COLUMNEA SCHIEDIANA. 
(Mis Schiede's Columnea,) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
0,-der. 
ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order. 
GESNERACE^. 
Generic Character — Calyx inferior, five-parted. 
Corolla tubular, straightish, gibbose behind at the base, 
ringent; upper lip erect, arched; lower one trifid, 
spreading. Stamens four, didynamous ; anthers con- 
nected with the rudiment of a fifth behind. Glands 
one to five, around the ovary. Berry one-celled ; pla- 
centas two, parietal, two-lobed. Seeds ohlong.— Bon's 
Gard. and Boto,ny. 
Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen trailing 
shrub. Stems simple. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire, 
downy. Floivers solitary, axillary, on long peduncles. 
Calyx with five expansive, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 
spotted segments. Corolla large, covered with glandu- 
lar hairs, and variegated with dingy yellow, or cream- 
colour, and brown. Berry globose, white. Seeds 
oblong. 
The plant here depicted, which is not more curious than beautiful, was imported 
from Mexico in 1840, by J. Rogers, Esq., of Sevenoaks, Kent ; and having been 
presented by that gentleman to Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, flowered last year in 
their nursery, when we were allowed to have it figured. It first bloomed, however, 
in Mr. Hogers's own collection, and has subsequently flowered in tlie gardens of the 
Horticultural Society, and other establishments. 
It assimilates slightly, in the form and nature of its stems, leaves, and flowers, 
to the remaining species of the genus. Still it possesses features by which it may 
at once be distinguished, and which, indeed, render it very conspicuous. In its 
natural habitat, it is said to grow on old trees, thus assuming much of an epiphytal 
character. The stems are, moreover, pendent or trailing, unusually stout and suc- 
culent, with indented rings or annular contractions at the joints, and the leaves are 
of a peculiar colour. The blossoms stand out from the stems on long, half-drooping 
peduncles, and are singularly large ; both these and the segments of the calyx being 
prettily mottled and streaked with brown on a cream-coloured ground. They are 
produced in great profusion for a lengthened succession of months, including most 
of the summer and autumn seasons. 
If grown in a pot, with plenty of room for its roots, a moderately nourishing 
soil, and a barrel-shaped trelHs to sustain its branches, it attains to great luxuriance, 
and the flowers reach a particularly large size. It is thus treated at the Horticultural 
Society's garden, and apparently kept in a stove of the average temperature. 
