M^v 
I 
PULTEXiEA EIUCOIDES. 
PULTEXiEA ERICOLDES. 
IXat. Order. — Leguminos^ \ Papteionace^. 
Generic Character. — Ptilteniea, Smith. — Calyx bell-shaped, 
half-five-toe-thed, almost equal or with the two upper lobes 
broader and cohering farther up, somewhat two-lipped. Co- 
rolla papilionaceous ; standard rounded, entire, or notched, 
longer than the oblong wings ,- keel oblong or obovate, straight, 
very often obtuse, about equalling the wings, or sometimes a 
little longer. Stamens ten, free ; filaments glabrous, naked. 
Ovary sessile, with two ovules, villous ; style awl-shaped, gla- 
brous, deciduous, more rarely villous at the base and a little 
dilated ; stigma slender. Pod ovate, compressed, or somewhat 
inflated, acute or obtuse. Seeds strophiolate. — New Holland 
shrubs ; the leaves alternate, simple, quite entire or two-lobed 
at the summit ; stipules scarious, often intrafoliaceous, some- 
times imbricated, more rarely wanting ; inflorescence terminal 
or axillary, flowers solitary or capitate, bracts scarious, often 
bifid at the point, formed by the two stipules of an abortive 
leaf, sometimes wanting, bracteoles scarious or more rarely 
somewhat leaflike, adherent to the calyx, and usually shorter 
than it, very rarely almost imperceptible ; flowers yellow, the 
keel very often becoming purple or more deeply coloured ; the 
strophiole of the seeds incised at the back in most, sometimes 
two-lobed or else entire. — {Endlieher Qen. Plant., 6416.) 
Pultexjea ericoides, iiov. sp. — Heath-like Pulteniea. — Shoots 
tomentose, leaves scattered, linear involute, minutely tubercled 
on the lower face, hairy, mucronate ; stipules subulate, brown, 
and membranous ; inflorescence crowded into heads, at first 
terminal but afterwards producing innovations, with the flowers 
in the axil of perfect leaves ; bracts two, resembling the stipules 
not longer than the calyx. 
BESCRLPTIOX. — A small leafy shrub with elongated ascending branches, which, when 
young, are covered with a minute dusky tomentum. The leaves are half an inch long, nu- 
merous, scattered, with a pair of small elongated subulate brown membranous stipules ; the blade 
of the leaf linear and rendered semi-terete by the involution of the two margins, so as to present 
merely a channel along the upper face, the surface minutely tubercled and with scattered longish 
spreading hairs, the points of the leaves mucronate. Inflorescence crowded into heads, at first 
apparently terminal but producing innovations after flowering : the flowers arising in the axils 
of green leaves, which are like the stem-leaves, but have rather broader membranous stipules 
adherent some way up to the margins of the leaves. Bracts two, resembling the stipules 
already mentioned and just above them. Elowers solitary, sessile. Calyx with a bell-shaped 
tube and a five-toothed distinctly two-lipped limb, the teeth elongate subulate, with hairy cilia. 
Corolla with an crbicirlar long-clawed somewhat reflexed standard, deep yellow, veined from a 
dark disk with brownish purple, and having a yellow eye in the centre of the base ; wings 
shorter, oblong, somewhat rosy purple; keel about equal, of the same colour. Filaments 
glabrous, reddish at the upper part. Ovary sessile, downy, two-seeded; style compressed 
laterally, hooked at the summit; the stigma somewhat capitate. — A. H. 
History, &c. — Our plant was raised by Messrs. Henderson of the Pine Apple Nursery, 
Edgeware Eoad, from seeds sent by Mr. Drummond from the Swan Eiver colony. It produced 
blossoms in April 1850, when our drawing was made; and again, equally profusely, in the 
past spring. The sturdy and free-blooming habit of the plant, together with its broad masses 
of gaily-tinted flowers, will render it a valuable acquisition to the greenhouse and exhibition tent. 
The branches have considerable resemblance to those of some of the coarse-leaved Heaths ; and, 
in the plants we have seen, were of the spreading habit shown in our figure. 
Cultuke. — This distinct and pretty plant, which comes, like many of its congeners, from the 
Swan River, promises to be very suitable for forming those dwarf compact bushes so much 
admired at our metropolitan exhibitions ; and, though the plant may never become very I 
it will, from its profuse habit of blooming, be a very interesting one. It is propagated bj 
cuttings of the half matured wood, in sand, under a bell-glass ; but, like most hard-wooded 
plants, the cuttings pots should not be put in heat until just at that period when the roots In gin 
in protrude. In cultivation, it requires sandy turfy peat and sand when in a young state; 
but as it increases in size and gains strength, about one-third el' nice mellow loam may be added 
with advantage. Pot firmly, giving abundance of drainage, and water liberally when the plants 
are in a free growing state. The temperature of the ordinary greenhouse is sullicienl for ibis 
plant ; but, to get it to a tolerable size in a short time, it must be drawn out by a little extra 
and moist heat, — say a temperature of from 50' to 65" from May until the growth is completed. 
Weak dear liquid manure may also be given when the plants are in free growth and the pots 
tolerably lull of roots. — A. 
-_i 
PS 
-.- ^ 
