18 



CHOROZEMA CORDATUM. 



presented to us by that gentleman in November, 1836. It was then a mere cutting, 

 just rooted ; and is now, in little more than sixteen months, a handsome, bushy 

 plant, about three feet in height, and has produced, this spring, at least fifty 

 racemes of bloom. Its graceful habit, fine foliage, and luxuriant growth, will 

 render it a general favourite in the greenhouse."" 



The genus Chorozema was so named by M. Labillardiere when on his voyage 

 in search of La .Peyrouse; and the circumstances under which he was prompted 

 to construct the word (which are at the same time curious as well as interesting) 

 are thus explained by the late Sir J. E. Smith, in the " Transactions of the Lin- 

 nean Society :" — " M. Labillardiere originally discovered this plant {Chorozema 

 ilicifolium, the species first discovered, and which was introduced in 1803) on the 

 southern coast of New Holland, at the foot of the mountains, in a loamy soil, near 

 a spot where, after being tantalized with finding many salt springs, his party had 

 just met with an ample supply of fresh water. This welcome refreshment, of which 

 he speaks feelingly in his book, seems to have suggested a name for his plant, 

 which he had properly determined to constitute a new genus. He called it 

 Chorozema, evidently, as I presume, from x°P°s a dance, or joyful assembly, and 

 Ce/xa a drink, in allusion to the circumstance just mentioned. This occasioned me 

 to take the liberty of changing the gender of the name, which he had made femi- 

 nine ; and I have taken the further liberty of changing the i for an o, an alteration 

 which the derivation seems to authorize, and indeed to render indispensable." 



It is propagated without difficulty ; cuttings of the young wood inserted in 

 sand under a bell-glass strike root readily. 



