ACHIMENES HIRSUTA. 
(Hairy Achimenes.) 
Ctasf. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Natural Order. 
gesneracej^. 
Order. 
ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Generic Character^— with its tube actuate 
to the ovary ; limb five-parted ; lobes lanceolate. Co- 
rolla tubularly funnel-shaped, often swollen at the 
base ; limb five-cleft ; lobes sub-equal, sub-rotund. 
Stamens four, didynamous ; anthers not cohering. Ru- 
diments of the fifth stamen situated below the base of 
the corolla. Nectary glandulose in a small ring. Style 
slightly thickened towards the stigma, oblique or with 
two separate lobes. Caysule nearly two-celled, two- 
valved ; placentas parietal, subsessile. 
Specific Character.— PZ unf an herbaceous peren- 
nial, with tuberous roots. Stem erect, simple, hairy. 
Panicles bulbiferous. Leaves cordate, serrated on 
the margin, and hairy on both surfaces. Peduncle 
solitary, as long as the leaves. Corolla a long, nodding 
tube, with a flat limb ; segments rounded and serru- 
lated at the edges. 
Few genera are more popular, and deservedly so, at the present day with the 
inquirers after truly valuable ornamental plants, than Achimenes. The gorgeous 
specimens of the several recent augmentations of new species comprehended within 
its pale, which now form such a conspicuous feature in all summer exhibitions of 
floricultural skill, bear undeniable testimony of the sterling worth of the genus ; 
and it is with pleasure that we here give prominence to another of its specious 
members. 
British collections are indebted to a sheer accident for the possession of this 
engaging plant. The seeds or small tubers had been fortuitously scattered amongst 
the materials which surrounded a collection of Orchidaceous plants received from 
Guatemala, by Messrs. Henderson, of Pine-apple Place, in the early part of 1843 ; 
and these having been preserved and placed in a warm atmosphere, young plants 
were soon discovered springing up amongst them, which at first were thought to 
be A. pedunculata.^ but on producing their flowers in the following autumn, proved 
a distinct and entirely new species. 
Its afiinities are with A. pedunculata.^ which it very closely resembles in many 
respects. The stem, however, is more robust ; and the internodes being shorter, 
and the leaves larger, it has a better furnished appearance. Like its ally it produces 
many scaly bulbs or tubers from the bosom of the leaves, especially on the upper 
part of the plant ; and these are always most numerous as winter approaches. 
Flowering specimens vary in height from one to two feet and a half. 
