HOVEA SPLENDENS. 
(Splendid-flowered Hovea.) 
Class. 
MONADELPHIA 
Order. 
DECANDRIA, 
Natural Order. 
LEGUMINOSjE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx bilabiate; upper lip 
semibifid, broad, and retuse; lower one three-parted. 
Keel obtuse. Stamens all connected, the tenth or upper 
one only more or less free. Legume sessile, roundish, 
ventricose, two-seeded. Seeds strophiolate. Bon's 
Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character.— Plant an evergreen shrub. 
Leaves nearly sessile, slightly cordate at the base, ovate, 
terminating rather abruptly, and mucronulate, dark 
green above. Calyx covered with dark brown tomen- 
tum. Flowers generally in pairs, almost sessile. Corolla 
very showy. Standard bright blue, with a white ring 
at the bottom. Wings and keel purplish. 
We have not been able to find any published description of this beautiful 
species, which was raised in the nursery of Mr. Knight, King's Road, Chelsea, 
from seeds collected in the Swan River Colony, and presented to Mr. Knight by 
Captain Mangles, R.N. It flowered about two months ago in a warm greenhouse, 
and our drawing was then made. 
In its general characteristics, particularly in the flowers, it bears a considerable 
resemblance to the best of all Hoveas, H. Celsii. On a more attentive inspection, 
however, and a comparison of the two plants, they are materially different. The 
leaves of H. Celsii are distant, rather oval than ovate, pale green, and retuse at 
the extremity. Those of H. splendens are closer, more thoroughly ovate, a little 
inclined to be cordate at the base, stipulate, having a strong mucrone at the end, 
and deep green, even in a stove, on the upper side. The flowers appear always to 
come in pairs, and the branches seem altogether weaker than those of H. Celsii. 
In regard to the blossoms, they are nearly equal in size, and quite as rich in colour, 
as those of the species with which we are now comparing them. 
The plant is cultivated in the same way as the rest of the genus, of which it 
may be remarked that, from a fear of using the knife in pruning, or of stopping 
the shoots in any way, cultivators allow them to grow up with bare stems, and 
long naked branches ; so that a dwarf and bushy specimen is rarely met with. 
This system requires alteration ; and we would recommend either the pruning of 
