FRANCISCEA LATIFOLIA. 
(Broad-leaved Franciscea.) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order. 
ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order. 
SCROPH ULARIACEiE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx permanent, inflated, 
campanulate, five- toothed ; teeth equal. Corolla salver- 
shaped ; limh five-parted, nearly equal ; lobes rounded, 
repand, with incumbent anthers ; tube inflated at the 
apex, incurved. Style thickest at the top ; stigma two- 
lobed. Capsule ovate, two-celled, two-valved ; valves 
indivisible ; dissepiment parallel with the valves, mem- 
branous, thin, separating at the base from the parietes 
of the capsule at maturity.— Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen shrub, 
growing about three feet in height. Branches short 
and spreading, inclined to droop a little at the extremity. 
Leaves broadly oval, acute, smooth, somewhat undu- 
lated. Calyx smooth. Flowers axillary, mostly ter- 
minal. Corolla very large, deep blue, changing to 
white. 
Mr. Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, near Dublin, has the credit of 
introducing and first flowering this splendid species, which is a native of Tejuco, in 
Brazil, not far from Rio Janeiro. Plants having been sent from the above garden 
to Mr. Knight, of the King's Road, Chelsea, and Messrs. Henderson, of Pine-apple 
Place, flowered in both these nurseries in February and March last ; and from Mr. 
Knight's, where a considerable number of plants have been reared, we received 
permission to have the annexed drawing executed. 
All the good properties for which F. Hopeana is so highly esteemed, exist con- 
currently in the present plant. It flowers with great profuseness, — the notion that 
has obtained regarding the scarcity of its blossoms having originated from weakly 
and imperfect specimens ; — the flowers are opened throughout the winter and 
spring months, when gaiety is so desirable in the stove ; they present, on the same 
plant, at the same time, a diversity of colours, varying from dark blue to almost 
pure white ; and exhale, constantly, a fragrance which is agreeable to most persons. 
This species has, however, additional recommendations. Its leaves are nearly 
twice the size of those of F. Hopeana, more copious, and of a richer green tint ; 
while the flowers are, comparatively, of still larger dimensions, some being produced 
at Mr. Knight's which measured two inches and a half, and even two inches and 
three-quarters in diameter. Their colour, also, is of a far deeper blue when first 
developed, passing through similar changes, after the first or second day, till the 
blossoms become really colourless, or of a delicate white. 
vol. ix.- — no. c. L 
