Volume 10 — PLATE DCLVI. CRASSULA PERFOLIATA. Perfoliate-leaved Crassula.

CLASS V. ORDER V.

PENTANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Five Chives. Five Pointals.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx pentaphyllus. Petala quinque. Squamæ quinque nectariferæ ad basin germinis.

Empalement five-leaved. Petals five. Five honey-bearing pores at the base of the germ.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Crassula altissima: foliis subulatis, crassis, amplexicaulibus, subtus convexis, glaucis.

Crassula with a tall stem: leaves awl-shaped, thick, and surrounding the stem, convex beneath, and of a sea-green colour.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

Of this species of Crassula we know of no other figure extant, but a very small uncoloured one in the Hortus Elthamensis of Dillenius. Our specimen was taken from the hot stove of the Countess de Vandes, where it flowered for the first time in this country in 1809—in size and grandeur like the C. obliqua, with an equal profusion of blossoms, and bending down as if the weight of the terminal mass of flowers was too much for the stem to support; which we do not consider as the positive character of it, but only arising from the situation in which it stood; being too near the glass, which most likely drew too much of its strength out in length of stalk, and in all probability occasioned the loss of the plant, as it damped off very soon after flowering.