53 
ABUTILON STRIATUM. 
(striated- FLOWEREU ABUTILON.) 
CLASPS. OltM^K. 
MONADELPHIA. POLYANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDKK. 
MALVACEiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx naked, five-cleft, visually angular. Style multifid at the apex. Carpels 
capsular, usually bladdery, five to thirty, in a whorl around the central axis, one-celled, three or 
many-seeded, connected so closely together as to form a many-celled capsule, niutic or awned at the 
apex. — Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant a slender shrub, usually about four feet high, smooth, slightly brancheds 
Leaves alternate, stipulate, sometimes rather cordate at the base, unequally divided into three or 
five acute lobes, and liberally but very irregularly serrated. Flowers axillary, solitary, with long 
weak peduncles, drooping. Calyx five-parted ; segments ovate-lanceolate, acute, prominently 
nerved. Corolla carapanulate, with five equal, roundish, obtuse petals, orange-red, richly veined 
with brownish-crimson. Stamens numerous, with reddish-purple anthers. 
Originally introduced to the Glasgow Botanic Garden by Mr. Tweedie from 
the Banda Oriental, and by Mr. Gardner from the Organ Mountains, this graceful 
species has latterly been transmitted to English collections, and been grown in 
those around London for nearly two years. It possesses a considerable share of 
sterling excellence, which resides chiefly in the splendid colours and pretty striping 
of its flowers^ as well as the engaging manner in which they depend from the 
stems on their long slender peduncles ; but cultivators too generally deem it a 
straggling plant, and unfit for ornamental purposes, on account of the weakness of 
its stems, and the great distance between the foliage. 
Respecting the latter particulars, no plant has suffered more from inappropriate 
treatment. Although Dr. Lindley, in a passing notice of it in the Botanical 
Register, recommends a greenhouse as the fittest situation with regard to tempera- 
ture, yet the greater number of culturists still keep it in a stove ; and when, as a 
necessary consequence of their imprudent management, it assumes a rambling 
habit, they denounce it as an unsuitable species for common collections. 
