This order is restricted to one genus Cobæa, of which one species (C. scandens) is common in British gardens. This plant is an annual climber, with showy bell-shaped flowers, which are first green, and afterwards become purple. This plant has remarkably long tendrils, which twist themselves round any thing that comes in their way.
ORDERS CXXXII. AND CXXXIII.—PEDALINEÆ AND SESAMEÆ.
These orders are now united into one, under the name of Pedalineæ; and the most interesting genus is Martynia, consisting of half hardy annual plants with bell-shaped flowers, and very curious seed-pods.
ORDER CXXXIV.—POLEMONIACEÆ.
This is a very interesting order to the lovers of ornamental flowers, from the beauty of those of some of the genera. The genus Polemonium, the Greek Valerian, has one species (P. cœruleum) which is found wild in many parts of England, and is known by the names of Charity and Jacob’s Ladder. The corolla, which is of a deep blue, softening into white in the centre, is rotate, with the stamens, which are bearded at the base, inserted in the throat. The capsule is three-celled, and many-seeded, as is generally the case with plants in this order, and the leaves are pinnate. The Phloxes are well-known; all the species are very handsome, but none are more so than the beautiful annual (P. Drummondi). The corolla of these plants is salver-shaped, with an elongated tube, the limb twisted in the bud, and wedge-shaped segments. The stamens are inserted above the middle of the tube, and the cells of the capsule are one-seeded. Leptosiphon has the corolla funnel-shaped, with a very long slender tube, and a campanulate limb with oval lobes; the corolla is covered with a great number of fine glandular hairs, and the limb is twisted in the bud. The stamens, which have very short filaments, are inserted in the throat of the corolla. The calyx consists of five sharply-pointed hairy lobes, connected by a very fine membrane. The flowers are surrounded by a great number of sharply-pointed bracts. Similar bracts are very conspicuous in the genus Collomia. Gilia and Ipomopsis, so well known for their splendid flowers, also belong to this order.
ORDER CXXXV.—HYDROLEACEÆ.