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GESNERA MOLLIS. 
(DOWNY GESNERA.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
GESNERACEyE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx adnate to the ovarium ; limb nearly equally five-lobed, free. Corolla 
half-superior, tubular, with five gibbosities at the base ; limb sub-bilabiate ; upper lip drawn out, 
emarginately two-lobed ; lower lip three-lobed. Stamens didynamous, with the rudiment of a fifth 
behind ; anthers at first cohering into a round head. Glands five, or fewer, around the ovarium. 
Capsule dry in the calyx, one-celled, incompletely two-valved ; placentas two, parietal, many-seeded. 
Seeds scrobiform. — Don's Gard. and Botany . 
Specific Character. — Plant perennial, subshrubby. Branches hairy. Leaves opposite, obliquely 
ovate-oblong, acuminate, freely toothed, densely covered with downy hair above, whitish with down 
beneath. Peduncles axillary, usually one or three-flowered. Corolla tubular, inflated, pubescent; 
limb five-cleft, almost equal, spotted. 
There are several groups of species in the genus Gesnera , each clearly separable 
from the rest by their peculiar character, but most of them composed of sorts that 
very much resemble each other in some of their features. Thus, the members of 
that tribe with irregular flowers, such as G. bullosa , Cooperi , faucialis , Sellowi , 
&c., can hardly be recognised by their blossoms, or foliage, or tubers, when these 
are viewed apart from their connexion with the other organs. Hence, in noticing 
a new species, it is important to point out in what respects it differs from its con- 
geners, and how it may be immediately recognised. 
The peculiarities of the species here figured are the soft down with which its 
leaves and stems are clothed, and which at once yields to the touch of the fingers, 
and feels smooth and agreeable. This has furnished a clue to its specific name. 
The next observable point is the great height to which its stems attain under 
favourable culture without conspicuously branching, or, at least, without producing 
very prominent lateral shoots. Four and five feet are ordinarily reached, and it 
would probably even exceed this. In the flowers, it approaches very near to 
