Tab. 6333. 
ALLOPLECTUS peltatus. 
Native of Costa Rica . 
Nat. Ord. Gesnerace,®. — Subtribe Columnee;e. 
Genus Alloplectus, Martius ( Benth . et Hook.f Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 1008). 
Alloplectus peltatus ; fruticosus erectus glaber, foliis oppositis petiolatis carno- 
sulo-coriaceis altero ovali-oblongo apiculato basi rotundato peltato altero 
multoties minore, floribus axillaribus ssepius 2-3-fasciculatis pedicellatis, 
calyce 5-partito rubro-purpureo lobo postico minore cseteris lanceolatis 
obliquis, corolla; tubo calyce longiore limbo bilabiato, labio superiore bifido 
inferiore tripartito, segmentis obovato-rotundatis denticulato-fimbriatis, 
glandula disci carnosa ovata ovario breviore postica. 
Introduced by Messrs. Veitcb from Costa Bica, where it 
was collected by the late M. Endres, and flowering from 
July to the present month (November) in our stoves. This 
is another of those Gesneriads remarkable in having one leaf 
of each pair permanently rudimentary, as, for example, in 
Columnea aureo-nitens (Bot. Mag. 4294), with farther and, 
so far as I know, unique peculiarity in this genus of a 
distinctly peltate leaf- blade, the insertion of the stout petiole 
being a quarter to one third of an inch within the rounded 
base of the blade. 
Descr. Shrubby, one and a half to two feet high, wholly 
glabrous excepting the young leaves which are ciliate at 
first as are also the segments of the calyx. Branches stout, 
sub-terete, marked with leaf-scars, the internodes smooth. 
Leaves opposite, but one of each pair fully developed, on a 
stout terete petiole one to two inches in length, blade oval- 
oblong rather coriaceous and somewhat fleshy, acute or 
apiculate, base rounded and peltate, six to nine inches long, 
one and three-quarters to two and a half inches broad, at 
DECEMBER 1ST, 1877. 
