HIBISCUS JERROLDIANUS. 
(Mr. Jerrold'a Hibiscus.) 
Class. 
MONADELPHIA. 
Order. 
POLYANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
MALVACEAE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx compressed by a many- 
leaved, rarely by a few-leaved involucel, sometimes 
connected at the base. Petals not auricled. Stigmas 
five. Carpels joined into a five-celled, five-valved cap- 
sule, with a dissepiment in the middle of each valve on 
the inside. Cells many-seeded, rarely one-seeded. 
Specific Character.— Stem herbaceous, unarmed, of 
rapid growth, somewhat glaucous. Leaves digitate, 
usually of five lanceolate, acuminate lobes, which are 
sometimes irregularly and deeply toothed on the 
margins, quite smooth : petiole very long. Flowers 
axillary, rich crimson, solitary, on long peduncles. 
Peduncles longer than the petioles. Involucel of from 
twelve to nineteen narrow tapering leaflets. Petals 
spreading, much narrower, and thickened towards the 
base, also clothed there with white hairs. Column 
rich crimson. Anthers yellow. Stigmas five. 
Nothing in the large Conservatory at Chatsworth, through the season in which 
their flowers are expanded, elicits more universal admiration than the various 
species of Hibiscus. Planted in the borders, each specimen fully developes its 
natural character, flowering in the most profuse splendour the greater part of the 
summer and autumn. 
Some of the species grow most luxuriantly, attaining the dimensions of large 
trees ; a greater number exhibit a less exuberant growth, forming most interesting 
objects ; others are herbaceous, attracting attention by their tall, slender stems, and 
strikingly large, gaudy flowers. 
Our present subject is allied to those of the last description : it was raised in 
the spring of 1843, from seeds gathered in the Brazils by Dr. Lippold, and pre- 
sented to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, by Mrs. Berry. It is herbaceous, and, 
planted in the situation before mentioned, then forms handsome specimens, varying 
from four to nine feet in height, composed of numerous shoots, well clothed from 
the bottom upwards with their fine palmate foliage, and freely developing for a long 
period their splendid crimson flowers. 
Considered botanically it belongs to the section Manihot, the third division of 
the genus. 
The majority of the Hibiscus family requiring a stove temperature to develop 
the properties which render them valuable, and also a greater space to permit their 
being seen to advantage than can generally be spared, they are not so universally 
VOL. XIII. NO, CXLV. B 
