GESNERACEA.E. 



77 



Plectopoma. — Hanst. in " Linnaea " xxvi. 201. This genus is now 

 placed as a sub-genus or section under Achimenes in the last 

 monograph of the order (see remarks under Gloxinia). It is 

 closely allied to Scheeria, and is intermediate between Gloxinia 

 and Achimenes. In " Gen. PI." Bentham has referred Pled, 

 sarmentiana, " Hook. Ic. PI." t. 378, to both Achimenes and 

 Gloxinia. For horticultural purposes the name " Plectopoma " 

 may, I think, be kept up. 



Taller and more robust plants than Achimenes, bearing large 

 Gloxinia like blooms produced on axillary peduncles ; the root 

 (corms) is similar to Achimenes in both the species ; the calyx 

 lobes are large and leafy. 



Plectopoma sarmentiana (fig. " Hook. Ic. PI." 378).— Oeiras, 

 Brazil. Calyx leafy, deeply 5-cleft ; flowers large, purplish-blue, 

 axillary, solitary ; peduncles much shorter than the leaves. 



glabrata (fig. "Bot. Mag." 4130 as fimbriata). — Mexico. 

 Peduncles axillary, solitary, longer than the petioles ; calyx 

 lobes leafy ; corolla decimate, white or yellowish, dotted with 

 purple, tube infundibuliform. Plectopoma fimbriata, Hanst. 

 in "Linnasa," xxvi. 201; Achimenes gloxiniae flora, " Fl. des 

 Serres," 318. A very fine plant. 



naeg'elioides and its beautifully coloured varieties (fig. " Fl. des 

 Serres," 1745, 1847, 1867) are very old and well-known hybrids. 

 I do not know its origin and I do not think it has ever been 

 given. It has not the large calyx lobes of sarmentiana and 

 glabrata ; it is very probably a cross between Ach. Scheerii 

 and Naeglia zebrina. 



Continental establishments discourse in glowing terms on some 

 new hybrid Plectopomas, but do not give their origin. From 

 the description they must be very similar to naegelioides, and 

 are, I have no doubt, very beautiful plants ; instead of the 

 inflorescence being a bare pyramid above the foliage, as in 

 Naegelia and some Gesneras, the flowers are from the axils 

 of all the upper leaves, forming a head of foliage and flowers. 



Eucodonia (Hanst. in " Linnaea," xxvi. 201). This supposed genus 

 is now amalgamated with Achimenes. It was originally proposed 

 for a plant called Eucodonia Ehrenbergii, which has been proved 

 to be the same as Scheeria, now Achimenes lanata. A second 

 plant was afterwards referred to the genus, viz. E. naegelioides 

 lilacina (fig. "Fl. des Serres," xvii. [1867], 1757), but this is a 

 hybrid form, and I do not see how it differs from the hybrids 

 figured under the name of Plectopoma naegelioides. Roozen 

 advertises hybrids between Achimenes lanata (i.e. Eucodonia 

 Ehrenbergii of foreign catalogues) and Naegelia zebrina : these 

 are said to have very beautiful foliage. The name " Eucodonia " 

 may well disappear. I may here state that a plant received by 

 me from a Continental firm as Plectopoma Bollinsoni is the 

 same as the old Scheeria mexicana. 

 Aeschynanthus. — Very beautiful flowering plants, which in their natural 

 habitats are epiphytic on trees. In hothouses in which there is 



