ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corolla 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
Blossom four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Protea foliis acinaciformibus, glabris, callosis: floribus in capitulis terminalibus, pallide luteis: involucro patente, late lanceolato, concolore.
Protea with scimitar-shaped leaves, smooth and hard. Flowers grow in terminal heads of a pale yellow colour: the involucrum is spreading, broadly lance-shaped, and the same colour as the blossoms.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. A chive magnified.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
Our figure represents part of a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert, esq. in the year 1803, and the smaller specimen a branch from the same plant in 1807. So considerable a latitude of growth is certainly deserving notice, as, upon a slight examination, they might easily be mistaken for distinct species. In the first year of its inflorescence its appearance is uninteresting; but in a year or two afterwards it displays such an abundance of bloom, that it then becomes a very ornamental little shrub. It is a Cape species, and requires no particular treatment more than what is common to the generality of this extensive family.[Pg 99]
