HABROTHAMNUS FASCICULATUS. 
(Cluster-flowered Habrothamnus.) 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA, 
Natural Order. 
SOLANACEiE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx campanulate, five- 
toothed. Corolla hypogynous, tubular, and club-shaped, 
tube long, limb five-toothed, contracted at the mouth. 
Stamens five, inserted about the middle of the tube of 
the corolla, included ; filaments simple. Anthers 
opening lengthwise. Ovary two-celled, placenta ob- 
long, dissepiment adnate, many-seeded. Style simple ; 
stigma capitate, indistinctly two-lobed. 
Specific Character. — Plant a shrub, growing five 
to six feet high, downy. Branches round. Leaves pe- 
tiolate, alternate, ovate-acuminate, entire, somewhat 
wavy ; petioles short, fleshy, tinged with red. Flowers 
cymose, produced at the termination of each branchlet, 
fasciculate. Floral leaves three or four, situated im- 
mediately beneath each fascicle. Calyx small, tubular, 
somewhat coloured, cut into five erect, ovate-acumi- 
nate, fringed segments, or teeth. Corolla three times 
the length of the calyx, of a deep rich crimson colour, 
urceolate, tapering at the base, and contracted at the 
mouth ; limb in five slightly spreading acute teeth. 
Stamens included. Filaments simple, and inserted 
below the middle of the tube. Anthers almost round. 
Ovary round, seated on a shallow fleshy disk. Style 
shorter than the tube. Stigma capitate. 
Synonymes. — Meyenia fasciculata, Schlecht. Habro- 
thamnus elegans, Scheidweiler. Cestrum roseum, Hort. 
This beautiful hardy greenhouse plant is a native of mountain sides in Mexico, 
where it was found growing in company with Gaultheria nitida, Cobcea stipularis, &c, 
and formed a shrub of five or six feet high of most surpassing beauty. 
It was introduced from its native country to Belgium, by M. Van Houtte, 
Nurseryman, Ghent, about 1839, and from thence it found its way into the Nursery 
of Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co., Exeter. It was also received into the Gardens 
of the Horticultural Society. 
Although a free bloomer, in this country it has hitherto flowered only imper- 
fectly. In its native habitats the flowers are produced in such quantities as to give 
the branches the appearance of a crimson wreath ; and Hartweg describes it in his 
communications with the Horticultural Society as one of the gayest plants of the 
Mexican Flora, 
It flowered at Chatsworth this last spring on the conservative wall, where it 
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