■flj/ CANTUA BUXIFOLIA. oJ [ IS > 
CANTUA BUXIFOLIA. 
JVa<. Order. — Polemoniace.e. 
Generic Characteu. — Cantua, Jussieu. — Calyx tubular, 
five-toothed. Corolla hypogynous, funnel-shaped ; tube long, 
straight, or somewhat incurved ; the limb five-parted, equal. 
Stamens five, inserted near the base of the tube of the corolla, 
exserted, equal. Ovary three-celled. Ovules many, in the cen- 
tral angles of the cells, amphitropous, ascending. Style termi- 
nal, simple ; stigma three-toothed. Capsule -woody, three- 
celled, loculicidally three-valved ; valves bearing the septa in 
the middle. Seeds few in a cell, ascending, compressed ; testa 
spongy-membranous, produced into a ■wing at the summit ; 
hilum ventral near the base. Embryo straight, on the axis of 
fleshy albumen ; cotyledons subfoliaceous ; radicle terete, infe- 
rior. — Erect, branching Peruvian shrubs ; leaves alternate, very 
frequently fascicled, stalked, elliptical, acuminate or wedge- 
shaped oblong, quite entire or serrate, or very rarely sinuately 
pinnatitid ; flowers terminal, almost solitary or more frequently 
corymbose, erect or nodding; corollas large, showy, white, 
yellow or purple. — {Endlicher Gen. Plant., 3S24.) 
Cantua bxtxifoeia, Lamarck. — Box-leaved Cantua.— Leaves 
somewhat fascicled, oblong or obovate, acute or obtuse, wedge- 
shaped at the base, entire or with a few incised teeth, glabrous 
or pubescent ; corymbs loose ; calyx tubular, pubescent, five- 
toothed, about one third the length of the corolla ; stamens 
scarcely exserted. 
Syn. — Cantua buxifolia, Hooker, in Bot. Mag. ; Lindley, in 
Flower Garden.— Cantua dependens, Persoon.— Periphragmos 
dependens, Ruiz and Pavon. — Cantua tomentosa, CavanUles, 
&c. 
BESCRIPTIOjST. — A very beautiful shrub ; much branched, the branches more or less downy. 
Leaves variable, generally oblong ovate, acute, tapering to the base, those on the floriferous 
branches half an inch long, mostly or all entire ; those of the sterile branches larger, often 
coarsely toothed or lobed, downy or glabrous. Flowers in a kind of terminal leafy corymb, 
drooping, very showy. Calyx tubular, five-toothed, pale-coloured and membranous, with deep 
green streaks, more than thrice as short as the corolla tube. Corolla two and a half inches long, 
with a long wide tube and a spreading concave lfrnb, composed of five broad obcordate lobes ; 
stamens but little exserted ; anthers dark purple. Ovary seated in a fleshy ring ; style longer 
than the stamens ; stigma three-toothed. — A. H. 
History, &c. — One of the most beautiful introductions of late years, and said to be as hardy 
and as cultivable as the Fuchsia. Messrs. Veitch are its fortunate introducers ; it having been 
obtained for them by Mr. Lobb from the Peruvian Andes. The cut flowering specimens which have 
been produced at several of the London exhibitions of the past summer, though failing to show 
to the full the ornamental capabilities of the plant, yet gave ample evidence of the beauty of its 
individual blossoms. Our drawing was made from specimens kindly communicated by Alessrs. 
Veitch in June. It was first publicly exhibited last April ; though, from a statement iu the 
Botanical Magazine, it would appear to have blossomed in April 1850. 
Culture. — If we wanted an example of what inappropriate names the rules of botanical 
science occasionally compel one to retain, the plant before us would furnish a good illustration. 
It derives its specific appellation from some resemblance to the Box tree of our gardens ; but 
in what that resemblance consists we are at a loss to discover. To change it, however, would 
be contrary to botanical precedent. Whether the plant will supersede the Fuchsia, as is said 
by some, we confess we have some misgivings. It is certainly, when profusely bloomed, 
a splendid thing ; but the Cantuas generally are shy-blooming plants, and we fear that our present 
subject is not an exception. "We shall be glad to find that we arc mistaken. Our friend Mr. Leal mi, 
wc perceive, thinks it will make a good bedding plant ; and certainly there is every appearance of 
its being a free-growing one, and one that may be readily propagated — all requisites in a plant 
likely to be required in thousands. In cultivation, it will grow in any good open soil ; but to 
make a good specimen, we should take one of the small plants now sending out by Messrs. 
Veitch, and give it a Liberal shift, using a compost consisting of good loam, leaf-mould, and 
turfy peat, in equal proportions, liberally intermixed with gritty sand and small pieces of char- 
coal. "Wo should then place the plant in a tolerably close, but not warm frame, and keep it 
growing freely until October; wc should then ripen it off, and keep it comparatively dormant in 
the greenhouse until the spring. In March we should start it again in a gentle heal, put. stop, 
and train it as much as necessary until the end of July, and then place it in the full sun in the 
open air until time to house it for the winter. In this way, by accumulating a quantity of 
highly-organizahle matter in the plant, wc should hope to bloom it in perfection ; at least , if this 
/> treatment will not bloom it successfully, we fear the attempt to bloom it freely will br hopeless. 
f\ Weak, clear manure-water may be given while the plant is in free growth. — A. 9i 
?.})] VOL. III. Ic |. 
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