Part 45

Individuals with only pointals, tubular the length of the hermaphrodites, five cleft, and rather smaller.

CHIVES. The threads in the hermaphrodites are five, and very small. Tips forming a cylinder, tubular almost the length of the florets.

POINTAL. Seed-bud of the hermaphrodites short. Shaft thread-shaped, longer than the chives. Summit cloven.

Seed-bud of the female florets the same as the hermaphrodites. Shaft thread-shaped the length of the hermaphrodites. Summits two, oblong and bent back.

SEED-VESSEL none. Empalement scarcely changing.

SEEDS oblong, and crowned with a feather.

RECEPTACLE naked, flatish, and dotted.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Xeranthemum fruticosum, erectum; foliis amplexicaulibus, lanceolatis, trinerviis; ramis unifloris, subundis.

Everlasting flower with an upright shrubby stem; leaves embracing the stem, lance-shaped, and three-nerved; branches with one flower, and nearly naked.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. An Hermaphrodite floret, (natural size). 2. The Chives, Pointal, and Seed-bud, (magnified). 3. The Pointal, and Seed-bud from a female floret, (magnified).

This handsome species of Xeranthemum was introduced, according to the Kew catalogue, by Mr. F. Masson from the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1787; it is, nevertheless, a very scarce plant, being subject to decay from our winter damps; therefore requires a dry stove for its protection. The blossoms (or rather the flower-cups, for they are the persistent parts) are easily preserved for many years, in all their brilliancy, by cutting them, when they first expand; but our atmosphere seems uncongenial to the ripening of their seeds, and is with great difficulty increased by cuttings. The soil it most approves is sandy peat, with a small portion of loam. Our figure was taken in September last year, at the Hammersmith nursery.

PLATE LII.

GNIDIA PINIFOLIA.

Pine-leaved Gnidia.

CLASS VIII. ORDER I.

OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Eight Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum, infundibuliforme, coloratum; tubo filiformi, longissimo; limbo quadripartito, plano.

COROLLA. Petala quatuor, sessilia, plana, calyce breviora, eique inserta.

STAMINA. Filamenta octo, setacea, erecta, longitudine ferme floris. Antheræ simplices.

PISTILLUM. Germen ovatum. Stylus filiformis, germinis lateri insertus, longitudine staminum. Stigma capitatum, hispidum.

PERICARPIUM nullum. Fructus in fundo calycis.

SEMEN unicum, ovatum.

EMPALEMENT. Cup one leaf, funnel-shaped and coloured; tube thread-shaped, very long; border of four segments, which are flat.

BLOSSOM. Petals four, sitting close to the cup, flat, shorter than the cup, and fixed within it.

CHIVES. Threads eight, awn-like, upright, scarcely the length of the flower. Tips simple.