Part 32

STAMINA. Filamenta quatuor, sub dorso corollæ recondita, quorum duo lateralia paulo longiora; antheræ incumbentes.

Rudimentum quinti filamenti, mucronis instar, intra superius staminum par.

PISTILLUM. Germen ovatum. Stylus filiformis, situ, et longitudine staminum. Stigma obtusum.

PERICARPIUM. Capsula ovata, bilocularis, calyce longior.

SEMINA plurima, sub rotunda, margine membranaceo cincta.

EMPALEMENT. Cup one leaf, five divisions very short, permanent; segments upright and egg-shaped.

BLOSSOM. One petal, gaping; tube cylindrical, very short; mouth swelled, oblong, rounded on the upper, and flat on the lower part; border shut, and small; upper lip blunt, bordered; lower lip nearly as long as the upper, slightly divided into three at the end.

CHIVES. Threads four, hid under the upper part of the blossom; of which the two side ones are a little longer than the others. Tips fixed sideways to the threads.

The rudiment of a fifth thread, like a sharp point is placed equal with, and between the upper chives.

POINTAL. Seed-vessel egg-shaped. Shaft thread-shaped, of the same length, and place as the chives. Summit blunt.

SEED-VESSEL. Capsule egg-shaped, two cells longer than the empalement.

SEEDS many, nearly round, bound at the edge by a thin skin.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Chelone foliis inferioribus spathulatis, glabris; superioribus lanceolatis, oppositis; corollis cernuis, coccineis; labiis inferioribus barbatis.

Chelone with spathulate, smooth leaves on the lower part of the stem; and lance-shaped, opposite ones on the upper; blossoms hanging down, and scarlet; the lower lips bearded.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Leaf from the lower part of the Stem. 2. The Empalement. 3. A Blossom cut open, to shew the situation of the Chives, and the imperfect rudiments of a fifth. 4. The Seed-vessel, and Pointal, (natural size).

The Chelone Ruellioides is a native of Chili, South America, and was introduced to the royal gardens at Kew in the year 1793, by Mr. Boutelow, the son of the gardener to the King of Spain, who was then in England pursuing his botanical studies. It is (apparently) a hardy plant, and fit to endure the open borders, but, as yet, we have not had a sufficient trial to ascertain it; hitherto it has been treated as a greenhouse plant. Being herbaceous, it is propagated by parting the roots, which should be done in spring, about the month of March. The proper season of its flowering cannot well be determined, as it has undergone such various treatment. The plant from which this figure was made was in full bloom at the gardens of G. Hibbert, Esq. Clapham, in the month of June 1797, where it was seen to flower, for the first time in this country. The soil it seems to thrive in most, is a composition of loam, and rotten dung.

PLATE XXXV.

IXIA CRISPIFOLIA. Var. flore cæruleo.

Crisped-leaved Ixia. Blue Variety.

CLASS III. ORDER I.

TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Three Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

COROLLA 6-petala, patens, æqualis. Stigmata 3, erectiusculo-patula.

BLOSSOM six petals, spreading equal. Summits three, nearly upright, and spreading.

See IXIA REFLEXA, Plate XIV.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.