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BEAUFORTIA DECUSSATA. 
(dECUSSATED-LEAVED BEAUFORTIA.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
POLYADELPHIA. POLYANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
MYRTACE^. 
Gneric Character. — Tube of ca/«/<j' turbinate ; limb five-parted ; lobes acute. Petals five. Bundles 
of stamens five, opposite the petals. Anthers inserted by the base, bifid at the apex ; lobes de- 
ciduous. Sti/le filiform. Capsule corticate, incrusted to the tube of the calyx, three-celled ; cells 
one-seeded. Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character Plant an evergreen shrub. Branches slender, straggling. Leaves opposite, 
decussate, ovate or oval, acute, many-nerved, curving downwards. Flowers deep crimson. Bundles 
of stamens on very long claws ; filaments radiating. Styles usually wavy. 
We present a drawing of this interesting old plant, although it has been in 
Britain more than forty years, because its flowers are no less ornamental than sin- 
gular, and are developed throughout the gloomiest part of the year, and likewise from 
its comparative scarcity in collections, and the desirableness of showing pictorially 
something of its character, in order to give a new stimulus to its cultivation. For 
the same reason we add a woodcut, which represents more of the habit of the species. 
The south-west coast of New Holland is its natural habitat, and it was known 
in Britain as early as the year 1800, or shortly after. It is now to be met with 
in most nurseries, but chiefly in those private gardens where the older kinds of plants 
are yet cultivated. 
From its straggling disposition, it is only when in a small state that it has the 
aspect of a dwarf shrub, unless it be occasionally pruned. But a large specimen 
may be made more compact by a trifling assistance in training, taking care to turn 
the points of the shoots downwards at first, as well for the purpose of bringing them 
nearer each other, and checking their elongation, as for inducing a freer production 
of lateral branches. 
The curious blossoms commence unfolding in the autumn months, varying from 
September to November, and a succession is generally preserved far into the spring. 
