Volume 6 — PLATE CCCLXI.

SANSEVIERA CARNEA.

Flesh-coloured Sanseviera.

CLASS VI. ORDER I.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla infera monopetala, tubo filiformi, limbo, 6-partito, revoluto. Stamina limbo inserta. Bacca 1-sperma.

Corolla beneath of one petal, with a thread-shaped tube, and 6-parted revolute limb. Threads inserted into the limb. Berry one seeded.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.

Sanseviera. Foliis distichis, lanceolato-ensiformibus, carinatis, floribus solitariis sessilibus.

Sanseviera. With leaves two-ranked, lance-sword shaped, keeled, flowers solitary, sessile.

Descriptio. Herba perennis, habitu Hemerocallidis. Radix subcarnosus, fibris longissimis subsimplicibus. Folia radicalia, subdisticha, effusa, lanceolato-ensiformia, fere pedalia, trinervia, (nervo medio carinæformi) basin imbricata et profunde caniliculata, marginibus apices versus asperiusculis. Scapus radicalis, et quasi lateralis, palmaris, suberectus, angulatus, superne carneus. Flores spicati, ascendentes, sessiles, alterni, carnei, intus pallidiores. Bracteæ ovato-acuminatæ, concavæ, carneæ, flores amplectentes. Corolla 6-partita, tubo angulato longitudine bractearum; laciniis revolutis sublanceolatis, tubo aliquo longioribus, supremâ paulo majore. Filamenta 6 æqualia, alba, basi laciniarum inserta, laciniis aliquo brevioribus. Antheræ erectæ, utrinque emarginatæ, sulphureæ. Stylus carneus, paulo declinatus, antheris vix superans. Stigma obtusum album, obsoletissime trilobatum.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

This new species, of Thunberg’s new genus Sanseviera, which is a branch of the Linnæan genus Aletris; was introduced into this country from China, by T. Evans, Esq. of Stepney; in the year 1792: but is still very rare. Our drawing was made from a fine plant in the collection of J. Vere, Esq. of Kensington Gore, in the month of March[A]. Mr. Anderson, his botanic gardener, informs us, he has treated it as a hothouse plant; but it will probably be found to succeed better in the greenhouse, like other Chinese plants. It is propagated by parting the roots. In habit it resembles Hemerocallis more than Sanseviera, but agrees with the generical characters of Sanseviera zeylanica. With Aletris fragrans it also agrees in many particulars; but with Aletris farinosa is quite at variance.