Part 40

MASSONIA VIOLACEA.

Purple-flowered Massonia.

CLASS VI. ORDER I.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX, nullus.

COROLLA sex-petala. Petala nectario imposita, lanceolata, patentia.

Nectarium inferum, cylindricum, membranaceum.

STAMINA. Filamenta sex, nectarii dentibus inserta, filiformia declinata, petalis paulo longiora. Antheræ ovatæ.

PISTILLUM. Germen (respectu nectarii) superum. Stylus subulatus, declinatus, longitudine, staminum. Stigma simplex, acutum.

PERICARPIUM. Capsula triquetra, glabra, trilocularis, trivalvis, angulis dehiscens.

SEMINA plurima, globosa, glabra, magnitudine seminum sinapios.

EMPALEMENT none.

BLOSSOM six-petals. Petals placed on the honey-cup, are lance-shaped and spreading.

Honey-cup beneath, cylindrical and skinny.

CHIVES. Six threads, fixed into the teeth of the honey-cup, thread-shaped, bent downward, and a little longer than the petals. Tips egg-shaped.

POINTAL. Seed-bud (with regard to the honey-cup) above. Shaft awl-shaped, and bent downward the length of the chives. Summit simple, and pointed.

SEED-VESSEL. Capsule three-sided, and smooth, of three cells and three valves, splitting at the angles.

SEEDS many, globular, smooth, the size of a mustard seed.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Massonia, foliis spathulatis, glabris; scapus filiformis, erectus, bipollicaris; flores pedunculati, violacei, sparsi, pedunculi uniflori.

Massonia with spatula-shaped, and smooth leaves; flower-stalk thread-shaped, upright, two inches high; the flowers have foot-stalks, are of a violet colour, and grow scattered; the foot-stalks have each but one flower.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Flower complete. 2. The same cut open, to shew the insertion of the Chives. 3. The Pointal.

This genus of plants perpetuates the name, as a botanist, (would it could likewise the mild, unassuming, and universally allowed amiableness of character) of Mr. Francis Masson, botanical collector to his Majesty; now exploring the untrod regions of North America, to add to the extensive collections of his royal and munificent Master, which stand so much indebted to his indefatigable industry for their present splendour. The Massonias are all rather tender, and require the same situation as Hæmanthus &c; that is, a dry stove; they are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, or, at least, grow within that point of Africa generally so called, but at some distance from the Cape town, near a mountain (according to Thunberg) of the name of Bocklands Berg. The root of this species is very subject to rot when the leaves are decayed, if watered at that time; therefore, like the Ixias, should be put aside, or taken out of the pot for two or three months, after flowering. It is very difficult to propagate, as the seeds are seldom perfected, and rarely makes any offsets; flowering in September, about the beginning of which month this figure was taken, from a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert, Esq. Clapham Common. It appears to thrive best in a mixture of peat and sandy loam.

PLATE XLVII.

MUSA COCCINEA.

Scarlet-flowered Plantain-tree.