Pol>uLAR AND GEOGRAPHICAL NoTiCE. The specics which 
compose this genus are not of a showy character^ indeed many of them 
are no better than rambling weeds, and not worth cultivating; such 
are for example, Gonolobus maritimus, and Gonolobus diadematus. 
Perhpas for beauty there has not been introduced a more attractive 
species than the one now figured, as each umbel contains from eight to 
ten blossoms, having a diameter of from two to three inches, which are 
arranged in the axils of the leaves, alternate on each side of the stem, 
at a distance of about three inches; and so freely are its flowers pro¬ 
duced that they commence at about eighteen inches from the ground, 
and continue to the height of several feet. The flowers, however, are 
not of an attractive, brilliance, being of a dark brown purple colour; 
but it has a powerful and concentrated fragrance, of so singular a 
description that it has been compared, by Sir W. J. Hooker, to the 
flavour of roasted peas. The number of described species at present 
inti’oduced amounts to about thirty, all natives of South, and the 
warmer parts of North, America: the locality of our present species 
is Entre Rios, South Brazil. 
If, however, the species of this genus are not showy, they are, together 
with the whole of the natural order Asclepiadacese, very singular in 
structure, so much so that they difier from all other dicotyledones or 
exogens, and are more related in their sexual structure to the Orchi- 
daceee, as may be witnessed in the compact waxy texture of the pollen 
masses, and which are found so uniformly in the Asclepiadacese proper. 
On the relation of Asclepiadaceae to Orchidacese some interesting 
observations have been published, by Dr. then Mr. Brown, to which 
the reader is referred. 
Introduction; Where grown; Culture. Our plant was 
introduced into this country in the year 1837. It was sent, in that 
year, by Mr. Tweedie, to the Glasnevin Garden, in which establish¬ 
ment it flowered in 1839, at which time our drawing was there taken. 
Is is treated as a stove plant, but, probably, it will stand our winters 
in a sheltered situation, against a warm wall, on the southern coast; 
where, if trained, it will flower in much gi’eater perfection than 
remaining in a pot; and its lurid flowers will form a striking contrast 
to many other climbers. It may be propagated by cuttings, placed 
under a hand-glass in a stove; and when potted out should be planted 
in loam, sand, and peat. West. 
Derivation of the Names. 
Generic name, Gonolobus, from yojvia an angle, XoSo^ a pod. The specific 
name, hispidus, from its hairiness. 
Synonymes. 
Gonolobus hispidus. Hooker; in Arnoth, Bot. Journal, t. 295. Bot. Maga¬ 
zine, t. 3786, 
