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HELICONIA BRAZILIENSIS. 
(BRAZILIAN HELICONIA.) 
CLASS. OUDER. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
MUSACE^. 
Generic Character. — Spathe universal and partial. Calyx none. Corolla three petals, superior. 
Nectary two-leaved. Stigma one. Capsule three-celled, with one-seeded cells. — Encyclopoedia 
of Plants. 
Specific Character An evergreen stove perennial, from seven to eight feet high, smooth. Stem 
clothed with the sheathing bases of the leafstalks. Leafstalks cylinder-shaped, shiny, two feet 
long. Leaves from ten inches to two feet in length, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, marked with 
parallel and oblique nerves ; upper surface approaching a velvety green, beneath paler. Flower stem 
something shorter than the leaves, furnished at the end with five or six spreading boat-shaped and 
taper-pointed deep reddish spatha, attached to a zigzag rachis. Perianth of six linear lanceolate 
acute segments. Stamens perfect, rather longer than the perianth, and inserted at the base of its 
inner segment. Pistil germen inferior tapering downwards, three-celled. Style the length of the 
filaments, slender, swollen in the middle. Stigma obtuse. 
In the natural order Musacece, to which the genus Heliconia belongs, is found 
plants which, for their rich and noble foliage, gigantic stature, and surpassingly 
splendid flowers, may be classed amongst the noblest and most useful objects in the 
vegetable world; for, while in point of ornament it embraces the genus Strelitzia, 
esteemed for the resplendent orange, scarlet, and white blossoms its different species 
display, it possesses, in point of usefulness, the genus Musa, so much prized in 
the tropics for the wholesome food some species produce. 
The species represented in the accompanying plate, is one of extraordinary 
beauty, and when seen in a state of nature, presents one of the richest ornaments 
known to our collections, the brilliant scarlet being so admirably blended and 
distinct ; and when viewed in contrast with the green of the leaves, is seen in its 
highest perfection ; and what, in addition to the above, recommends this species ta 
the notice of all lovers of exotic plants, is the length of time the flowers remain 
perfect ; upwards of a fortnight the detached specimen from which our drawing was 
made remained, with a slight exception, unimpaired, being only now and then during 
that time supplied with fresh water. 
VOL. III. — NO. XXXIII. c c 
