Plate 35. 
BLACK-SPOTTED NEMOPHILA. 
Nemophila atomaria , var . oculata. 
A very pretty and distinct new annual, raised by Mr. F. K. 
Burridge, of Colchester, and now in the hands of Mr. W. Thomp¬ 
son, seedsman, of Ipswich. The greyish-blue colour of its flowers, 
and the five large black spots which surround the centre, pro¬ 
duce a certain degree of resemblance in the flowers to those 
of Roella ciliata. We are indebted to Mr. Thompson for the 
specimen here figured. 
The stems of the plant are smooth, terete, procumbent, and 
branching ; the leaves opposite, hairy, especially beneath, taper¬ 
ing into a ciliated flattened petiole, obovate in circumscription, 
deeply pinnatifid; the lobes linear-oblong acutish, simple or two- 
cleft. The peduncles spring from the axils of the leaves, and are 
two to three inches long, and somewhat hairy. The calyx is cilia¬ 
ted at the margin, and hairy on the dorsal nerve, consisting of 
five erect triangular segments, with a short linear recurved lobe 
in the sinuses. The corolla is three-fourths of an inch or more 
in diameter, and consists of five obovate petals, which are pale 
sky-blue, and veiny towards the margins, white below, and 
marked near the base, each with a large conspicuous black spot 
breaking out into pencilled lines on the outer edge. 
This variety, which is really a very pretty addition to the class 
of free-flowering annuals, has been obtained from that form of 
N. atomaria which is called ccelestis , and in which the flowers 
are pale-blue towards the margin, exactly as they are in the 
present black-eyed variety, which differs chiefly, albeit in a very 
Plate 35.—Nemophila atomaeia, var. oculata : habit and foliage as in 
the species; flowers pale-blue, veiny, marked at the base of each petal with a 
large distinct black spot. 
