COMBRETUM LATIFOLIUM. 
(Bvoad-leaved Combretura.) 
Class. 
OCTO-DECANDMA. 
Natural Order. 
COMBRETACE^, 
}eneric Character. — Calyx with a four or five- 
thed deciduous limb. Petals four or five, inserted 
ihe top of the calyx. Stamens eight or ten, exserted. 
iries from two to five, ovulate. Style filiform. Fruit 
r or five-winged. Seed one, pendulous. — Don's 
rdening and Botany. 
pEciFic Character.— PZ ant an evergreen shrub. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Stems climbing, glabrous. Leaves ample, coriaceous, 
oblong, acuminated, sometimes rounded. /S'p/ftes short, 
crowded with fiowers. Flowers small, red. Calyxes 
pubescent. Petals five, obovate, obtuse. Stamens ten, 
twice the length of the calyx. 
Synonymb.— C. macropJiylltm. 
Combretum is an extensive genus of climbing plants, the species of which are 
scribed by botanists as “among the most splendid of the climbing plants of the 
ipics, adorning the trees from which they hang with garlands of white, crimson, 
d yellow flowers.” Few plants, indeed, surpass those already introduced in the 
jgance and brilliancy of their blossoms ; and yet, some of those that remain 
e said to be far superior in splendour. Undoubtedly, many of them would prove 
eminent service in our stoves ; and we hope that ere long some botanical 
iveller will be fortunate enough to transmit a few of the most deserving to this 
untry. 
We are not aware of the existence of a previous figure of the present fine 
ecies, which has flowered most abundantly at Messrs. Henderson’s Nursery, 
|neapple-place, and in the magnificent collection of Mrs. Lawrence, at Ealing 
hrk. It is evidently identical with the C. latifolium of Don in the “ Linnsean 
’ansactions,” and the C. macrophyllum of Roxburgh in the “ Hortus Bengalensis.” 
is an East Indian species, but at what precise period it was introduced to 
agland we are not informed. Our drawing was procured from Messrs. Hender- 
ns plant in May, 1844. 
In the general appearance of the inflorescence, there is a striking resemblance 
tween this species and C. grcmdijiorum ; but a comparison of the two reveals 
veral essential distinctions. The flower-spikes of the present kind are shorter, 
id broader in proportion to their length ; the stamens, moreover, are not so long, 
le plant is altogether of a much stouter habit, and is remarkable for the large 
mensions of the foliage. We were at first inclined to regard it as a shy 
