Not expecting to receive a plant from Lord Coventry in bloom, our drawing was made from one which flowered with Mr. Whitley, Nurseryman, Old-Brompton, December 22, 1798, and which came originally from Croome, his Lordship having presented most of the Nurserymen about town with plants of it; the blossoms of that from Croome were somewhat larger than those here represented, and the petals were less striped, indeed almost wholly tinged with purple, the leaves also proceeded more from the summit of the stalks and were of a much greener hue, owing no doubt to its being kept in the conservatory, while Mr. Whitley's plant was tacked to the outside of the bottom of the greenhouse.
In the number of its stamina, which is rarely more than five, it does not accord with the character of the class icosandria, nor do the seeds agree with the generic character as described by Linnæus.
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Dracocephalum Virginianum. Virginian Dragon's-Head.
Class and Order.
Didynamia Gymnospermia.
Generic Character.
Cor. faux inflata: labium superius fornicatum.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
DRACOCEPHALUM virginianum foliis lineari-lanceolatis serratis, floribus confertis. Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 13. Gmel. p. 915.