Our figure was drawn from a plant which flowered 1796, in the collection of the Marchioness of Bute, and was raised from Peruvian seeds, sent her by Prof. Ortega of Madrid, under the name of _Mirabilis triandra_; Mons. Cavanille has figured and described it as the _Mirabilis viscosa_; Mons. L'Heritier, from a consideration of all its characters, has been induced to make a new genus of it, which he has called _Oxybaphus_.
Gnaphalium Ericoides. Heath-Leaved Gnaphalium, or Everlasting.
_Recept._ nudum. _Pappus_ plumosus. _Cal._ imbricatus: squamis marginalibus rotundatis scariosis coloratis.
GNAPHALIUM _ericoides_ fruticosum foliis sessilibus linearibus, calycibus exterioribus rudibus, interioribus incarnatis. _Linn. Am. Acad. v. 6. p. 99._ _Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14._ _Murr. p. 746._ _Ait. Hort. Kew. p. 174._
In the 6th vol. of the _Amoenitates Academicæ_, Linnæus describes this species of _Gnaphalium_, most probably from dried specimens collected at the Cape, where it is a native; so insignificant did the plant appear to him, that in his description, he calls it _misera_; compared with the more magnificent species, such a term might not perhaps be inapplicable: but, though small, the plant possesses much beauty when cultivated, and hence is generally kept in our green-houses.
Its branches, naturally weak and trailing, require to be carefully tied up; if this business be executed with taste and judgment, the natural beauty of the plant may be considerably heightened.
Was introduced to the royal garden at Kew, by Mr. Masson, in 1774.
Hibiscus Præmorsus. Bitten-Leaved Hibiscus.
_Cal._ duplex: exterior polyphyllus. _Caps._ 5-locularis, polysperma.
HIBISCUS _præmorsus_ foliis subrotundis, dentato-serratis retusis pubescentibus. _Ait. Kew. v. 2. 454._
HIBISCUS _præmorsus_ hirsutus, foliis ovatis basi angustato-cordatis apice præmorsis crenatis, calycibus tomentosis, seminibus tuberculatis. _Linn. Suppl. Pl. p. 309._
PAVONIA _cuneifolia_. _Cavan. Diff. 3. p. 139. t. 45. f. 1._
URENA _præmorsa_. _L'Herit. Stirp. nov. t. 51._
Though not so shewy a plant as many of the genus, we find this species of _Hibiscus_ in most collections of green-house plants about London, flowering from June to September.