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EPISCIA BICOLOR. 
EPISCIA BICOLOR. 
Kat. Order. — Gesxerace^. 
101 
m, 
Generic Character. — Episcia, Atartius.— Calyx free, five- 
parted. Corolla hypogynous, funnel-shaped, tube rather 
straight, gibbous at the base posteriorly. Stamens four, in- 
serted at the bottom of the tube of the corolla, didynamous, 
included, with the rudiment of a fifth ; anthers of the equal 
stamens approximated, two-celled, suborbiculatc, ovate. Ocary 
free, surrounded by a thin annular disk, expanded into a gland 
posteriorly, one-celled ; placentas two, parietal and two-lobed. 
Oeules numerous, on long funiculi, anatropous. Style terminal, 
simple ; stigma bi-lamellate. Capsule membranous, two-celled, 
two-valved ; valves placentiferous in the middle. Seeds nume- 
rous, oblong. Embryo thick, in the axis of sparing albumen, 
orthotropous ; cotyledons very short, radicle near the hilum, 
centrifugal. — [Endlicher Gen. Plant. 1104.) 
Episcia bicolor, Hooker. — Two-coloured Episcia. — Hairy, 
low, decumbent ; leaves stalked, cordate-ovate, acute, coarsely 
serrated, with the veins forming furrows, peduncles about 
equalling the petioles, axillary, simple or twice or three times 
divided, slender, hirsute ; sepals linear -lanceolate, recurved at 
the apex ; tube of the corolla twice as long as the calyx, the 
mouth oblique, limb about equally five-lobed, lobes rounded ; 
ovary hairy above. — [Bot. 2Iag. t. 4390.) 
BESCRIPTION. — A perennial herbaceous plant, with very short hairy stems. Leaves large, 
between ovate and cordate, acute, spreading, somewhat glossy, and clothed with hairs, 
coarsely serrated, penninerved, coarsely reticulated, the nerves impressed. Petioles short, hairy. 
Peduncles simple or bi-tri-fid, and bracteated, slender, hairy, or rather hispid, springing from the 
axils of the leaves, and scarcely longer than the petioles. Flowers inclined, or sometimes erect. 
Calyx hairy, deeply cleft into five nearly erect linear-lanceolate sepals, recurved at the apex. 
Tube of the corolla rather short, white, gibbous on one side at the base, dilated above, tumid 
beneath, spotted with purple -within, the mouth oblique ; the Limb rather large, nearly equal, 
white, with a broad purple border, deeply five-lobed, the lobes rounded. Stamens inserted near 
the base of the tube ; filaments didynamous, subulate, included ; anthers approximated in pairs, 
■with one abortive filament between the two pairs of fertile ones. Ovaiy free, ovate, hairy above, 
glabrous and somewhat four-sided below, with a large solitary gland on one side. Style 
included within the tube of the corolla; stigma of two furrowed spreading lips. — A. H. 
History, &c. — This pretty plant was raised, some four or five years since, at the Royal 
Garden, Kew, from seeds sent from New Granada by Mr. Purdie. It is a free blooming species, 
associating in habit and general character with the dwarf Gloxinias, Nipheas, and similar plants, 
gay from the pretty contrast of colours in the flowers, and continuing for some weeks orna- 
mental, owing to the succession of flowers which is produced. It blooms with us during the 
summer. 
Cultitre. — Under the general treatment of Gloxinias, the present species succeeds well. It 
is, of course, a stove plant, at least requiring stove heat up to the blooming time ; and after that 
is past, should be rested in a cooler, dry atmosphere. The short lateral shoots root freely as 
cuttings ; and these make the best flowering plants. — M. 
THE GENERA AND SPECIES OE CULTIVATED EERNS. 
By Mr. J. H.OULSTON, Eoyal Botanic Garden, Kew; and Mr. T. MOORE, F.L.S., Sea. 
Sub-order — Poiatodiaceve : Tribe — Pteriue.e. 
Sect. I. — Chilosorca 1 , J. Smith. — From eheilos, a lip, and soma; alluding to the lip-formed marginal sori. 
Reverting to the fundamental principles on which are hnscd the technical distinctions of the various trihes of 
Ferns, we find that they serve ohviously, and very naturally, to divide these plants into two groups : one having 
the sori naked, and said to he non-indusiate ; the other furnished with a membrane which at first completely 
conceals the sori, and is termed an indusiuni or involucre. The Polypodies and Acrostiehca: are non-indusiate ; 
whilst the Ptcridcio arc characterized by having a special indusiuni, produced on the exterior side of the sporangi- 
ferous receptacle, with the inner margin free, and having the spore-cases in its axis of attachment or on its inferior 
disc. This tribe is represented by tin' extensive genera, Adiantum, Pteris, and Blechnura, of the older authors, 
ami is at once distinguished from Polypodies) and Acrostichea; by having an indusiuni, although it is closely 
connected to the latter bribe, through Lomaria. 
DIAN'l'UM, T.inmnis. — Named from adiantos, dry; alluding to a curious property of (lie fronds, which repel 
nmisture. 
Sori round, rcniform, oblong, or linear, marginal, continuous or interrupted. Indusiuni venose, formed of a 
reflexed crcnule, renifonn, oblong, or linear, according to the more or less entire or erenulato margin of the Fronds ; 
K 
