SPHENO'GYNE SPECIO'SA. 
SHOWY SPHENOGYNE. 
Class. Order. 
SYNGENESIA. FRUSTRANEA. 
Natural Order. 
COMPOSIXiE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
S.America. 
1 foot. 
July, Aug-, 
Annual. 
in 1836. 
No. 626 . 
The word Sphenogyne is deduced from the 
Greek words sphen, and gune, signifying wedge, 
and female. The name is thus compounded, in al- 
lusion to the wedge-shaped stigma of the genus. 
This is one amongst the interesting new annuals 
lately introduced to our gardens from that great 
continent of vegetable magnificence, America. It 
is not alone interesting when in flower, but also 
when bearing its seeds. These are furnished with 
a cup-like membranaceous appendage, called the 
pappus, and become as ornamental as the flower 
itself, and even more attractive to those who happen 
to be unacquainted with seeds of this description. 
If gathered before they become too ripe, they may 
be kept to mix with such dry flowers as the Xeran- 
themum, Gnaphalium, and Elichrysum. The pap- 
pus is a wing to the seed, which aids its dispersion 
from the parent plant. It is one of those evident 
marks of design, which meet the naturalist at 
every step he takes amongst created beings. 
Seedling plants of Sphenogyne speciosa should 
be raised in a hotbed, so that they may be trans- 
planted into the borders early in May. 
