to have been known in gardens 

 since 1835, but its native country is uncertain. In the U. C. 



B. G., it is represented by number 08 (cf. plate 18), where its 

 behavior is being studied and about which it is hoped to publish 



