COMBRETUM LATIFOLIUM. 
Class. 
OCTO-DECANDRIA. 
(Broad-leaved Combretum.) 
Natural Order. 
COMBRETACE^E. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character Calyx with a four or five- 
toothed deciduous limb. Petals four or five, inserted 
at the top of the calyx. Stamens eight or ten, exserted. 
Ovaries from two to five, ovulate. Style filiform. Fruit 
four or five-winged. Seed one, pendulous. — Don's 
Gardening and Botany. 
Specific Character.— Plant an evergreen shrub. 
Stems climbing, glabrous. Leaves ample, coriaceous, 
oblong, acuminated, sometimes rounded. Spikes short, 
crowded with flowers. Flowers small, red. Calyxes 
pubescent. Petals five, obovate, obtuse. Stamens ten, 
twice the length of the calyx. 
Synonyme.— C. macrophyllum. 
Combretum is an extensive genus of climbing plants, the species of which are 
described by botanists as 44 among the most splendid of the climbing plants of the 
tropics, adorning the trees from which they hang with garlands of white, crimson, 
and yellow flowers." Few plants, indeed, surpass those already introduced in the 
elegance and brilliancy of their blossoms ; and yet, some of those that remain 
are said to be far superior in splendour. Undoubtedly, many of them would prove 
of eminent service in our stoves ; and we hope that ere long some botanical 
traveller will be fortunate enough to transmit a few of the most deserving to this 
country. 
We are not aware of the existence of a previous figure of the present fine 
species, which has flowered most abundantly at Messrs. Henderson's Nursery, 
Pineapple-place, and in the magnificent collection of Mrs. Lawrence, at Ealing 
Park. It is evidently identical with the C. latifolium of Don in the " Linnsean 
Transactions," and the C. macrophyllum of Roxburgh in the " Hortus Bengalensis." 
It is an East Indian species, but at what precise period it was introduced to 
England we are not informed. Our drawing was procured from Messrs. Hender- 
son's plant in May, 1844. 
In the general appearance of the inflorescence, there is a striking resemblance 
between this species and C. grandiflorum ; but a comparison of the two reveals 
several essential distinctions. The flower-spikes of the present kind are shorter, 
and broader in proportion to their length ; the stamens, moreover, are not so long. 
The plant is altogether of a much stouter habit, and is remarkable for the large 
dimensions of the foliage. We were at first inclined to regard it as a shy 
