corresponds with the Loasa nitida of Lamarck, figured by 
JussiEU in the Annales du Museum ; but the representation 
there given of the scale of the nectary, with its appendage, is 
extremely incorrect ; and had it not been that the author says 
of the scale that it is like that of L. triloba (which is very si- 
milar indeed to the present), I should hardly have ventured 
upon making it the same. L. triloba and L. nitida, indeed, 
supposing the scale to be alike in both, approach so nearly to 
each other, that the only difference between them seems to be, 
that the upper leaves of the fonner are petiolate, the latter sessile. 
The L. tficolor of the JBot. Reg. I have quoted as a syno- 
nym doubtfully; but I cannot help expressing my opinion, that 
it is probably the same as our present plant. It was received, as 
it would appear, about the same time, from the same country as 
produced Dr Sims' and the accompanying individual, and seems 
to differ only in the (usually) more deeply divided leaf, which has 
narrower segments, and in having three stigmas instead of one. 
Of this singular, and I may add beautiful genus, (for the 
flowers are handsome both in hue and form), twelve species 
have been described, and most of them figured by Jussieu, in 
the 5th volume of the Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Nearly 
all of these are natives of Peru and Chili ; and we learn from 
the Bot. Mag. that Mr Lambert possesses engravings of fif- 
teen species, chiefly new ones, which were prepared for the en- 
suing volume of the Fl. Pe?^uv. : one alone, L. argemonoides, 
being found near Santa Fe de Bogota, and generally growing 
among the Cinchonas and Tree Ferns of these tropical regions. 
In the memoir by M. Jussieu above quoted, that learned 
botanist has separated this genus from the Onagrari^ (where, 
among the Geiiera Onagrariis ajfiria, it was placed in the 
Genera Plantarum), and along with Mentzelia, has establish- 
ed for it a new Order, Loaseje. ISIost of the individuals are 
hispid and stinging, the stings usually resembling those of our 
nettles, with their poison-bag much swollen and reticulated * ; 
the sting itself being a clear transparent tube, through which 
the fluid may be distinctly seen to pass. 
Fig. 1. Flower. Fig. "2. The same, deprived of most of the petals and sta- 
mens, and of the nectary. Fig. 3. Back view of a scale of the nectary. 
Fig. 4. Front view of the same. Fig. 5. One of the filaments from with- 
in the scale. Fig. 6. Stamen. Fig. ?• Pollen, when in a dry state. 
Fig. 8. Ditto, when moist. Fig. 9. Sting. Fig. 10. Hair, with its joints 
and bristles. Fig. 11. Germen cut through transverselj'. Fig. 12. Seed. 
Fig. IS. Section of the seed, shewing the Albumen and Embryo. Fig. 14. 
Embryo removed from the seed. — All more or less magnified. 
* It is a curious circumstance, that, in the month of July 1823, an unusvially cold 
season, some individuals of the L. nitida, which were planted in the open border of our 
garden, had the poison-bags considei'ably larger, whiter, and filled with a much greater 
quantity of fluid, than those that were kept under the protection of a greenhouse. 
The whole plant, too, became considerably stronger. 
