SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with bearded tips, within the blossom; the shaft just without; flowers grow in whorls, hanging down, of a swelled cylinder shape pinched in at the base; leaves by fours, linear, and smooth.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubby, upright, a foot or more high; branches grow in whorls, and are curved.
Leaves by fours, linear, smooth, and curved; the older ones spreading, and the younger ones ascending.
Flowers half an inch long, near the summits of the branches in whorls hanging down; footstalks coloured, having two small floral leaves at a distance from the cup.
Empalement four-leaved; leaflets of a broad egg-shape, pointed, the ends coloured, and pressed to the blossoms.
Blossom purple, of a swelled cylinder shape, tapered at the end and pinched in at the mouth; segments of the border are very small, upright, and oval.
Chives. Eight hair-like threads. Tips bearded, and within the blossom.
Pointal. Seed-bud turban-shaped. Shaft thread-shaped, just without the blossom. Summit four-cornered.