182 



POPULAR GARDEN BOTANY. 



tals inserted between the outer lobes of the calyx, soon falling, 

 sometimes wanting. Stamens inserted into the calyx below the 

 petals, equal, double, or four times the number of the latter. 

 Ovary superior, from two to six-celled. — Herbs, rarely shrubs; 

 leaves opposite, entire ; natives of Europe, America, and India ; 

 the properties astringent, and some are used as dyes. 



CUPHEA. 



Gen. Char. (Dodecandria Monogynia.) Calyx from six to twelve- 

 toothed, occasionally gibbous at the base ; petals six, inserted 

 into the calyx, or none ; stamens twelve ; style one ; capsule one- 

 celled and curved. 



Named from the Greek for curved, from the form of the 

 capsule. A genus of American plants, of which several are 

 very ornamental, as ignea, with scarlet tubes, tipped with 

 black and white ; strigilosa, flowers red and yellow ; and 

 Llavea, with very pretty crimson flowers, which appear from 

 June to August ; these are favourite greenhouse plants, and 

 bear turning out in the summer very well ; they should have 

 a soil of peat and loam. C. silenoides is a Mexican annual ; 

 the five petals of the flower are spreading, and are of a deep 

 purple blood-colour, the two upper have a pale margin ; this 

 plant is now tolerably hardy, and makes a handsome bed, 

 but the seeds must be raised on a hotbed. 



