143 
COMESPERMA GRACILIS. 
(slender comespkrma.) 
class. order. 
MONADELPHIA. OCTANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
POLYGALE^. 
Generic Character. — Sepals five-sepcalled, deciduous; two inner sepals of the form of wings, three outer 
ones small. Petals three to five, united with the tuhe of the stamens, the lower one keel-formed, 
three-lohed ; middle lobe beardless, entire, or emarginate ; two lateral petals scale-formed, two supe- 
rior ones alternating with the superior sepals of the calyx. Stamens eight, united into a tube, which 
is cleft in front, free at the apex. Anthers bursting by a terminal pore. Fruit capsular, two- 
celled, spatulate, tapering towards the base. Seeds with a long tuft of hair at their base. — Don's 
Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character.— -P/aw^ suffriiticose. Stems numerous, very slender, twining. Leaves few in 
number, linear-lanceolate, bluntish, slightly wavy at the margins. Racemes axillary, many- 
flowered. Flowers very numerous ; wings bright blue ; keel purple. Capsules half an inch long, 
flattened, with four projecting angles, enlarging towards the upper extremity, two-seeded. 
If the vast number of plants which are constantly being introduced to this 
country, were to be subjected to the test of well-founded and established criteria, 
and cultivated only when possessed of real and sterling merits, we imagine that 
many which are now allowed a place in our collections, solely on account of their 
novelty, would speedily be discarded, and their place supplied with older, but 
more truly ornamental and valuable species. From such a circumstance, however, 
the present new and highly-interesting plant would be in no danger of suffering 
any detraction in the cultivator's esteem, as its graceful and elegant habits, and 
the number, the beauty, and the durability of its blossoms, combine to render it at 
once a desirable and ornamental feature in any collection. 
This pretty species was raised in the Epsom nursery in the year 1834, from 
seeds casually communicated to Messrs. Young, and probably received from 
Australia, of which vast and prolific continent it is doubtless a native. In the 
year 1836 it first produced its flowers, but they were then far inferior to those 
VOL, V. NO. LV. u 
