[Plate 06.] 



THE ARIZ A PLANT. 



(brown^ea ariza.) 



A Superb Hothouse Tree, from Central America, belonging to the Leguminous Order. 



Specific GD&aracter. 



THE ARIZA PLANT. — Leaves in six or eight pairs, oblong-lanceolate, with, long points, usually narrowed at the base, 

 the shorter of the lower couples cordate at the base. Bractlets connate, downy outside, three times as long as the 

 tube of the calyx. Stamens eleven, not so long as the corolla, free from their very base. 



.Brownaea Ariza : Bentham in Plantce Hartwegiance, p. 171, No. 961*. 



ONE o£ the finest tropical trees in cultivation, and more especially valuable, because 

 it produces its magnificent heads of scarlet flowers without difficulty. The specimen 

 now figured was obtained from the garden of the Horticultural Society. The collector 

 Hartweg, from whom it came, says that it inhabits woods near Guaduas, in the province 

 of Bogota, at the elevation of 1,400 feet above the sea ; that the people call it Ariza, 

 and that it forms a tree from 30 to 40 feet high. 



It is nearly related to the Brownaa grandiceps of the Caraccas, from which Mr. 

 Bentham distinguishes it by its bracts and flowers being larger, the proportions of the 

 floral organs different, and the stamens wholly distinct from each other. To this an 

 inspection of the living plant enables us to add that the leaflets are larger and flatter, 

 with a thicker texture. The claws of the petals are as long or longer than the lobes of 

 the calyx, of which there are four, not three. The following remarks, applied in the 

 Botanical Register to Brownma grandiceps, are equally suited to the Ariza : — - 



All the species of this genus are stove shrubs, inhabiting the hottest parts of America. 

 Their flowers are produced in a short spike, tier above tier, every day witnessing the 



