OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
135 
GENUS VIII. 
LABLAB, Adans. THE LABLAB. 
Lin. Syst. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 
Generic Character,— Calyx tubular, 4-cleft, 3 lower divisions separated by a cellular substance. Twining herbs, with trifoliate 
acute. Vexillum with four callosities at the base. Stamens diadel- leaves, and white or purple flowers.— {G. Don.) 
phous. Style compressed, bearded below. Legume compressed. Seeds 
LABLAB VULGARIS, Savi. THE BLACK-SEEDED DOLICIIOS, OR EGYPTIAN BEAN. 
Engravings. —Bot. Mag. t. 896, Bot. Reg. t. 830; Swt. Brit. 
Flow. Gard. 2nd Ser. t. 236 ; and our fig. 12, in Plate 23. 
Synonymes. —Dolichos Lablab, Lin.; Lablavia vulgaris, D. Don. 
Specific Character. — Legumes oblong, ventricose, acinaciform ", 
pericarp easily separated; seeds ovate, somewhat compressed; gland 
basilar, hemispherical, furrowed.—(G. Don.) 
Description, &c. —This splendid plant, though frequently marked in books as a stove perennial, succeeds 
perfectly well if treated as a hardy annual. The pods are dark purple, as well as the flowers, and the seeds are 
black. There is a variety with white flowers. A native of Egypt, and also of China; and cultivated in the 
West Indies for its pods, which are boiled and eaten, as we eat kidney-beans. It was introduced in 1714, by 
the Dnchess of Beaufort. The seeds may now be procured at any seed-shop, generally under the name of 
Dolichos Lahlab. They should be raised on a hotbed, in pots, three seeds being sown in each pot, and planted 
out in May; care being taken to turn the earth out of the pot into a hole prepared for it without breaking the 
ball. The word Lablab signifies, in Arabic, a twining plant. 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
BALSAMINACE7E. 
Essential Character. —Sepals 2, small, deciduous, opposite. Petals 
4, cruciate ; upper one arched and emarginate; the lower one entire 
and drawn out into a spur. Stamens 5, hypogynous ; the 3 lower ones 
bearing 2-celled anthers, and the 2 upper ones 1-celled anthers. Style 
none. Stigmas 5. Capsules 5-valved; valves separating with elas¬ 
ticity. Placenta central. Albumen none.— (G. Don.) 
Description, &c.— The plants belonging to this order are all annuals with succulent stems and showy 
flowers. They are comprised in three genera, viz:—Balsamina, the common balsam, the flowers of which are 
borne singly, each on a separate stalk ; Tytonia, the species of which are aquatic stove plants, with the flowers 
sometimes produced three on one stalk, and sometimes each on a separate stalk ; and Impatiens, the Noli- 
me-tangere of the gardens, the flower-stalks of which are branched, and many-flowered. This order, according 
to botanical .arrangement, should precede Tropceolaceee , to which it is very closely allied. 
GENUS I. 
BALSAMINA, Riv. THE BALSAM. 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Anthers 5, 2-celled. Stigmas 5, distinct. Valves of capsule bending inwards elastically at the apex. Peduncles 
1-flowered.—(G. Don.) 
Description, &c.— A genus of showy-flowered plants, with succulent stems, mostly natives of the East 
