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BATATAS BONARIENSIS. 
(bUENOS AYRES BATaTAS.) 
CLASS. 
PENTANDRIA. 
ORDER. 
MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
CONVOLVULACEiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx of five sepals. Corolla campanulate. Stamens inclosed. Style one. 
Stigma capitate, two-lobed. Ovarium four-celled, or only three-celled by abortion. — Don’s Gard . 
and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant an herbaceous climbing perennial. Root a bulb-like tuber. Stems 
twining, extending twenty or thirty feet. Leaves, on old plants, deeply divided into seven lanceolate 
segments ; those on younger specimens having only five lobes, smooth. Peduncles bearing (me or 
more flowers. Calyx short, with oblong sepals. Corolla deep pink, large, handsome. 
Synonyme. — Ipomoea bonariensis. 
The genus Batatas is very nearly allied to Ipomoea , and constitutes one of the 
modern divisions into which that old and well-known group has been broken up. 
There does not appear to be any difference in the habits of the plants or the 
structure of the flowers ; and the distinction is, we believe, chiefly founded on the 
number of cells in the ovary, Batatas usually having four, while Ipomoea has 
only two. 
The species here figured is a new and extremely beautiful climber, of which 
seeds or roots have been imported from Buenos Ayres by several nurserymen. It 
was collected by Mr. Tweedie in the neighbouring district, and introduced to this 
country in the year 1839. 
It is readily distinguished from its congeners by its pale-green, deeply divided 
leaves, which, on old specimens, have always seven segments, while younger 
plants rarely produce more than five. Plants have, we are told, been cultivated in 
the greenhouse at the Clapton nursery ; and probably the colour of the flower would 
be deeper on such specimens than on that exhibited in our plate. The only treat- 
ment to which we have seen it subjected is that of a stove climber ; and the plant 
VOL. VIII. NO. LXXXVI. 
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