SIPHOCAMPYLUS REVOLUTUS.-KEVOLUTE SIPHOCAMPYLU8. 
Class V. PENTANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, LOBELIACEAL 
The name of this plant is derived from < n<pw a tube, and Kaptcvkor curved, because the tube of the corolla 
is bent. 
Character of the Genus, Siphocampylus. Calyx with an obconical top-shaped or hemis- 
pherical tube, adhering to the ovarium, the limb being free and quinquefid. Corolla inserted into the top 
of the calyx tube, tubular, with an entire incurved or rarely straight tube, the segments of the five-cleft 
bilabiate limb subequal, or the two upper slightly longer. Stamens five, inserted along with the corolla,' 
filaments and anthers, of which the two lower, or the whole, are bearded or mucronate at the apex, connate. 
Ovary inferior, slightly superior at the apex, bilocular. Ovula numerous, upon somewhat fleshy placentae 
attached to each side of the dissepiment, anatropous. Style included ; stigma exserted, two-lobed, lobes 
divaricated, round. Capsule bilocular, free at the apex, loculicidal, bivalvular. Seeds very numerous, 
minute, scrobiculate. Embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen, orthotropous, radicle towards the umbilicus. 
Description of the species, Siphocampylus Revolutus. Stem erect, round, sparingly branched, 
branches zigzag, villous, green. Leaves alternate, on short stout channelled petioles, rigid, wrinkled, 
spreading wide, dark green and rough, with very short hairs above, lighter and villous below, cordato-ovate, 
acuminate, the apex of the upper ones revolute, the edges reflexed, simply dentate ; middle rib and veins 
very prominent below, channelled above. Peduncles solitary, axillary, erect, half as long as the leaves, 
villous, without bracts. Calyx green, villous ; tube turbinato-hemispherical, with 10 strong ribs, and as 
many round glands between the apices of these; limb 5-partite, segments twice as long as the tube, subu- 
late, diverging at the apex. Corolla five times as long as the calyx, purplish red ; tube entire, slightly 
deflexed, contracted at the throat, and for a space equal to the length of the calyx segments at the base, 
where it is deeply marked by five grooves, in the centre inflated and compressed laterally; limb five partite, 
segments subequal, linear-lanceolate, acute, slightly hairy within, the two upper straight and paler within, 
the lateral ones spreading or reflexed, slightly falcate downwards, the lowest revolute, and, as well as the 
lateral ones, nearly white. Stamens as long as the corolla ; filaments inserted along with this into the top 
of the calyx, adhering to the tube as far up as the extent of the contracted portion at the base, above this 
uniting into a tube, red and glabrous ; anthers lead-coloured, cohering into a curved tube, the two lower 
bearded and white hairs at the apex, the three upper having a very few similar hairs in their commissures. 
Style encased by the stamens, projecting beyond the anthers, glabrous, red. Stigma of two blunt, revolute 
lobes. Germen inferior, green, glabrous, and with a free conical apex, bilocular. Ovules very numerous, 
small, on large central placentae. 
Popular and geographical notice. This beautiful genus is entirely American, and scarcely passes with- 
out the tropics, but is found on both sides of the line. I do not know from what part the seeds of the 
present species were introduced. It is a true example of the genus, and altogether unlike the plants known 
in cultivation as Siphocampylus bicolor (t. 139) and S. Cavanillesii (t. 234), which are true Lobelias. 
Introduction ; where grown ; culture. Seedling plants were received at the Garden of the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society, from Mr. Low, of Clapton, in September, 1839. They grew to the height of five feet 
in 1840, in the stove, without flowering; cuttings were formed, these rooted readily, and, when of a small size, 
flowered in February, 1841. We possess the plant at the Botanic Garden, also from Mr. Low. It is kept 
in the Greenhouse, and is very healthy, but has not yet come into flower. It requires no particular soil or 
treatment. 
For the following passages we are indebted to the agreeable Essays, published by the late Charles 
Lamb, under the signature of “Elia.” The reader must forgive one or two of the author’s expressions ; 
which probably he would scarcely have defended himself in his more serious moment. 
New Year’s Eve. Every man hath two birth-days: two days, atleast,in every year, which sets him upon 
revolving the lapse of time, as it effects his mortal duration. The one is that which in an especial manner he 
termeth his. In the gradual desuetude of old observances, this custom of solemnizing our proper birth-day 
hath nearly passed away, or is left to children, who reflect nothing at all about the matter, nor understand any 
thing in it beyond cake and orange. But the birth of a new year is of an interest too wide to be preter- 
mitted by king or cobbler. No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. It is that from 
which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam. 
