GO' 



TEUCRIUM ABUTILOIDES. 



drooping, orange colour, twice as long as the calyx, pubescent, arranged in pairs, 

 in threes, or somewhat scattered. Calyx yellowish-green, pubescent, dentate, 

 with either acute or obtuse teeth (acute in the younger flowers, obtuse in the 

 older ones), variously inflated, most so after the corolla has fallen, when it is so 

 much inflated as to appear almost globose. Filaments twice as long as the corolla, 

 and adhering at the back, having the exterior ones longer than the two interior. 

 Anthers with two confluent cells, bursting lengthwise ; style the length of the 

 stamens, somewhat equally divided at the apex ; seeds (achsenia) wrinkled. 



This is by no means a showy plant, though its foliage is truly elegant'; neither 

 is it a plant of recent introduction, as, according to Aiton, it was cultivated in 

 this country in 1777. It is, notwithstanding, a scarce plant still, though, on 

 account of its foliage and its comparative rarity, it is well deserving of cultivation. 

 Our drawing was made from a plant in the collection of the Birmingham Botanical 

 and Horticultural Society. It is a native of the northern part of the Island of 

 Madeira, where it was collected by Masson and Lowe ; but, according to those 

 gentlemen, is exceedingly rare in a wild state. The soil in which it grows best is 

 rather a rich strong loam ; it may be propagated freely by cuttings of the young 

 branches, struck in sand or in light sandy soil. 



As regards its station in the Natural arrangement, the student who has attended to our remarks in the previous 

 numbers will have no difficulty in recognizing it as an Exogen or Dicotyledon, and that it as clearly belongs to 

 the third Sub-class, or Monopetalous division, upon which we have a few introductory remarks at page 50 in our 

 last number. Monopetalw have their flowers variously formed and divided, in consequence of which botanists have 

 arranged them in two groups, viz. — Flowers regular, or such as have the margins of the corolla even, as in 

 Convolvulus, or equally divided, as in Campanula : and Flowers irregular ; or such as have the corolla unequally 

 developed, as in Salvia, Teucrium, or Linaria. Another point which it is necessary to notice is the situation of the 

 Ovary— that is, whether it be above or below the calyx ; or in other words, whether the ovary be superior or 

 inferior. Our present plant having the ovary superior and the flowers irregular, belongs to a section which is 

 distinguished by these two circumstances. It is necessary in the next place to determine the natural order to 

 which it belongs — a question upon which there is no difficulty in deciding. The bilabiate corolla, the didynamous 

 stamens, the deeply-divided four-lobed ovary (having the appearance of four naked seeds), the square stem and 

 opposite aromatic leaves refer it at once to the Nat. ord. LabiMm, or mint tribe. It only remains now to ascertain 

 the genus, which will be determined by carefully examining the different parts of the flower, viz., the regular or 

 irregular calyx, and the number of its furrows or angles ; the shape of the upper and lower lip of the corolla ;'the 

 number and length of the stamens ; and other circumstances with which every one who has studied the Linnean 

 arrangement must be perfectly familiar. 



The generic name is said to be derived from Teucer, a Trojan Prince ; the specific name from Abutilon, a 

 Mallow, the leaves bearing some resemblance to those of the Mallow. 



