CONRADIA FLORIBUNDA. 
(Many-flowered Conradia.) 
Class, 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order. 
ANGIOSPERMI A . 
Natural Order. 
GESNERACEjE. 
(Gesnerworts, Veg.King.) 
Generic Character.— Calyx wholly adnate to the 
ovarium ; limb five-cleft or five-toothed, free. Corolla 
superior, tubular or campanulate ; limb somewhat 
equally five-cleft. Stamens four, didynamous, with 
the rudiment of a fifth behind. Anthers usually co- 
hering into a round head. Glands or disk wanting. 
Capsule dry, clothed with a five or ten-ribbed calyx, 
flat on the top, two-valved. Placentas two, parietal, 
many-seeded. Seeds scobiform. G. Bon. 
Specific Character, — Plant a dwarf evergreen shrub, 
with a neat habit. Branches scattered and spreading. 
Leaves petiolate, alternate, ovate-lanceolate, serrated, 
somewhat rough, of a rich green. Cymes many- 
flowered, on peduncles arising from the axils of the 
leaves. Calyx campanulate, five-toothed. Corolla 
cylindrical, tube an inch-and-a-half long ; limb irregu- 
larly five-cleft. Stamens a little exserted. Anthers 
connected by pairs. Capsule dry, cylindrical. 
Authorities and Synonymes. — Conradia Mart. Nov. 
Gen. Bras., 3, p. 38. Gesnera Swartz, prod. 89. 
Of this beautiful genus of Gesneraceous plants eight species are known, all 
natives of the West Indies and South America : four of these have been introduced, 
of which the subject of our present plate is the last. In November, 1847, it pro- 
duced its handsome scarlet flowers in the nursery of Messrs. Knight and Perry, 
Chelsea, when our drawing was permitted to be made. 
The habit of the plant is very neat, the leaves being small, and of a varied and 
rich green ; it also flowers freely, specimens two inches high, and four inches 
diameter, having upwards of a dozen flowers expanded at one time ; and the period 
of blooming is also of long continuance. The size of the flower, its deep and rich 
scarlet colour, and the manner in which it protrudes itself from amongst the fine 
green foliage, make it one of the prettiest little plants we have lately seen. 
It requires the temperature of the stove, with much the same general treatment 
as the various species of Gesnera ; namely, to be potted in a light rich vegetable 
mould, or a mixture of loam, peat, and sand. 
Like all other Gesneraceous plants it requires very good drainage : fill one-fourth 
of the pot in which it grows with broken crocks, and if a few were mixed with the 
soil it would be advantageous. 
