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ON VARIEGATION IN PLANTS. 
3LETB0D0EEA NIGRA. 
Nat. Order. — Rctacex \ Diosmeje-American.1:. 
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Generic Character. — Metrodorea, St. Hilaire. — Calyx 
small, five-toothed. Corolla of five hypogynous petals, inserted 
below the disk, much larger than the calyx, valvate in {estiva- 
tion, spreading. Stamens five, inserted between the lobes of the 
disk, alternating with the petals ; filaments very short, subu- 
late, reflcxed : anthers introrse, two-celled, heart-shaped, af- 
fixed by the back, versatile, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 
immersed in and covered over by the disk expanded over it, 
tuberculate, five-lobed, five-celled. Orules two in a cell, ap- 
pended collaterally to the central angle, anatropous. Style 
very short; stigma obtuse, undivided. — (Endlicher Gen. Plant. 
5998). 
Metrodorea nigra, St. Hilaire. — Dark Metrodorea. — 
Leaves ternate, leaflets obovato-lanceolate, acute at both ends ; 
partial petioles short, thickened, articulate at the base ; common 
petiole 1-2 inches long, somewhat thickened, at the baseband 
auricled so as to enclose the hud in its axil; panicle large, 
somewhat loose, and pyramidal, terminal, clammy-pubescent 
upwards. 
Stn. — Metrodorea nigra, St. Hilaire in Fl. Bras. i. 81, 1. 16. 
BESCRIPTION. — A branching shrub, growing 5-6 feet high; branches divaricated, pale 
grey- Leaves ternate, the leaflets about 3-5 inches long, 1-2 broad, lanceolate-oblong, 
acuminate at both ends, quite entire, very glabrous; petioles 9-15 lines long, convex beneath, 
narrowly channeled above, thickened-articulate at the end. Panicles sub-sessile, 8-9 inches 
long, often subtended at the base by leaves an inch long, of the same shape as the stem leaves, 
slender, many-flowered, rather lax ; rachis slender, glabrate at the base, rather hairy and 
clammy above. Primary branches spreading, angular, clammy pubescent ; inferior opposite long, 
filiform at the apex, upper sub-alternate or alternate, gradually shorter, uppermost very short ; 
secondary branches about one inch long, gradually shorter, filiform, resembling the primary, but 
more frequently alternate. Bracts at the bases of the branches, twigs and pedicels rarely solitary, 
more frequently in pairs and opposite, scarcely 1 line long, gradually smaller, awl- shaped, 
canaliculate, with fine viscid hairs. Pedicels about 1-2 lines long, one-flowered, somewhat 
thickened at the summit, slightly haiiy, atro-rubescent. Flowers about 3 lines in diameter. 
Calyx rather thick, green, glabrous, the lobes semi-ovate, acute. Petals 5, ovate-lanceolate, 
acute, very glabrous, dark purple. Filaments dark purple ; anthers broadish at the base, 
acuminate at the apex, golden yellow. Gynophore dark purple ; style cylindrical, slighilv 
five-furrowed, dark purple ; stigma dark purple or green. Dissepiments and columella of the 
ovary dark purple. The dried plant emits a dull odour of fennel. — A.H. 
History, &c. — The Metrodorea nigra is a Brazilian plant, inhabiting the province of Bio 
Janeiro ; it was found in the bed of a brook running into the canal of Sebastianopolis. We 
believe it was first introduced to this country in 1846, the Horticultural Society of London 
having received it from Dr. Fischer of St. Petersburg. Our drawing was made from a plant 
presented by the Horticultural Society to the garden of the Society of Apothecaries, in which it 
bloomed during the summer of 1850. Though rather coarse-habited, the blossoms are singular 
and pretty; and as a plant possessing a distinctive character, it may be considered as worth 
growing when the larger stove plants are accommodated. The genus is named in memory of 
Metrodoro Sabino, who, according to Pliny, was the first to illustrate plants by means of 
figures. 
Cuxtttre. — A strong grower, requiring plenty of pot-room, and to be planted in a mixed 
compost of peat, loam, and sand, such as is commonly used for the choicer potted plants of large 
size. It requires the climate of the stove. To propagate it, cuttings should l>r planted in sand, 
and placed within the influence of a close atmosphere and a genial bottom heat. — 31. 
ON VARIEGATION IN PLANTS.* 
By Dr. MORREN, Professor in the University of Lif.gr. 
THE DIFFERENT THEORIES OF VARIEGATION. 
ANCIENT physiologists considered variegated leaves, as well as those having a naturally yellow 
SX tinge (when they are generally green in the same species), as particular diseases, which they 
classed among cachexies, and to which they gave the name of vegetable jaundice. It was not precisely 
that etiolation which is produced by the absence of light ; for if the spotting were a jaundice, etiolation 
• From Dodonara, on reateil tPobunationl dc Botaniqtte . Brussels. 
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