Perianthium diphyllum. Corolla tubulosa, 4-fida. Nectarium glandulæ octo fauci circumpositæ. Semen unum subbaccatum.
Cup two leaved. Blossom tubular, 4-cleft. Honey-cup 8 glands, placed round the mouth of the blossom. One seed like a berry.
See Struthiola imbricata, Pl. CXIII. Vol. II.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Struthiola foliis ovatis, concavis, callosis, tomentosis, imbricatis; nectario duodecim partito.
Struthiola with egg shaped leaves, concave, callous, downy and tiled; honey-cup with twelve divisions.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The two leaves of the Empalement, magnified.
2. A Flower complete, magnified.
3. A Blossom cut open, to shew the situation of the chives, magnified.
4. A Seed-bud, with the Shaft and Summit, a little magnified.
The Clapham Collection is the only one in which this curious species of Struthiola is, at present, to be seen. It was sent by Mr. Niven, from the Cape, in 1799, and flowered, for the first time, last year 1802, in the month of August, when our drawing was made. It is a tender Green-house plant, as are most of this natural order, from that country; being susceptible of too great moisture, either when exposed to the open air during heavy rains in summer, or from over watering in winter. Wherefore they are best preserved by sheltering them in an airy situation during summer, and giving them but little water in winter. It is encreased by cuttings, taken off in the month of May, planted in a pot, filled to the margin with sandy loam, and plunged under a hand-glass, in a shady border, without watering the loam. It grows most flourishing in a mixture of sandy peat and loam; the peat about one third part.[Pg 93]
