5 
SCHIZANTHUS RETUSUS. 
CLASS. 
DIANDRIA. 
(bLUNT-PETALLED SCHIZANTHUS.) 
ORDER. 
MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
SCROPHULARINEJE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx 5-parted, somewhat unequal. Corolla , limb in 4 parts, lobed, irregular, 
plaited while expanding; tube narrow and short. Stamina 4, two upper ones barren, filaments all 
adnate. Anthers inserted below in two places, confluent at the top. Ovarium of 2 locaments placed 
on a smooth fleshy disk. Stigma compressed, obtuse, of 2 united lobes. Capsula of 2 places con- 
taining many seeds ; valves divided. Dissepiments parallel. Placenta 2, spongy. Seeds simple, 
shell-like, having a hard wrinkled integument ; albumen fleshy. Embryo arched ; the rostel roundly 
obtuse and twice as long as the seed leaves. 
Specific Character. — Fruit on footstalks erect ; Corollas tubes longer than the calyx ; lips variously cut 
or slashed, middle one arrow-shaped, upper one somewhat square and abrupt. — D. Don , in Brit. 
Flower Garden. 
This is without doubt the most strikingly beautiful species of Schizanthus that 
has vet appeared. We are indebted to Dr. Gillies for its introduction, who dis- 
covered it on the Chilian Andes, and sent seeds to the late Mr. Barclay, who raised 
the first plants in 1831 at Bury Hill. It is an annual of great beauty, and of 
tolerable easy culture, growing from seeds which ripen freely, if the plants be kept 
in an airy situation at the time of flowering. 
Those intended for the principal flowering we would recommend to be sown the 
previous summer, or early in the autumn ; and in February and March two more 
sowings should be made to succeed each other. The autumn sowings, or rather 
those of the previous summer, should be sown in the middle of July and beginning 
of August. Light rich mould is the most suitable for the purpose. As soon as the 
plants have formed two proper leaves, pot them in small sixty- sized pots, drained 
so as to allow the water to pass off freely. They should remain in these pots in a 
cool airy part of the green-house, or dry frame, during the winter ; and about the 
beginning of March be shifted into pots a size larger, which shifting should be 
repeated as often as the roots reach to the sides of the pots. The soil should be 
composed of about equal parts of peat, well rotted dung, and light sandy loam. 
Their roots are very tender, and easily injured; the first effects of injury 
visible, is the drooping of the leaves of the plants, as if for want of water, which 
is too often administered as a remedy : very shortly after drooping, the plant falls 
