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-ESCHYNANTHUS SPLENDIDUS. 
^SCJTYNANTHUS SPLEKDIDUS. 
Nat. Order. — Gesnerace-e $ Cyrtandre.*:. 
Gkn-eric Character, — ;Esclnj}ianthtts, Jack. — Calyx tubular, 
five-toothed, equal. Corolla hypogynous, tube sub-incurved, 
throat dilated ; limb two-lipped, the upper lip erect, two-lobed, 
the inferior three-toothed, the lobes sub-equal. Stamens in- 
serted on the tube of the corolla, four, didynamous, exserted or 
included ; filaments thread-like; anthers affixed by the base, 
two-celled, cohering in pairs ; the fifth posterior stamen in- 
cluded, without an anther. Ovary surrounded by a fleshy hypo- 
gynous ring, almost spuriously four-celled, the two placentas 
being stipitate on a parietal lamina, broad, contiguous to the 
axis, many-ovuled on the revolute margins ; style simple ; 
stigma club-shaped, with two lamella;. Capsule stalked on the 
base of the calyx, elongate, siliquiform, pseudo-four-celled 
two-valvcd, the valves bearing in their middle the placentas, 
which are at length spread out, and bear the seeds on their 
margins. Seeds numerous, pendulous, affixed by the apex of 
the nucleus, with one hair at the base, and one-, two-, and many 
hairs at the apex.— Twining or climbing shrubs, from tropical 
Asia, rooting at the thickened joints ; leaves opposite, stalked, 
leathery, and somewhat fleshy, quite entire ; flowering stems, 
axillary, solitary, two-flowered, more rarely terminal umbel- 
late ; pedicels with two bracteoles ; flowers showy, orange-scar- 
let, viscid-hairy.— (Endlicher Gen. Plant., 3134.) 
-Eschynanthus SPLENDIDUS. — The Splendid -Eschynanth. — 
Erect ; leaves elliptic-lanceolate, much acuminated, entire, 
somewhat undulated on the margin ; flowers in terminal fasci- 
cles ; segments of the calyx lanceolate, ciliated at the tip, the 
posterior one smaller ; corolla (3 in.) clavatc, curved, pubescent, 
orange coloured below, vermilion upwards; stamens and style 
much exserted ; style at length exceeding the stamens. 
jT^ESCRIPTION. — A very beautiful stove shrub, of erect branching habit, with smooth terete 
«^ branches. Leaves ternate (? always) the uppermost approximate, almost whorled, somewhat 
fleshy, elliptic-lanceolate, very much acuminated, entire, undulated on the margin, having a thick 
fleshy midrib, and attached by a short thick petiole. Flowers in an umbel-like terminal fascicle, 
seated among linear bracteoles. Peduncles erect, five-ribbed, about half an inch long, one- 
flowered. Calyx five-parted, the segments lanceolate, erect, smooth, ciliated at the tips, the 
posterior one smaller. Corolla tube three inches long, clavate, curved downwards at the end, 
there convex at the back and channeled in front, pubescent, rich orange-coloured below, deepen- 
ing upwards into a rich vermilion red ; limb two-lipped : the upper small, of two erect squarish 
lobes, light scarlet, with a bar of deep purple crimson down the centre of the inner face': the 
lower of three larger sub-spreading ovate or bluntly triangular lobes, nearly covered inside by a 
triangular blotch of deep purple crimson or maroon ; the throat or interior of the tube orange- 
coloured. Stamens and style much exserted ; the stamens when young connected in pairs by 
the oblong anthers ; the style at length exceeding the stamens, glabrous below, downj' above, 
curved at the top behind the flattened spreading transversely grooved stigma. 
History, &c. — A hybrid production, and a very beautiful one, raised by llessrs. Lucombe 
Pince and Co., of Exeter, to whom we are indebted for the specimens from which our drawing 
was made. It was raised, as we are informed, from JE. speciosus, impregnated by ~E. tjruiaU- 
florus, and possesses the abundant-flowering habit and erect growth of the former, and in 
brilliance of colour and marking even exceeding the latter. It is no doubt the finest of its race, 
which, as is well known, now contains many very splendid imported species. "We were 
informed by Mr. Pince that his specimen plant of this hybrid had a bunch of flowers upon every 
shoot, the bunches in the specimens sent us numbering upwards of a score of blossoms. This 
plant had been grown all the summer in a cold pit without any artificial heat whatever. Ko 
doubt it will prove a most useful ornamental plant of very easy culture, and the brilliance of 
its larger clusters of flowers will make it conspicuous even among the most showy plants. 
The flowers were communicated to us earl)- in October last. 
Culture. — The species of JEschynanthus require stove heat, and a compost abounding in 
vegetable matter, with abundant drainage. They are readily propagated by cuttings placed in 
a brisk heat. The subject of our present illustration, being of erect and sturdy growth, will be 
more suitable for cultivation in pots, than in suspended baskets, which is the must natural way 
of growing the more slender trailing-stcmmed kinds. 
Beautiful as are the majority of the species of -Eschynantlms, it seems likely that the pro- 
cess of hybridization, which lias rewarded Jlr. Pince with the JE. xpl-ndidm, will elicit other 
improvements among this race of plants. In particular, it is fair to presume that the dingy 
green-flowered kinds known in gardens under the names of .E. <ttr<isti>it]itincws and ubrinttS, 
which produce interesting foliage, might by this means have more brilliant blossoms super- 
added. — M. 
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