The botanist's repository for new and rare plants; vol. 10 [of 10]

Volume 10 — PLATE DCXL. HELICONIA BIHAI. Wild Plantain Tree.

Reading edition

CLASS V. ORDER I.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Spatha universalis partialisque. Calyx 0. Corolla 3-petala. Nectarium 2-phyllum. Capsula 3-locularis, monosperma.

Spathe common and partial. Empalement none. Blossom 3-petalled. Nectary two-leaved. Capsule 3-celled, one-seeded.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Heliconia foliis ad apicem acutis, spadice erecto, radicalibus. Spatha disticha, multiflora: nectarii folio superiore trifido.

Heliconia Bihai. Willd. Sp. Pl.

Heliconia with leaves pointed at the end, with an upright spadix, radical. Spathe two-sided, with many flowers. The upper leaf of the nectary trifid.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The plant in miniature. 2. A flower. 3. A blossom spread open. 4. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified. 5. A transverse section of the seed-bud.

This fine species of Heliconia is known by the common appellation of the Wild Plantain Tree, and grows in mountainous boggy places in South America, and also in most of the West India Islands. It is not generally cultivated with us, on account of the room it occupies, its elegant large foliage being but ill adapted to the confinement of the stove. Our figure was made about the middle of April, from a plant in the collection of the Countess de Vandes.

Illustration from The botanist's repository for new and rare plants; vol. 10 [of 10]