STYLIDIUM AMCENUM. 
128 
conservatories. The Stylidium amcenum, without the gaiety of many New Holland shrubs, is decidedly 
pretty, and must be a desirable addition to this class of plants. It blooms in June. The Stylidium 
nudum of Lindley is now considered to be synonymous. 
It is a herb—perennial, we believe—having at the surface of the soil a rosulate tuft of leaves, which 
are spathulate, two and a half to three inches long, tapering to the base, shortly acute at the apex, 
and terminating in an apiculus; they 
are paler on the lower than on the 
upper surface, and have a broken cellular 
hyaline, scarcely denticulate margin ; 
when fresh they are scattered with 
transparent dots; the veins are dicho¬ 
tomous, scarcely anastomosing. From 
the centre of this tuft rises the erect 
scape, six inches high, terminating in 
the upper half in a pyramidal many- 
flowered raceme, below which is a whorl 
of linear pointed bracts. The rachis, 
pedicels, and calyx are furnished with 
hairs tipped by black glands. The 
flowers are large rose-coloured, measur¬ 
ing five-eighths of an inch in diameter. 
The pedicels are shorter than the calyx, 
subtended by small lance-shaped bracte- 
oles. The calyx, besides its gland tipped 
hairs, is marked with red dots and 
streaks; its teeth are linear - oblong 
obtuse, those of the lower lip three in 
number, narrower than the two forming 
the upper lip, all being shorter than the 
ovary. The corolla is three times as 
long as the calyx teeth; the upper lip 
consists of four oblong blunt spreading 
lobes, the lower is very small, with a 
gland-like deltoid prominence at the 
base ; a pair of short lateral ears, or pro¬ 
jections, which become very indistinct 
in the dried state, and a subulate petal¬ 
like point; the throat is furnished with 
a crown of six clavate processes. The 
column is flattened at the base, becomes 
tapered upwards, and is bent twice in 
the usual way. 
The Stylidiums should be grown in 
sandy soil with a preponderance of peat earth, and require to be very carefully drained, for though 
they like a good supply of water while growing, they cannot endure stagnant moisture. A warm, 
dry, and airy greenhouse is the best situation for them. Many of them are very pretty, indeed, 
showy plants; and, in all, the structure of the flower, and the irritability of its column, is so curious, that 
they have good claim to the small space they occupy.—M. 
STYLIDIUM AMCENUM. 
