Volume 9 — PLATE DLXXXII. PROTEA MELLIFERA ALBIFLORA. White-flowered Honey-bearing Protea.

CLASS IV. ORDER I.

TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

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

Blossom four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Protea foliis lanceolatis ellipticis: capituloque terminali, magno, albo.

Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.

Protea with elliptic lance-shaped leaves: head of flowers terminal, large, and white.

Native of the Cape of Good Hope.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

Whether we consider this Protea as a species, or only a variety, it well deserves a representation. The only plant we have ever seen of it, and from whence our figure was taken, was in the collection of the Duke of Northumberland at Sion House, in the year 1807. Its unequivocal claim to the specific title of mellifera we unawares experienced, as, in bending the plant a little forward to view the interior of its flowers, (the plant being near seven feet high,) it literally poured out a stream of nectareous juice, the cup being filled with honey as high as the imbrications could possibly contain it.