Volume 5 — PLATE CCCI.

PROTEA GRANDIFLORA. Var. foliis undulatis.

Large-flowered Protea. Waved-leaved Var.

CLASS IV. ORDER I.

TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, insertæ petalis infra apicem. Calyx proprius nullus. Semina solitaria.

Blossom 4-cleft, or 4 petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the end. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.

See Protea formosa, Pl. XVII. Vol. I.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Protea foliis lanceolatis glaberrimis, utrinque acuminatis, marginibus subcallosis, parum undulatis; squamæ calycinæ lanceolatæ erectæ, interiores pilis longissimis nigris cristitatæ.

Protea with lance-shaped leaves, smooth, tapered to both ends, rather thickened at the edges, and a little waved; the scales of the empalement are lance-shaped and upright, the inner ones crested, with very long black hairs.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

The round tufts of long hair which terminate the inner scales of the cup, in this Protea, and its varieties, constitute its principal, distinguishing specific character from P. speciosa; whose scales are fringed at the summits, and to which our present plant is nearest allied. It is, without doubt, one of the handsomest of this fine tribe of plants; not only in the beauty of the blossom, but for its general habit; as it does not grow above three feet high, very bushy, and producing its flowers at the age of three or four years. It is increased by cuttings only, as are most of the species of this extensive genus, none of them perfecting their seeds in this climate, or producing roots by laying the branches. Our drawing was made from a plant in the Hibbertian collection, to which it was introduced in 1800, by Mr. Niven, from the Cape of Good Hope, in the month of May, 1802.