CHIRITA SINENSIS. 
(Chinese Chirita.) 
Class. Order. 
DID YN AMI A. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order. 
GESNERACEiE. ( Veg. King.) 
Generic Character.— Calyx tubulous, pentagonous, 
valvate. Corolla monopetalous, tubular, campanulate, 
ventricose beneath ; limb bilabiate, five-lobed, lobes 
rounded. Stamens five, two fertile, and three smaller 
ones abortive. Anthers cohering, kidney-shaped, naked, 
one-celled. Ovary a silique. Style one. Stigma bi- 
partite, lobes oblong and spreading. Capsule two- 
celled. 
Specific Character. — Plant a stove perennial. 
"Leaves springing directly from the root. Petioles short, 
but very thick and triquetrous, expanding into an 
elliptical, ovate blade, the outer ones the longest, all 
hairy, crenate, obtuse, wrinkled, pale, and with very 
prominent veins beneath. Scape a span and more high, 
at first curved downwards, then erect, stout, terete, 
clothed with copious, patent, red hairs, and termi- 
nating in asubtrichotomous, compound corymb, having 
at the base two large, deciduous, membranaceoua 
bracteas. Peduncle and pedicels with coarse spreading 
hairs. Calyx small, with five ovate segments. Corolla 
large, lilac purple, yet varied with red and white ; the 
tube inflated, but with a sudden compression towards 
the base beneath, forming a carina ; faux open ; limb 
two-lipped, upper lip of two, lower of three rounded 
lobes ; within the corolla, on the lower side, are two 
linear, orange-coloured callosities ; above, at the faux, 
a broad two-lobed one, of the same colour. Stamens 
two fertile with the anthers two-lobed, firmly united to 
each other, two sterile filaments, and one rudimentary 
filament. Ovary linear, glanduloso-pilose. Style short. 
Stigma one-lipped, bifid."— Hooker. 
For the opportunity of figuring this beautiful little plant we are indebted to the 
fine collection at Eeadleaf, where we made our drawing in September last. It is 
stated by Dr. Lindley in the " Botanical Register," vol. hi., t. 4284, to be " one of 
the first results of any importance, from the voyage to China, by Mr. Fortune, on 
account of the Horticultural Society. It was sent home in a wooden case, and its 
beautiful large lilac fox-glove-like flowers were open when it arrived." This was in 
1844 ; since that time other species, vying with it in beauty, have also been intro- 
duced into our collections ; two of them have already been figured and described ; 
C. zeylanica, in "Mag. Bot." v. xiii., t. 265, and " Bot. Mag." 4182, and C. 
Walkeri, in " Bot. Mag." 4327. They are both plants with rare attractions. 
The habit of our present subject is intermediate betwixt Streptocarpus Rexii, and 
Gloxinia speciosa. Its season of flowering is very prolonged, under favourable 
circumstances continuing for many months together ; and by the judicious manage- 
ment of several specimens of this plant placed in different temperatures, the season 
of bloom might be extended almost throughout the year. 
In respect to cultivation, it will grow and flower freely in a warm greenhouse ; 
but to have it in anything like perfection, a moist, but moderate stove-heat is 
necessary. It should there be placed as near to the glass as possible, and be well 
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