Part 98

From the figures in the Collect. and Ic. rar. of Jacquin, we were led to think, this must be the same, or a strong variety of his G. florabundus; but, as his trivial name and specific character so ill accord with our plant, we have continued it under that, by which it was sent to England in 1788. It is a very free blowing bulb, and will live through the winter, with very little protection; flowering about June or July, and does not require to be removed from the pot, to prevent its rotting. Our drawing was taken in June this year, at the Hammersmith Nursery.

PLATE CXIX.

STRUTHIOLA OVATA.

Oval-leaved Struthiola.

CLASS IV. ORDER I.

TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

See Struthiola imbricata, Pl. CXIII. Vol. II.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

PERIANTHIUM diphyllum. Corolla tubulosa 4-fida; nectarium, glandulæ octo fauci circumpositæ. Sem. 1. subbaccatum.

CUP two-leaved. Blossom tubular, 4-cleft; honey-cup, 8 glands placed round the mouth of the blossom. One seed like a berry.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Struthiola foliis ovatis, glabris; ramis glabris, rugosis.

Struthiola with egg-shaped, smooth leaves; branches smooth and wrinkled.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Blossom, complete. 2. The Empalement, magnified. 3. The Blossom cut open, with the Chives attached, magnified. 4. The Pointal and seed-bud, magnified.

This species of Struthiola is described by Thunberg, in his Prodromus, under the specific title it here bears, and was first introduced to us in the year 1794, in seeds received from the Cape of Good Hope, by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, Hammersmith. It is a very tender greenhouse plant, and very subject to be destroyed by damps, or too much moisture, even in summer; the flowers, (as are most of this natural order,) are extremely fragrant and continue in full perfection from March till June. The mode of propagation is by cuttings, made in May, which should be placed under a hand-glass in a pot of light loam, and shaded from the mid-day sun. It thrives best in a mixture of half peat and half loam. The drawing was made in the spring of 1798, from a plant in the Hibbertian Collection, Clapham; then in flower, for the first time in England.

PLATE CXX.

FUCHSIA LYCIOIDES.

Box Thorn-like Fuchsia.

CLASS VIII. ORDER I.

OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Eight Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum. Infundibuliforme, coloratura, superum marcescens; limbus quadripartitus.

COROLLA. Petala quatuor, sessilia, ore calycis inserta.

STAMINA. Filamenta octo, inæqualia, filiformia, erecta, tubo calycis inserta. Antheræ ovatæ.

PISTILLUM. Germen inserum, ovatum. Stylus filiformis, erectus, longitudine staminum. Stigma tuberculatum.

PERICARPIUM. Bacca carnosa, ovata, quadri-locularis.

SEMINA plura, parva, receptaculo columnari affixa.