267 
IPOMCEA LEARI. 
(MR. LEAr's IPOMffiA.) 
CLASS. ORDElt. 
FENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
CONVOLVULACE^:. 
Generic Character. — Vide vol. iii. p. 50. 
Specific Character — Plant an evergreen twining shrub, hairy in all its younger parts. Leaves 
variable ; most frequently cordate, but often unequally, and sometimes distinctly, three-lobed ; 
pointletted, slightly reticulated, deep green above, thickly clothed with whitish pubescence beneath. 
Calyx composed of five unequal, long, subulate segments, with a particularly hairy tube. Flowers 
produced in clusters at the extremities of the lateral shoots ; pedicels a nearly uniform length. 
Corolla of a deep purplish blue colour, with five conspicuous bands of a lighter hue. Stamens 
inserted in the tube of the corolla ; filaments finely fringed at the base. 
For the introduction of this splendid Ipomoea to British gardens, the lovers of 
floriculture have to thank Mr. Knight, nurseryman, of the King's Road, Chelsea, 
through whose persevering liberality Mr. Lear, the individual after whom it is 
named by the above gentleman, and by whom its seeds were sent to this country, 
is maintained in the beautiful and fertile island of Ceylon as a collector of botanical 
rarities. Our present subject is the only important novelty resulting from this 
mission which has yet developed its flowers ; but many others have subsequently 
arrived, which are likely to prove real acquisitions. 
To those who are not botanically familiar with /. rubro-coerulea, a first glance 
at the annexed plate will awaken the impression that 7. Leari is indisputably 
identical with that singularly lovely species. Such, however, is very far from 
being the case ; and to establish clearly the distinction, we shall here enumerate 
the points in which the greatest dissimilarity exists. Every portion of /. rubra- 
coerulea is perfectly smooth, whereas the young stems of i". Leari are covered with 
erect hairs, the upper surface of the leaves being clothed with such as are longer 
but appressed, and the lower surface with a dense whitish pubescence, while the 
hairs of the calyx are closer, more rigid, and altogether stronger. Further, the 
