Volume 5 — PLATE CCCLX.

RENEALMIA NUTANS.

Drooping-flowered Renealmia.

CLASS I. ORDER I.

MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. One Chive. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx. Perianthium superum, monophyllum, apice rumpens in duo seu tres dentes irregulares.

Corolla monopetala. Tubus rectus, cylindricus; limbus trifidus; laciniis duabus superioribus oblongis, rotundatis, æqualibus; inferiore superioribus vix longiore, canaliculata, oblonga.

Nectarium tubo corrollæ adnatum, sub laciniis superioribus adscendens, rectum, longitudine corollæ, oblongum, basi utrinque unidentatum, tum sinu excavate, apice dilatatum et obtuse trilobatum.

Stamen. Filamentum nullum. Anthera unica, fauci tubi inserta, in sinu laciniæ inferioris corollæ, nectario opposita, libera, recta, linearis, emarginata, interius sulco exarata, longitudine et latitudine laciniæ corollæ.

Pistillum. Germen inferum, oblongum, obsolete triquetrum, glabrum. Stylus filiformis, glaberrimus, erectus, longitudine corollæ. Stigma peltatum; capitulo plano; latere ad nectarium vergente truncato, perforato, foramine in stylum decurrente.

Pericarpium. Bacca oblonga, trisulca, teres, glabra, umbilico terminata; carnosa, in medio trilocularis. Loculamenta mollia, membranacea.

Semina plurima, oblonga, truncata, tetragona, glaberrima.

Empalement. Cup above, one-leafed, breaking open into two or three irregular teeth.

Blossom on petal. Tube straight, cylindrical; border three-cleft; the two upper segments oblong, rounded, equal; the lower one, scarcely longer than the upper ones, channelled, oblong.

Honey cup fixed to the tube of the blossom, ascending beneath the upper segment straight the length of the blossom, oblong one-toothed on each side of the base, then with a hollow bosom widening at the end and obtusely three-lobed.

Chive. Thread, none. Tip one inserted into the throat of the tube, in the bosom of the lower segment of the blossom, opposite to the honey-cup, free, straight, linear, notched at the end, grooved on the inside, of the same length and breadth as the segment of the blossom.

Pointal. Seed-bud beneath, oblong, obscurely three sided, smooth. Shaft thread-shaped, very smooth, upright the length of the blossom. Summit shield-shaped; with a flat head, the side fronting the honey-cup appearing cut off, perforated by a hole running into the shaft.

Seed vessel. Berry oblong, three-furrowed, cylindrical, smooth, terminated by a navel, fleshy in the middle, three-celled. Cells soft, skinny.

Seeds numerous, oblong, appearing cutoff, four-cornered, very smooth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Renealmia foliis vaginantibus; floribus racemosis terminalibus pendulis; fructu piloso.

Renealmia with sheathing leaves; flowers in bunches terminating the branches, hanging down, fruit hairy.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

Amongst the numerous new plants introduced from China by the late Mr. Slater, of Laytonstone, in the year 1793, this is certainly to be considered as amongst the most beautiful. The only drawback to its general merit, as a hot-house plant, is the great height to which it might attain before it flowers; being in common fourteen or fifteen feet. It propagates by offsets, and is kept with little trouble; as it will flourish in almost any soil, and will flower, if set in any part of the hot-house, so as not to interrupt its growth, the blossoms being produced only from the summit. Although with us the stem is permanent, as with some others of the same natural habit, yet it cannot, we think, with propriety be considered as either a tree or shrub, but rather herbaceous. Some contention, at first, arose whether this plant should be referred to the present Genus; which was formed, by the younger Linnæus, from a plant a native of Surinam, S. America, some of the parts not exactly corresponding, especially the fruit; we have nevertheless made no scruple in placing it to that Genus, with which, upon an inspection of the dissections, it will be found very well to accord. Our figure was taken from a plant which flowers, annually, in the month of July, in the Collection of J. Vere, Esq. Kensington Gore.