_Perianthium_ 5-partitum, turbinatum. _Petala_ 0. _Squamæ_ 5, stamina munientes. _Caps._ tricocca, infera.
PHYLICA _ericoides_ foliis linearibus verticillatis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 235._ _Ait. Kew. V. 1. p. 268._
ALATERNOIDES africana ericæ foliis, floribus albicantibus et muscosis. _Comm. Hort. 2. p. 1. t. 1._
Mr. MILLER, who cultivated this plant in 1731, informs us, that it grows wild about Lisbon, where it covers extensive tracts of ground, in the same manner as the heath does in this country; it seldom rises above the height of three feet, and is much disposed to become bushy; its flowers, which are slightly odoriferous, begin to appear in autumn, and continue during the winter and spring; they grow in little heads on the summits of the branches: their whiteness, contrasted with the dark colour of the foliage, forms a pleasing appearance, and entitles this plant, though a common and long-established inhabitant of the greenhouse, to a place with such as may boast more brilliancy of colour.
Its leaves, which thickly cover the stalks, do not well accord with LINNÆUS's specific description.
It is usually propagated by cuttings, which strike readily.
_Cal._ 5-fidus. _Cor._ 1-petala, irregularis. _Caps._ infera, 2 sive 3-locularis.
LOBELIA _surinamensis_ caule suffruticoso, foliis oblongis glabris serratis, floribus axillaribus pedunculatis. _Ait. Kew. V. 3. p. 498. Sp. Pl. 1320._
LOBELIA _lævigata_ foliis ellipticis serratis glabris, capsulis grossis globosis, calycibus subulatis, corollis glaberrimis. _Linn. Suppl. p. 392._
The Lobelia surinamensis, a plant newly introduced here, is minutely described in the _Suppl. Pl._ of the younger LINNÆUS, under the name of _lævigata_, apparently from the smoothness of its flowers: in the year 1786, Mr. ALEXANDER ANDERSON sent this plant to the Royal Garden at Kew, from the West-Indies, where it grows spontaneously, as well as at Surinam; and Mr. AITON has inserted it at the end of the _Hort. Kew._ assigning to it a new specific description, and a new trivial name: our drawing was made from a plant which flowered in the stove of Messrs. GRIMWOOD and Co. Kensington, to whom it was imparted by RICHARD MOLESWORTH, Esq. of Peckham, a gentleman liberal in his communications, and anxious to promote the cause of Botany.