OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Eight Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Calyx monophyllus, quadri-dentatus. Corolla petala quatuor. Stamina octo. Germen superum. Capsula quadrilocularis. Semina quatuor.
Empalement one-leafed, four-toothed. Blossom four-petalled. Eight chives. Seed-bud above. Capsule four cells, and four seeds.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Corræa, foliis oblongis, oppositis, undulatis, stellatim hirsutis, supra viridibus, subtus ferrugineis: foliis junioribus conniventibus, flores dum parvos obscurantibus, qui postea emergunt ex axillis foliorum, et dependent. Corolla viridis, leviter punctata, petalis adhærentibus in forma cylindrica. Rami oppositi, ferruginei.
Corræa, with oblong opposite leaves, waved, and beset with divers starlike specks; green on the upper surface and rusty beneath: the younger leaves connive together, and obscure the flowers when young, which afterwards emerge from the axillæ of the leaves, and hang down. Blossom green, and lightly dotted, the petals adhering in the form of a tube. The branches are opposite, and rusty.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom detached from the cup.
3. A flower spread open.
4. One of the longest chives.
5. One of the shorter ones.
6. Seed-bud and pointal.
7. Seed-bud magnified.
This green-flowered Corræa is by no means so desirable a plant as the alba, but is the only addition to this genus as yet in cultivation with us, and as such deserving notice. It has been already figured in the Exotic Botany of Dr. Smith, but very imperfectly, as it is there represented with only two divisions in the corolla instead of four, and six antheræ instead of eight—a deficiency we have not met with: and although we have examined a number of living and dried specimens, yet we have always found it perfect in those characters essential to the genus. The only variation we have ever observed has been sometimes a super-abundance of petals in the corolla; (instead of a deficiency) five instead of four, a frequent occurrence in many genera when the plant is in a state of luxuriant growth: and certainly little illustration, but much confusion, might probably arise from giving a figure from any specimen so very defective. We find this genus published by Billardiere under the title Mazeutoxeron—our present figure under the specific of rufum—an excellent specific, were it not a striking feature in every species of this genus, living or dried, that we have as yet seen. Our figure was made from a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert, Esq.[Pg 9]