Part 101

PERICARPIUM. Capsula globosa, rostrata, glabra, bilocularis, longitudinaliter dehiscens; rostrum compressum, sulcatum, lineare, obtusum; dissepimentum obovatum, emarginatum, sub apice foramine perforatum, lateribus membranaceum, persistens.

SEMINA in singulo loculamento bina, reniformia, rugosa, hinc convexa, inde concava sulco longitudinali.

EMPALEMENT. Cup double; the outer one two-leaved; leaflets egg-shaped and concave, nearly the length of the tube; the inner one-leaved, many divisions, the segments about twelve, awl-shaped, thrice as short as the outer cup.

BLOSSOM, one petal; tube widening gradually; border five-cleft; segments equal, egg-shaped, very blunt, three times as short as the tube.

CHIVES. Four threads, fixed into the lower part of the tube, unequal; the two lower-most the shortest; the two uppermost shorter than the tube. Tips egg-shape, pressed to the threads.

POINTAL. Seed-bud above. Shaft thread-shape, a little shorter than the tube, and upright. Summit two lobed.

SEED-VESSEL globular, beaked, smooth, two celled, and splits longitudinally; beak flattened, awl-shaped, linear, and blunt; partition inversely egg-shaped, notched at the end, pierced with a hole at the top, skinny at the edges, and remaining.

SEEDS two in each cell, kidney-shaped, rough, convex on one side, and concave on the other by a longitudinal furrow.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Thunbergia foliis ovato-acuminatis, sub-dentatis; corolla alba, hypocrateriformis, tubo compresso; caule volubili.

Thunbergia with egg-shaped, tapering leaves, a little toothed; blossom white, salver-shaped, the tube flattened; stem twining.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The outer cup of the Empalement. 2. The inner cup of the same, magnified. 3. A Blossom cut open, to shew the situation of the Chives. 4. The Shaft and Summit, natural size. 5. The Seed-bud, magnified. 6. A ripe Capsule. 7. A ripe Seed.

The Thunbergia, here figured, is a native of the East Indies, from the Coromandel coast; was introduced to Britain in the year 1796, at the same time with the Ixora pavetta, by the Hon. Lady Dowager De Clifford. It is easily propagated, by cuttings, or from the seeds, which ripen with us: it should be kept in light, rich earth in the hothouse; where it will flower from May, till September; in which month this year our drawing was taken at Kensington Gore from a plant in the collection of James Vere, Esq. But although Dr. Roxburgh’s reason for adopting the specific character he has given it, that the place where it grows is sweet scented, though the plant is not, seems rather a little strained, we have not thought it right to alter it; as unquestionably, any name would have been equally appropriate, since neither the flowers, or any part of the plant, root or branch, has the least scent.

The plant from which this genus was originally formed by the younger Linnæus in his Sup. Plant. P. 46, is a native of the Cape of Good Hope; and we have our doubts, whether this plant ought to be placed with it; for although it accords in the essential character, of a double cup, the only one thought necessary, by Linnæus, to divide it from Barleria; yet, from the number of parts in which it differs from his generic character, such as the shape of the blossom, the length of the pointal, the situation and shape of the chives, the very different shape of the seeds, &c. we are led to think, it ought to be considered as a distinct Genus. But in following such good authority as the able and learned Dr. Roxburg, it is to be hoped, we shall stand excused in continuing the same name he has assigned it, without alteration at least, if not without comment.

PLATE CXXIV.

HELICONIA PSITTACORUM.

Parrot-billed Heliconia.

CLASS V. ORDER I.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX. Spathæ communes partialesque alternæ, distinctæ, persistentes.

Perianthium nullum.

COROLLA. Petala tria, oblonga, canaliculata, erecta, acuta, æqualia.

Nectarium diphyllum; foliolo altero petalis subæquali; altero brevissimo, canaliculato, uncinato, opposito.

STAMINA. Filamenta quinque, linearia. Antheræ erectæ, longæ.

PISTILLUM. Germen inferum, triquetrum. Stylus staminibus fere brevior. Stigma longum, gracile, curvatum, capitulo terminali.

PERICARPIUM. Capsula oblonga, truncata, triquetra, trilocularis, trivalvis.