MARTYNIA LUTEA. 
(Yellow-flowered Martynia.) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order. 
AN GIOSPERMI A . 
Natural Order. 
PEDALIACEJE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-cleft, nearly equal, 
bracteate at the base. Corolla sub-campanulate ; limb 
five-lobed, unequal. Stamens four, didynamous, two 
of them sometimes sterile, with always the rudiments 
of a fifth. Stigma bilamellate. Drupe or capsule ob- 
long, bicornute at apex; the anterior horn sulcately 
toothed, containing a four-celled, woody nut ; cells few- 
seeded. Seeds ovate, a little compressed, wingless, 
pendulous. Radicle superior. 
Specific Character. — Plant an annual. Stem 
branched, clothed with glandular down. Leaves oppo- 
site, cordate orbicular, toothed, covered with glandular 
down. Calyx involucrated by two bracteas. Corolla 
large, funnel-shaped, orange- yellow spotted with blood 
colour inside. Beaks much longer than the pericarp. 
— Don’s Gardening and Botany. 
This neatly speckled flowering plant was first produced in England in the 
gardens of the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester, who, in the 
year 1824, received seeds from the Brazils, and raised several specimens from them, 
which flowered in August the following year. 
Like its congener of later introduction, the well-known M. fragrans from Real 
del Monte, in Mexico, as well as the majority of other known species, it is only of 
annual duration. On its first introduction it was cultivated exclusively in the 
stove, but has since been found to flower well in an ordinary greenhouse, if the 
plants have previously been grown in a warm pit with a genial bottom heat. 
Raised in this way, and hardened by exposure in an airy greenhouse, it may also, 
in favourable situations, be planted in the open border in a warm and sheltered 
place, on a dry soil. A rather poor earth will also suit it better than one abounding 
in rich nutritious matter ; as the foliage, being copious and large, and the stems 
strong and somewhat succulent, are in danger of acquiring too much luxuriance, 
and attaining a size disproportionate with the inflorescence. And for the same 
reason a porous soil should be chosen in preference to one more retentive of 
moisture. In pot culture, a compost of a stronger quality will be advantageous, 
but it will still be advisable to circumscribe the roots in a moderately sized pot ; 
and to give an occasional watering with liquid manure, rather than a larger pot, 
Bhould they require additional nourishment. 
