CANTUA BICOLOR. 
(Two-Coloured Cantua.) 
CAast. . Order. 
PENTANDRI A . MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
POLEMONIA.CE/E. 
Generic Character.— Calyx urceolate, or with a 
campanulate tube, five- toothed, or cleft to the middle in 
three or five parts. Corolla tubulose, somewhat funnel- 
shaped, three times larger than the calyx ; limb five_ 
lobed, only partially spreading ; lobes obcordate, nearly 
equal, convolute in aestivation. Stamens inserted in 
the tube near the base, exserted. Disc short, fleshy. 
Ovarium many-seeded. Capsules coriaceous, three- 
valved. 
Specific Character. — Plant & shrub, four to six feet 
high. Branches numerous, downy. Leaves alternate, 
petiolate, fringed with soft hairs round the margins, 
and tomentose beneath, cuneate oblong, mucronate. 
Corymbs terminal. Flowers numerous, large, very 
showy. Pedicels half an inch or more long. Calyx I 
cylindrical, ovate, green, two-lipped, one lip with two, 
the other with three ciliated teeth. Corolla funnel- 
shaped, about an inch and a half long, spreading at the 
mouth to about the same in diameter. Tube longer 
than the calyx, of a bright rich yellow ; limb some- 
what spreading, of five ovate oblong segments of a fine 
carnation red. Stamens much longer than the corolla. 
Filaments curved. Anthers oblong, yellow. Style 
longer than the stamens. 
Authorities and Synonymes. — Cantua, De Can- 
dolle s Periphragmos, Ruiz et Pav., Flor. Peruv. 2, p. 17 ; 
Cantua tomentosa, Cav. Icon., 4, p. 43, t. 364 ; Peri- 
phragmos dependens, Ruiz et Pav., Flor. Peruv. 2, 
p. 18, t. 133 ; Cantua dependens, Pers., Ench. 1, p. 187 ; 
Cantua buxifolia (?) Juss., Ann. Mus. 3, p. 118, t. 8. 
This very beautiful greenhouse plant is a native of Peru, from whence it has 
been recently introduced by Messrs. Veitch and Son of Exeter, through their 
collector, Mr. William Lobb, who discovered and sent the seeds, in 1 846. 
It is one of the most showy of all Polemoniaceous plants, and its habit as a 
shrub is very neat and compact ; the foliage is of the most lively green, and the 
flowers are rich in colour, and produced in the greatest profusion ; altogether, it is 
one of the most valuable of recent introductions. 
Seven or eight specimens of Cantua have been discovered and described by 
various authors, but our present subject and C. pyrifolia are the only two at present 
known in our collections, and both have been introduced by Messrs. Veitch through 
the same collector. 
All the kinds are tender plants, some requiring the warmth of the stove, others 
the shelter of the greenhouse. The prevailing colours of the flowers are white and 
yellow, with tinges of red in various shades and degrees ; the C. bicolor alone 
exhibits the deep rich colouring, as shown in the figure. 
The leaves and wood of all the species, but especially of the subject of our plate, 
