PAXTON’S 
MAGAZINE OF GARDENING AND BOTANY. 
CHIRXTA MOONXL (Mr. Moon’s Chirita.) 
Class, Didynamia. Order, Angiospermia. Nat. Order, GesneRiace;e.— — ( Veg- King.) 
Generic Character. — Calyx tubular, pentagonal, val- 
vate. Corolla monopetalous, tubular, campanulate, ven- 
tricose beneath ; limb bilabiate, five-lobed, lobes rounded. 
Stamens five, two fertile, and three smaller ones abortive. 
Anthers cohering, kidney-shaped, naked, one-celled. Ovary 
a silique. Style one. Stigma bipartite, lobes oblong, and 
spreading. Capsule two-celled. 
Specific Character — Plant a stove shrub, two or three 
feet high. Stem simple, or slightly branched. Branches 
obscurely angular, and thinly covered with adpressed hairs. 
Leaves opposite, occasionally whorled, ovate-lanceolate, 
feather-nerved, downy, especially beneath. Leaf-stalks 
nearly an inch long. Peduncles more than two inches long, 
axillary, two or three together, sometimes solitary, single- 
flowered, with two small narrow bracts. Flowers large, 
showy, deep purple. Calyx large, yellowish-green shaded 
with brown, divided into five narrow, lanceolate, acute 
sepals, downy. Corolla : tube ventricose, curved upwards, 
rather bell-shaped, with a wide mouth, and a broad yellow 
line on the lower side ; limb two-lipped, spreading, consist- 
ing mostly of five rounded lobes, deep purple on the upper 
side, and paler beneath and on the outside of the tube. 
Authorities and Synonymks. — Martynia lanceolata, 
Moon in Cat. Ceylon, PI. p. 45. Chirata, Don. Prod. Flor. 
Nep., 8.9. Calosacme, Wallich. Didymocarpus, Wall. 
Chirita, Hamilt. Chirita Moonii, Gardner, Hooker in Bot. 
Mag., 4405. 
This fine species is a native of Ceylon, where it was originally discovered by Mr. Moon, 
at the “ Four Kories,” and was inserted in the Catalogue of Ceylon, under the name of 
Martynia lanceolata. Its flowers 
are of the richest purple, much 
larger than those of a Gloxinia, 
and are produced in succession 
throughout the whole of the sum- 
mer. It has been subsequently 
found by Mr. George Gardner, 
amongst rocks near the summit of 
the Hantane range, and has by him 
been placed under the genus Chirita. 
The plant thrives in a moist and 
moderate stove, potted in a light 
and rich soil similar to that used 
for members of the genus Gesnera, 
Gloxinia, and other similarly habited 
plants ; and is increased by cuttings. 
Our drawing was prepared from 
a specimen which flowered in the 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 
July, 1847, and which was exhibited 
at the Society’s Garden. 
The generic name Chirita , is a 
slight alteration from the native 
name of one of the species. 
vol. i. — NO. II. 
