PHASEOLUS CARACALLA. 
(The Snail Flower.) 
Class. 
DIADELPHIA. 
Order. 
DECANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
Generic Character.— (M?/.*? campanulate, bilabiate; 
upper lip two-toothed, lower one three-parted. Corolla 
papilionaceous ; keel, style, and stamens spirally 
twisted together ; rarely incurved. Stamens diadel- 
phous. Legume compressed or cylindrical ; two-valved, 
many-seeded ; the seeds separated by a kind of cellular 
substance, and furnished with an oval oblong hilum, — 
Don's Gard. and Botany* 
Specific Character.' — Plant a twining perennial. 
Roots fasciculately tuberous. Leaflets ovate-rhomboid, 
acuminate. Racemes very long. Calyx with nearly 
equal teeth. Standard and keel spirally twisted. 
Legumes straight, torulose, pendulous. 
None but a botanist would, at first sight, detect any resemblance between the 
flowers of this extraordinary plant and those of the common Kidney-Bean. And 
yet they both belong to the same genus. 
Many curious instances exist in the vegetable kingdom, in which observers 
have found some real or fancied similarity to objects in the animal world : and 
the one before us is by no means the least noticeable. In the spiral form of the 
folded flowers, ere they are expanded, there is assuredly something not unlike the 
anatomy of the snail. And though the thing with which the flower is thus com- 
pared by no means augments its interest, from association, nothing but the figure 
of the snail, and not its repulsive character, is thought of while we admire this 
singular and really delightful production. 
Having been one of the first exotics cultivated in this country, it has lost 
much of its attraction in modern times. Indeed, it is rarely seen in collections of 
stove plants : we learn, however, that it has recently acquired the name of Glycine 
or Wistaria Harrisonii, and in that way is being put forth as a novelty. 
For the drawing from which our figure has been copied, we are much indebted 
to Lady Hay Williams, by whom a beautifully prepared painting was sent to us. 
We understand it was taken from a plant which bloomed at Sir John Williams's 
seat in Wales ; and which we believe is at Boddlewyddn, Flintshire. 
The species is a deciduous stove-twiner, native of the East Indies, bearing long 
racemes of large flowers, which are of a purple and yellowish hue, They have a 
