Corolla 4-fida, seu 4 petala. Antheræ lineares, insertæ petalis infra apicem. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
Blossom 4-cleft, or of 4 petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the ends. Cup, proper, none. Seeds solitary.
See Protea formosa, Pl. XVII. Vol. I.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Protea foliis lanceolato-ovatis; squamæ calycinæ interiores barbatæ, apice incurvatæ, incarnatæ.
Protea with leaves between oval and lance-shaped; the inner scales of the empalement are bearded, turned inward at the ends, and flesh coloured.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A Blossom complete, as it stands in the Empalement.
2. The same opened, to shew the situation of the Chives.
3. The Seed bud and Pointal.
The drawing of this magnificent plant was made at the nursery of Messrs. Grimwood and Wykes, Kensington, this year, early in the month of August; as we were informed by Mr. Wykes it was then in flower for the first time in England. In the year 1786 it was sent, in seeds, to the royal gardens, Kew, by Mr. F. Masson, from the Cape of Good Hope; where certainly its beauty must be great; as, even there, amidst that world of beauties, it should be honoured with such a specific title; in which, considering it as only a variety of our P. speciosa nigra, we entirely agree with Willdenow; where the last synonim of that species, copied by him in his Sp. Pl. from Ray’s Historia Plantarum of 1719, must have been taken from a plant of this variety. The treatment, and culture of this, and P. Speciosa nigra, are exact in every thing.[Pg 445]
PLATE 110