* * * * *

This very ornamental species of Ipomœa is a native of the north and east coasts of New Holland, according to Mr. Brown’s Prodromus of the plants of that country above quoted. We have seen wild specimens of it gathered by Dr. White near Port Jackson. The species is so decidedly volubilous as not only to twine round other plants that may come in its way, but twists also its own shoots round each other; and this both in its wild and cultivated state. Towards the root it appears to be woody, and is certainly perennial. The drawing was taken about the middle of July, in the curious collection of the Countess de Vandes at Bayswater, from a plant about five feet high, which was probably the first time the species blossomed in this country. The introducer we have not been able to discover.

PLATE DCXIV.

<g>FUMARIA NOBILIS</g>.

Noble Fumitory.

CLASS XVI. ORDER II.

DIADELPHIA HEXANDRIA. Two Brotherhoods. Six Stamens.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX diphyllus. Corolla ringens. Filamenta 2, membranacea, singula antheris tribus.

CUP two-leaved. Blossom gaping. Filaments two, membranaceous, each supporting three anthers.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

FUMARIA caule simplici, racemo terminali, bracteis oblongis acutis flore brevioribus, foliis pinnatis, foliolis subtripartito-laciniatis. Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 3. p. 858.

FUMITORY with a simple stem, a terminal bunch of flowers, with oblong acute bracts shorter than the blossoms, and pinnate leaves with the leaflets jagged and three-parted.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A flower.

* * * * *

The Fumaria nobilis is a native of the Altaian mountains in Siberia, and was introduced to this country in the year 1783 by Mr. John Græffer, but appears to have been since lost, as we never saw living specimens until the beginning of last May, when that from which our drawing was taken was communicated by Mr. Donn from the Botanic garden at Cambridge. The plant appears well calculated for ornamenting rock-work or curious borders, the finely cut foliage and flowers being both very graceful. It is said to have been a great favourite with Linnæus.

PLATE DCXV.

<g>GLOBBA PURPUREA</g>.

Purple Globba.

CLASS I. ORDER I.

MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. One Stamen. One Style.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

ANTHERA duplex. Filamentum lineare, incurvatum, longissimum, appendiculatum. Stylus laxus filiformis in medio antheræ receptus. Stigma incrassatum. Nectarium utrinque bifidum. Roscoe in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. 8. p. 355.

ANTHERS double. Filament linear, incurved, very long and appendaged. Style (or shaft) long thread-shaped, going up between the anthers. Stigma (or summit) swelling. Nectary cleft at both ends.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

GLOBBA scapo aphyllo paniculato; bracteis calyce multo longioribus subovatis, corollâ trilobâ, filamento medio biappendiculato, nectario cordato-oblongo.

GLOBBA with a leafless panicled stem, the bracts many times longer than the cup and nearly ovate, the blossom of three lobes, the filament with two appendages in the middle, and the nectary between a heart-shape and an oblong.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A leaf. 2. A flower. 3. A front view of the same divested of the calyx. 4. Empalement, seed-bud, and pointal.

* * * * *

No genus of plants has more puzzled botanists than the Globba of Linnæus, no plant having yet been discovered that agrees with his generic character; but as the possessor of his herbarium has decided that the Globba marantina, the only species of this genus Linnæus professes to have seen, was the same plant with that called by Dr. Roxburgh, and also by Mr. Donn in his Catalogue of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, Colebrookia bulbifera; (see Smith’s Exotic Botany, page 85, where he has corrected the generic character;) this plant, also sent from India by Dr. Roxburgh to Sir Abraham Hume, bart. in 1809, now also changes its name to Globba. The inflorescence, which is directly from the root, whilst in all the species described by Dr. Smith it is placed above the leaves on a common stem, together with the three-lobed corolla, might doubtless be quite sufficient characters to distinguish it as a separate genus; but another having already been published in honour of Mr. Colebrook, we prefer leaving it with the congeners amongst which it was originally placed by its discoverer Dr. Roxburgh.

The delicacy and elegance of the whole plant, the rich tint of the floral leaves, and the curious construction of the blossoms, (where the long projecting filament drawn back by the style which is held by its summit protruded beyond the anthers, at one period of the inflorescence nearly resembles a half-bent bow,) have been admired by all who have seen it. The leaves only appear as the flowers decay.

