TORENIA SCABRA. 
(Rough-k-aved Torenia.) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order. 
ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order. 
SCROPHULARIACE^E. 
Generic Character. — Calyx tubular, plicate, oblique- 
ly five- toothed or bilabiate ; lips two or three-toothed. Co- 
rolla ringent ; upper lip bifid, lower one trifid : segments 
almost flat. Stamens four, didynamous, the two upper 
ones short, with entire filaments ; the two lower ones 
inserted at the base of the lower lip, with arched, elon- 
gated filaments, which are each furnished with a tooth- 
formed or filiform appendage at the base : anthers 
•approximating, or adhering by pairs, two-celled ; cells 
diverging or divaricate, confluent at the apex. Style 
simple. Stigma flattened. Capsule oblong, shorter 
than the calyx, two-valved ; valves entire, with flat 
margins ; dissepiment parallel, placentiferous, at length 
free. — Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character.— Plant an annual. Stem erect, 
pubescent at its base, but glabrous above, channelled 
on two sides. Leaves opposite, lanceolate ovate, acutely 
serrated except at the apex and base, scabrous beneath, 
but smooth above. Calyx five-toothed, smooth, regular, 
persistent, with acute segments. Corolla bright blue, 
with the segments much jagged. 
Of the genus Torenia, scarcely anything is known among cultivators, and the 
present plant seems to have shared, though most undeservedly, the fate of its 
predecessors, by being cast into utter oblivion ; for, until last year, we do not 
recollect meeting with it in any metropolitan collection. Then, however, we 
observed it in the greenhouse of Mr. Knight, Chelsea, and being pleased with its 
appearance, and with the pretty blue colour of its blossoms, we presumed that our 
readers would not Be less gratified with a figure. 
It is an erect-growing, annual plant, usually reaching the height of about 
eighteen inches, and neither rambling about nor exhibiting too dense an arrange- 
ment of its branches. Towards the extremities of the shoots the blossoms begin 
to unfold themselves, at first issuing from the opposite axils of the leaves, and 
afterwards forming a kind of loose cyme. As the individual flowers remain 
open for a considerable period, and those above them continue expanding when the 
lower ones fade, a display of bloom is kept up till late in the autumn. The blossoms 
are about an inch long, and of an equal diameter ; and the segments being well 
thrown open, as well as the colour being a most delightful casrulean tint of blue, 
their effect is very agreeable. Indeed, the species is a desirable ornament to the 
greenhouse. 
According to the Botanical Magazine, seeds were sent from New Holland by 
Mr. Fraser, in 1830, and communicated to the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. It 
