PHABBITIS LIMBATA 
2 17 
PHARBITIS LIMBATA. 
Nat. Order .— Convolvblaceie. 
Generic Character. — Pharbitis, Choisy. — Calyx of five 
segments. Corolla hypogynous, campanulate or funnel-shaped, 
limb spreading, five-plaited. Stamens five, inserted in the tube 
of the corolla, included, filaments dilated at the base. Ovary 
three- or four-ceiled, cells with two ovules; style simple; 
stigma capitate, granular. Capsule three- or four-celled, three- 
or four-valved. Seeds six or eight, erect. Cotyledons of the 
curved, mucilaginously albuminous embryo, corrugated, radicle 
inferior.—Twining herbs, natives of all intertropical regions; 
leaves cordate, entire or lobed; peduncles axillary, one- or 
I 
manv-flowered; corolla most frequently blue, variegated with 
white and purple.— [Nndl. Gen. Plant. 3808.) 
Pharbitis limbata, IAndley. Bordered Major Convolvulus. 
—Annual; stem hairy with retrorse hairs ; leaves cordate, 
entire, angular, and three-lobed, hairy, lobes dilated at the 
base, acu min ated above ; peduncles solitary, one-flowered, half 
as long as the leaf-stalks ; sepals hispid at the base, hairy at 
the apex, linear-acute, and very long. 
Synonymy. —Pharbitis limbata, Lindley in Journ. Hurt. 
Soc., v. 33. 
B ESCTtlPTIOA.—An annual twining herb, with very showy flowers. The stem is clothed 
with hairs pointing backwards. The leaves are hairy, broad, cordate at the base, and divided 
into three lobes above their middle; the lobes broad and somewhat ovate below, and then sud¬ 
denly contracted to an acuminated point. The axillary flower-stalks are solitary, one-flowered, 
and about half as long as the leaf-stalks, and bear three subulate bracts about their middle; the 
calyx five-parted, the teeth very long, linear, acute, hispid at the base, and hairy at then tips ; 
the corolla is large, funnel-shaped, and spreading, crimson in the tube, shading into intense 
violet in the limb, the violet colour terminating in five crescentic curves above, leaving a broad 
interrupted pme white border. 
Histoey.— A Java species, imported by Messrs. Kollison, of Tooting, through their collector, 
Mr. J. Henshall, in 1848, and first exhibited in October, 1849. “ It appears to be an annual, 
seeding freely, and has much the appearance of Pharbitis Ail, from which it principally differs 
in the great length of its sepals, their excessive hispidity, and the shortness of the flower-stalk. 
The flowers, equal in size to the old Convolvulus major, but less spreading at the mouth, are of 
an intense violet edged with pure white, and have a beautiful appearance. A Brazilian Pharbitis 
referred to P. Ail by Mr. Gardner (Ao. 79 of his Herb.) is very near this, but has the long 
flower-stalks of that species” ( Lindley , l. c.). It seems somewhat doubtful whether this be 
actually specifically distinct from Pharbitis Ail, which varies in the length of its peduncles. It 
is now known to be annual.—A. H. 
Culture.— Messrs. Bollison state that it is a half-hardy plant, requiring similar treatment 
to that given to Thunbergias, and the old Ipomcea coccinea. Although they have not tried it 
out of doors, still they express a belief that it would grow very well in the open air, if planted 
against a south wall or trellis. It is a free growing climber. Being annual, it is of course in¬ 
creased by seeds.—M. 
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ABSOBPTIOA AAD PIXATIOA OP MAAHRES BY EARTHS. 
By J. TOWELS, Esq., C.M.H.S. 
771HE previous article on tins subject (p. 174) contained a fist of those chemical tests, or re-agents, 
A which will be required by any one who should attempt to prove the reality of those phenomena 
winch science has very recently disclosed: to that fist should be added a solution of lime, called 
nitrate of lime , made by gradually adding to diluted aqua fortis a few particles of chalk, or whitening, 
so long as the acid can dissolve the chalk, and produces any effervescence (or hissing). The clear 
fluid furnishes one of the most certain tests for oxalic acid that we possess. 
After these preliminaries, I come at once to the results that have attended my own experiments, 
and winch it is my object to assist others to work out, that no one may attach blind credence to 
assertions which cannot be supported by the evidence of positive facts. A method of preparing liquid 
manure of the simplest character, has been given in the former article. I have subsequently been, 
and am engaged hi a series of experiments upon a sample of guano, obtained of Mr. Prosser, and 
which appears to be genuine, as that peculiar substance ought, but too rarely is found, to be; and 
here, I observe, in passing,—that every result of any analysis, announced by Messrs. Thomson and 
Way, in their two articles published in the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, is fully sanctioned, or, 
at least, supported by the phenomena, which have been developed by myself dining the course of that 
series. 
Assuming that a liquid manure has been prepared according to the form before given, and a glass 
cylinder provided, 8 inches deep, and 3 or 4 niches wide, open at both ends, one orifice being of 
