ACHIMENES HIRSUTA. 
(Hairy Achimenes.) 
Class. Order. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMI A. 
Natural Order. 
GESNERACI'LE. 
Generic Character, — Calyx with its tube adnate Specific Character. — Plant an herbaceous peren- 
to the ovary ; limb five-parted ; lobes lanceolate. Co- nial, with tuberous roots. Stem erect, simple, hairy, 
rolla tubularly funnel-shaped, often swollen at the Panicles bulbiferous. Leaves cordate, serrated on 
base ; limb five-cleft ; lobes sub-equal, sub-rotund. tbe margin, and hairy on both surfaces, Peduncle 
Stamens four, didynamous ; anthers not cohering. Ru- solitary, as long as the leaves. Corolla a long, noddins 
diments of the fifth stamen situated below the base of tube, with a flat limb ; segments rounded and serru- 
the corolla. Nectary glandulose in a small ring. Style lated at the edges, 
slightly thickened towards the stigma, oblique or with 
two separate lobes. Capsule nearly two-celled, two- 
valved ; placentas parietal, subsessile. 
Few genera are more popular, and deservedly so, at the present day with the 
inquirers after truly valuable ornamental plants, than Achimenes. The gorgeous 
specimens of the several recent augmentations of new species comprehended within 
its pale, which now form such a conspicuous feature in all summer exhibitions of 
floricultural skill, bear undeniable testimony of the sterling worth of the genus ; 
and it is with pleasure that we here give prominence to another of its specious 
members. 
British collections are indebted to a sheer accident for the possession of this 
engaging plant. The seeds or small tubers had been fortuitously scattered amongst 
the materials which surrounded a collection of Orchidaceous plants received from 
Guatemala, by Messrs. Henderson, of Pine-apple Place, in the early part of 1843 ; 
and these having been preserved and placed in a warm atmosphere, young plants 
were soon discovered springing up amongst them, which at first were thought to 
be A. pedunculate but on producing their flowers in the following autumn, proved 
a distinct and entirely new species. 
Its affinities are with A. pedunculate which it very closely resembles in many 
respects. The stem, however, is more robust ; aud the internodes being shorter, 
and the leaves larger, it has a better furnished appearance. Like its ally it produces 
many scaly bulbs or tubers from the bosom of the leaves, especially on the upper 
part of the plant ; and these are always most numerous as winter approaches. 
Flowering specimens vary in height from one to two feet and a half. 