The plant blossomed in the middle of last May, for the first time in this country, in the collection of Sir Abraham Hume, bart. where our drawing was taken. From a very useful manuscript catalogue of Indian plants by Dr. Roxburgh in the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq. we learn that it is a native of India, and has been found growing wild about Chittagong.

The ripe fruit we have not seen; but the germ is nearly oval, with three blunt angles and of one cell with many seeds affixed to three lateral receptacles. The plant is perennial, and may be propagated by the roots like other scitamineous plants.

PLATE DCXVI.

<g>EUPHORBIA</g> epithymoides.

Broad-leaved Spurge.

CLASS XI. ORDER III.

DODECANDRIA TRIGYNIA. Twelve to Nineteen Stamens. Three Styles.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX monophyllus, ventricosus. Corolla 4-seu 5-petala calyci insidens. Capsula tricocca.

CUP of one leaf, bellying. Blossom of 4 or 5 petals sitting upon the cup. Fruit a capsule with 3 cells.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

EUPHORBIA umbellâ quinquefidâ, radiis sub-bifidis, involucellis ovatis denticulatis, foliis integerrimis lanceolatis obtusis retusis subtus villosis, capsulis papilloso-hispidis. Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 2. p. 909.

EUPHORBIA with a five-cleft umbel, the rays mostly bifid, the involucrets ovate-toothed, the leaves entire, lanced, blunt, retuse and woolly beneath; the capsules with little warts and bristly.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A flower. 2. The same spread open. 3. Seed-bud and pointal.

* * * * *

This ornamental species is a native of Austria, and was introduced, according to Donn’s Catalogue, in the year 1805. Professor Jacquin has given an excellent figure and description of it in its wild state in his Flora Austriaca, vol. iv. p. 23, tab. 344: but it varies very considerably when cultivated, as may be seen by comparing the figures. The figure cited to the species by Linnæus, from Columna, and from which it also derives its name, as already remarked by Jacquin, (who was certain of the identity of his species with the Linnean,) has very little resemblance to the plant; but the name of epithymoides, however apt to mislead, is now sanctioned by so long use, that were the plant of Columna discovered, and proved to be different, one would hardly venture now to restore to it its original appellation. The specimen was communicated by Mr. Donn last May from the Botanic Garden at Cambridge.

PLATE DCXVII.

EUPHORBIA meloformis.

Melon-shaped Euphorbia.

CLASS XI. ORDER III.

DODECANDRIA TRIGYNIA. Twelve to Nineteen Stamens. Three Styles.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX monophyllus, ventricosus. Corolla 4- seu 5-petala calyci insidens. Capsula tricocca.

CUP of one leaf, bellying. Blossom of 4 or 5 petals sitting upon the cup. Fruit a capsule with 3 cells.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

EUPHORBIA subglobosa multangularis.

EUPHORBIA nearly round with many angles.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A flower spread open. 2. A chive magnified.

* * * * *

Those who are unacquainted with the versatility of this extraordinary Genus will be a little surprised at seeing a plant with so little resemblance to that on our last plate under the same generic appellation. Even the variations of Protea itself appear trifling, when compared with those of Euphorbia, which includes species with leaves opposite, alternate, scattered, whorled, and imbricated, and others leafless, like the present; plants round, oval, square, triangular and oblong; annual, herbaceous, succulent, thorny, woody, and even arboreous; and natives of all climates, from Siberia to Dusky Bay. Almost all the species agree in being replete with a milky juice which flows from them freely when wounded, and is generally of an acrid corrosive quality. An excellent description of the Euphorbia meloformis was given in the second volume of the Hortus Kewensis, and has been since copied into the Species Plantarum. An engraving and description of it by Mons. Desfontaines, one of the professors in the Museum of Natural History at Paris, also ornaments the first volume of their Annales. The species is dioicous; and, except in the Royal Gardens at Kew, male flowers only have as yet been produced by the plants cultivated in this country, and their progeny at Paris. The stamens come to maturity at different times, those of the centre being the earliest, the woolly filaments of which persisting after the antheræ are fallen off give to the flowers a singular appearance. The species is a native of Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope, and was introduced by Mr. Masson in 1774, but is still very scarce, and requires to be kept in the dry stove or on a shelf in the hot-house, much moisture being always inimical to it. The propagation is by separating the young bulbs from their parent stock, and planting them in pots of earth nearly dry, as they retain their vegetative powers for months without either earth or water.