153 
CHORIZEMA OVATA. 
(ovate-leaved chorizema). 
class. order. 
DECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
natural order. 
LEGUMINQStE. . 
Generic Character. — Calyx half five-cleft, bilabiate, upper lip bifid, lower one three-parted. Keel of 
flower ventricose, shorter than the wings. Style short, hooked, crowned by an obliquely obtuse 
stigma. Legume ventricose, one-celled, many-seeded, sessile or subsessile. — Don, in Gard. Die. 
Specific Character. — A greenhouse shrub, from one to two feet high. Stem filiform, angled, scarcely 
pubescent. Leaves alternate, simple, ovate, acuminate, slightly hairy. Flower-stalk terminal, 
slightly pubescent. Calyx tubular, two-lipped, upper two-parted, lower three-parted. Vexillum, 
rounded, margin scarlet or crimson, base , yellow. Stamens ten. Ovarium linear. Style even, 
short, hairy, crooked, acute. — Chorizema ovata, Bot. Reg. 1528. 
The indefatigable Baxter introduced this truly beautiful species from the south- 
west coast of New Holland in 1831. And although it has been known since that 
period to the botanical world, there are still very few collections in which plants 
exist ; this is probably owing to some little difficulty experienced in propagation, or 
to the want of knowing the proper mode of cultivation. 
That our collections may no longer want the exquisite richness of the blossoms 
of this plant, under good management, we shall proceed to lay down our method of 
cultivation, as practised at Chatsworth. Like many other valuable New Holland 
plants, we find it a matter of difficulty to grow this species to a good natural size, 
and at the same time handsome. The majority of the plants, from some cause not 
clear to us, either draw up very weakly, or, what is worse, scarcely progress at all. 
The following are the probable causes which work against its successful cultivation. 
First, being placed at too great a distance from the glass, which always tends to 
draw them up weakly ; the atmosphere too close and damp ; the sure consequence 
of the want of a free circulation of air or want of light. Secondly, improper soil, 
careless potting, or incautious watering. By keeping these matters in view, and 
carefully refusing to practise either, we have succeeded in growing plants of this 
description to a degree of excellence far surpassing our expectations. The soil in 
VOL. iv. — no. xliii. x 
