60 THE LADIES' FLOWER GARDEN 
CHAPTER VII. 
LOASACEiE. 
Essential Character, •dijx superior, five-cleft. Petals five, cucuUate. Stamens perigynous, or partly adelphous. Styles combined. PlaooDtas 
parietal. Fruit capsular, or succulent. — (G. Don.) 
GENUS I. 
LOASA, Adan. THE LOASA. 
Lin. Syst. POLYADELPHIA POLYANDRIA, OR POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Gkkeric Character. — Tube of the calyx not twisted, limb five- | sterile and free ; inner ones disposed in five bundles, but distinct, 
parted. Petals ten ; five outer ones cucuUate, five inner ones scale- Capsule one-celled, but thrce-valved at the apex. — (G. Don.) 
formed, bearing two sterile filaments inside. Outer series of stamens | 
Description, &c. — The flowers of the plants belonging to this genus are so ornamental, that the plants 
would be general favourites were it not for their stings, which are much worse than those of the nettle. Great 
confusion exists respecting the different species of Loasa, some botanists giving to al^iost every species the name 
of some other species as a synonyme, though the plants, when seen together, appear quite distinct. The fact is, 
all the Loasas assume very different appearances according to the kind of soil in which they are grown. Seeds 
sown in rich ground produce plants differing not only in the size, but in the colour of the flower, from plants 
produced by seeds out of the same seed-pods, sown in poor ground ; and the specimens thus raised have occa- 
sionally appeared so different, that some botanists have taken them for distinct species. It is probable, however, 
that all the yellow-flowered kinds are varieties of one or two species — probably of L. nitida and L. Placei — and 
that L. alba is a variety of L. nitida. L. ineana is described by Dr. Graham as a perennial and suffruticose, 
and therefore we have omitted it in our described species, though we may here mention that its flowers are white, 
and its leaves covered with a kind of mealiness, which makes them look as though they were powdered. The plant 
called Loasa lateritia, or L. aurantiaca in the nurseries and seed-shops, is probably not a Loasa at all ; or, at any 
rate, as it is a tall climbing plant, it can hardly be the Loasa lateritia described as almost stemless by Dr. Arnott 
in Cheek's Edinburgh Journal. This description was taken by Dr. Arnott from the MS. notes of Dr. Gillies, 
who was well acquainted with South American plants, as he resided for many years at Mendoza at the foot of 
the Andes, and thence made frequent excursions across the Cordilleras to the shores of the Pacific on the one 
side, and across the Pampas to the Atlantic on the other. All the plants belonging to the genus Loasa have the 
tube of the calyx not twisted, but the plant called Loasa lateritia has the tube of the calyx twisted, and indeed 
strongly marked with spiral ribs. These spiral ribs form one of the distinctive marks of the genus Caiophora 
Presl, so that probably the true name of the plant in question may eventually be found to be Caiophora punicea, 
