272 
GESNERA ZEBRINA. 
was obtained by Mr. Low from Mr. Doncklaer, director of the Botanic Garden of 
Ghent, and is doubtless from some district of South America. 
The species produces stout succulent stems, which mostly grow to six or nine 
inches in height before they protrude a flower-spike from their summit ; but we 
have seen plants not more than three inches high beginning to show flower. The 
flower-stem rises perpendicularly from the top of the general stem three or four 
inches, where the lovely blos- 
soms are spread out on long 
slender stalks, and continue to be 
thrown out, indefinitely, till the 
height of a foot or eighteen inches 
is attained, when there still seems 
an equal number of buds at the 
top, and lateral flower-bearing 
shoots are, moreover, liberally 
developed from near the base. 
The colour of the blooms is of a 
very rich orange red on the upper 
part, and a light yellowish orange 
beneath, with a quantity of bright 
red spots in the throat. Being 
pendulous, they are, when the 
plant is elevated on an ordinary 
stage, examined to great ad- 
vantage. 
But the leaves are, perhaps, 
the most interesting, because the 
most permanent features. They are of a rich and lively green, with numerous and 
irregular streaks and bands of a purplish tint, and the whole has a remarkably 
velvety appearance. 
It has hitherto been managed as a stove plant, and kept in a moderate heat, with 
proper supplies of moisture. As it blooms in the autumn, and does not cease on 
the approach of winter, it will be advisable to go on watering it till it shows natural 
signs of decay, when its habits may be fully ascertained. A rather rich compost 
will be appropriate ; and it would seem capable of ready increase by cuttings. 
Seeds, too, will most likely be perfected. 
