TRIPTILION SPINOSUM. 
(Spiny Triptilion.) 
Class. Order, 
SYNGENESIA. ^QUALIS. 
Natural Order. 
COMPOSITiE. 
Generic CHARACTER.i—J^/or^Z leaves five ; leaflets 
oblong, drawn together in a tube, often having three 
to five narrow bracts at the base, unequally subim- 
bricated, persistent. Corolla four or five-flowered. 
Florets all hermaphrodite ; fertile ones two-lipped ; 
exterior lip ovately strap-shaped, tridentate ; interior | spiny mucrone. Floral leaves blue, 
one entire, awl-shaped. Anthers with a tube, which 
has ten scales at the base. Achenia trigonal, small. 
Pappus chafi'y, deciduous ; scales with a long, ciliated 
summit. Receptacle minute, villose. 
Specific Character. — Plant an herbaceous peren- 
nial. Leaves pinnately-lobed ; lobes terminating in a 
There is a striking beauty about the vivid blue tint of the blossoms of Trip- 
tilion spinosum^ which must always render it an object on which it is delightful to 
gaze ; and the extreme neatness of these flowers, with their copious production in 
dense heads, is another characteristic which adds to its effect. 
Writing of it in the Botanical Register, Dr. Lindley remarks that " it is a native 
of Chile, where it appears to be exceedingly common, and is called Sempermva^ on 
account of the permanence of its deep azure flowers. It has long been known to 
botanists conversant with the Chilian Flora as a most desirable species to 
introduce, and repeated attempts have been made to secure it, but in vain, until 
seeds came into the hands of Mr. Frost, gardener to the Countess of Grenville, at 
Dropmore." Mr. Frost has been very successful in rearing it ; but the specimens 
exhibited by him at the Chiswick Gardens have not been free from that brownness 
in the lower leaves, and that partially unhealthy aspect, which are too common to 
the species. 
We owe our drawing to Mr. Glendinning, of the Turnham Green Nursery, in 
whose collection it flowered well last autumn, and where our artist obtained 
specimens. Mr. Glendinning writes us respecting it as follows :— Its scarcity in 
collections is attributable to three causes ; viz., the sparing way in which it has 
hitherto been increased, the want of the true desideratum of culture, and the great 
difficulty attending its preservation during winter. I perpetuate it by division of 
