Volume 1 — PLATE LXIII. USTERIA SCANDENS. Climbing Usteria.

CLASS XIV. ORDER II.

DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. Two Chives longer. Seeds covered.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx. Perianthium monophyllum, quinquepartitum, persistens; laciniis erectis, subulatis.

Corolla. Monopetala, ringens, tubus ventricosus, basi arcta; limbus bilabiatus, labium superius bifidum, rotundatum, reflexum; labium inferius trifidum, laciniis rotundatis, intermedia minore.

Stamina. Filamenta quatuor, sub labio superiori recondita, quorum duo lateralia longiora, fundo corollæ inserta, basi incrassata, lanata, apice incurvata. Antheræ erectæ, versatiles, approximatæ.

Pistillum. Germen sub-rotundum. Stylus filiformis, persistens; longitudine staminum. Stigma obtusum.

Pericarpium. Capsula sub-rotunda, bilocularis, calyce longior, obtusa.

Semina plurima, sub-rotunda, scabrida.

Empalement. Cup one leaf, five divisions, permanent; segments upright, and awl-shaped.

Blossom. One leaf, gaping, tube swelled out in the middle, and pinched in at the base; border with two lips, the upper divided into two lobes, which are rounded, and bent back; the lower has three divisions, the segments rounded, the middle one the smallest.

Chives. Threads four, hid under the upper lip, of which the two side ones are the longest, fixed into the bottom of the blossom, thickened at the base, woolly, and turned inward at the point. Tips upright, slightly fixed by the middle, and approaching.

Pointal. Seed-bud nearly round. Shaft thread-shaped, remaining, the length of the chives. Summit blunt.

Seed-vessel. Capsule nearly round, of two cells, longer than the cup, blunt ended.

Seeds many, almost round, and very rough.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Usteria caulis volubilis; foliis hastatis; floribus solitariis, purpureis; pedunculis tortis, longissimis.

Usteria with a climbing stem; leaves halbert-shaped; flowers solitary, and purple; fruit-stalks twisted, very long.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Blossom cut open, to expose the situation of the Chives. 2. One Chive, (magnified). 3. The Pointal, (natural size). 4. The Empalement, and Seed-vessel nearly ripe, of its natural size.

This is another of those plants raised in the year 1797 by the Marchioness of Bute, at her charming little villa, Brompton, from seeds, sent to her ladyship from Spain by Dr. Ortega. It is a native of Mexico, North America, and will live through our winters with the protection of a greenhouse, to which it forms a beautiful ornament as a creeper; flowering from May till September, but does not appear to be a long-lived plant; is easily propagated by cuttings, or from seeds, which are ripened by November, or earlier; thriving best in light rich earth.

PLATE 63