TROPi:OLUM POLYPHYLLUM. 
(Many-leaved Indian Cress.) 
OCTANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
TROP^OLACE^. 
Generic Character.— CaZ?/,^' five-parted, iipper lobe 
furnished with a spur. Petals five, unequal ; three 
lower ones smallest, or vanished altogether. StMrnens 
eight, free from the base. Carpels three, somewhat 
erose, kidney-shaped, indehiscent, furrowed, roundish. 
Seed large, filling the cell.— Don'* Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant an herbaceous perennial. 
Root a tuber. Stems numerous, strong, ascending 
erectly, not at all twining. Leaves very abundant ; 
leaflets five to ten, oblong or obovate, connected at the 
base, diverging pretty regularly from the centre, glau- 
cous. Petals unguiculate, rather longer than the calyx, 
obtuse, entire, deep yellow. 
Long known to botanists by descriptions and dried specimens, and a plant 
which it has, for some time, been considered desirable to obtain. When T. edule 
bloomed last year, it was at first thought to be the T. polyphyllum ; but further 
examination showed that this view was a mistaken one, and that the T. poly- 
phyllum had yet to be made public, though it had actually blossomed in England 
one or two years previously. 
The genuine T. polypTiyllum^ of which we here present a representation, was 
imported by Mr. Knight, of the King's Road, Chelsea, from some part of Bolivia, 
or Upper Peru, about four years since, having been gathered there by Mr. Kelly, 
a collector to Mr. Knight. It flowered at the Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, in the 
summer of 1839 or 1840, at which period we had the annexed drawing made ; 
but as the plants ceased blooming rather suddenly, and as it has not again 
blossomed till June last, we reserved our figure till it should flower more perfectly. 
That point having now been gained, we can publish it with greater confidence, as 
depicting a beautiful and meritorious plant. 
While it certainly does resemble T. edule in the flowers, it is a very difi^erent 
species in its habitude. The stems are more numerous, very much stronger, grow 
with greater erectness, have to all appearance nothing of the twining character, 
and bear their leaves far more densely. The latter, too, have broader leaflets, 
which are less loosely and more regularly disposed, and are glaucous on the upper 
