Refugium Botanicum. | [April, 1870. 
TAB. 194. 
Natural Order STERCULIACES. 
Tribe LASIOPETALE. 
Genus THomasia (J. Gay, Mem. Mus. Par. vii. 450, t. 21, 22). Calyx 
quinquefidus, coloratus vel hyalinus, demum membranaceo-dilatatus. 
Petala minuta, squameformia vel nulla. Stamina basi connata vel 
libera, 5 antherifera sepalis alterna, staminodia nunc totidem vel 
pauciora vel nulla; antherarum loculi longitudinaliter dehiscentes. 
Ovarium 3, rarius 4—5-loculare, loculis 2 vel multiovulatis, stylo 
filiformi. Capsula loculicide dehiscens. Semina solitaria vel pauca, 
erecta, albuminosa; embryo rectus ; cotyledones foliacez ; radicula 
hilo proxima. Suffrutices australienses.— Benth. et Hook. fil. Gen. 
Ted fe OG Bae Py 
T. purpuREA (J. Gay, loc. cit.) Frutex humilis erectus copiose ramosus 
ramis griseo-hispidis, stipulis late foliaceis, foliis lineari-oblongis 
integris obtusis stellato-hispidis, racemis 3—6-floris, pedicellis bre- 
vibus, calyce corolliformi rubro lobis deltoideis tubo subsequantibus, 
bracteolis linearibus vel lanceolatis, petalis minutis, filamentis per- 
brevibus, ovario 8—4-loculari, loculis biovulatis, stylo glabro. — 
D.C. Prodr. i. 489; Benth. Fl. Austr. 1. 253. Lasiopetalum pur- 
pureum, Bot. Mag. t. 1755. 
A native of the Swan River. 
A copiously-branched erect shrub one or two feet high, with 
firm very slender terete gray-downy branches. Petioles an eighth 
to a quarter of an inch long, with a pair of large leaf-like oblique 
sessile stipules at the base. Leaves linear-oblong, twelve to 
eighteen lines long when fully developed by three to six lines 
broad, blunt, entire, rounded at the base, subcoriaceous in 
texture, pale green above and scabrous with scattered stellate 
hairs, paler and more densely hairy below, the edges decurved. 
Flowers three to six together in moderately close stalked racemes 
from the axils of the leaves. Pedicels under a line long. 
Bracteoles linear or linear-lanceolate, often as long as the calyx. 
Calyx corolla-like, pale purplish, at first not more than a quarter 
of an inch across when expanded, with five deltoid bluntish lobes 
reaching half-way down, finally scariose and much larger and 
prominently veined. Petals minute, scale-like, sometimes absent. 
Anthers five, with very short jilaments. Ovary three- or rarely 
four-celled, the cells biovulate. Style glabrous. 
