Cæsulia, foliis lanceolatis basi attenuatis serratis alternis. Willd. Sp. Pl. 3. 1796.
Cæsulia, with alternate lanceolate serrated leaves attenuated at the base.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A floret with its seed enveloped by the chaff.
2.The same divested of its seed and chaff.
3.The same spread open and magnified.
4.The seed-bud, pointal, and chaff.
5. and 6. The same in different states
Novelty, oddity, and a very unusual appearance in every part, for a syngenesious plant, must in the present subject compensate for its trifling flowers.
Few of our cultivating friends, except those who are the most botanical, will be inclined to add this Cæsulia to their collections; although a very rare, and, in many respects, an interesting species.
It was first described and figured by Dr. Roxburgh, as a new genus, and by the name it here bears, in his sumptuous work on the plants of the coast of Coromandel, of which country it is a native; and it has since been taken up by Professor Willdenow, in his edition of Species Plantarum, and has had a new species (the radicans), from Guinea, added to it by that botanist.
The axillary-flowered Cæsulia is quite new in the gardens, and is said to have a perennial root, by the parting of which we suppose it may be increased; and must be considered as a hot-house plant in this country.
Our figure was taken from a living specimen, obligingly communicated to us last summer by the Marquis of Blandford, from White Knights, Berks; who, we believe, first raised it in this country, from East Indian seeds.[Pg 143]
