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THE LADIES’ FLOWER GARDEN 
partly procumbent. The flowers are numerous, loose, and terminating the stem and branches in leafy racemes. 
The species is a native of Mexico, and was first raised in Europe by Professor Cavanilles, in the garden of the 
Buen Retiro, at Madrid. It was afterwards grown in the Berlin Botanic Garden, whence it was sent both to the 
Botanic Garden, Chelsea, and to the Fulham Nursery, in 1816. The seeds should be raised on a hotbed in 
April, and the young plants planted out into a moist, rich, shady border, in June. 
3.—CUPHEA LLAVEA, La Llave et Lexarsa. LA LLAVE’S CUPHEA. 
Engravings. —Bot. Reg. t. 138G ; and our fig. 1, in Plate 17. foliaceons, erect. Petals two, obovate, large, the rest abortive. 
Specific Character. —Stems numerous, hispid. Branches ascend- Stamens eleven_(G. Don.) 
ing. Leaves almost sessile, ovate-lanceolate, strigose. Pedicels inter- 
Description, &c. —The petals of the flowers are of a dark scarlet; the calyx has a greenish front, and the 
back and throat are pinkish. Three of the stamens are very long. Only two of the petals are conspicuous, the 
others being so small as to be scarcely visible. The stems are numerous, erect, taper, and about a foot and a half 
high. It is a native of the mountains of Central Mexico, where it was discovered by La Llave flowering in 
March and April. It was introduced into England by Mr. Ackermann in 1829, who gave the seeds to Mr. Tate, 
in whose nursery they flowered the following August. It is properly a perennial; but as it will not live through 
the English winter in the open air, it does best treated as an annual. It may either be sown in a hotbed in 
February, and planted out in May, in which case it will flower in June, or be sown in the open air in April, when 
it will flower in August. 
4.—CUPHEA LANCEOLATA, Ait. THE LANCEOLATE-LEAVED CUPHEA. 
Synonvhe. —? C. silenoides, Ilort. 
Engravings _Brit. Plow. Gard., 2nd Ser. t. 402 ; Floral Cabinet, 
vol. ii. p. 101 ; and our Jig. 3, in Plate 17. 
Specific Character.— Stem erect, clothed with clammy pubescence. 
Leaves opposite, on short petioles, lanceolate, rather pilose. Flowers 
pedicellate, solitary, deflexed. Calyx beset with clammy pili, 6- 
tootbed. Petals 6, obovate, two of which are larger than the rest; the 
two longer stamens are woolly beyond the anthers.—(G. Don.) 
Description, &c. —The whole plant is clothed with soft, clammy, purple hairs, and it has a powerful 
fragrance ; the stem is erect and branched, with ascending branches. The leaves are lanceolate, and pale green 
on both sides. The root is fibrous. The flowers are solitary ; the petals are of a very dark black-blood colour, with 
white claws, and the calyx is greenish. The flower is certainly much handsomer than that of any other kind of 
Cuphea; but still it is more curious than beautiful. Cuphea lanceolata is a native of Mexico, and was first introduced 
by Mr. Anderson, Curator of the Botanic Garden, Chelsea, in 1796 ; it was, however, soon after lost, till it was 
re-introduced about 1836, by Messrs. Osborn, of the Fulham nursery, who received the seeds from Messrs. Booth, 
of Hamburgh. It was first supposed to be a stove plant ; but the specimen from which our plate was taken 
grew in the open border in the Fulham nursery, without the slightest protection. The culture is the same as that 
of the other species. 
OTHER SPECIES OF CUPHEA. 
There are several other annual species of Cuphea, mostly natives of Mexico, which have not yet been intro¬ 
duced ; but which, from the descriptions which have been given of them, appear well deserving of introduction. 
Though not at all showy, they are curious; and though natives of a warm climate, they are found to succeed 
perfectly well in the open air in Britain. 
