stamina
munientes. _Caps._ tricocca, infera.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

PHYLICA _ericoides_ foliis linearibus verticillatis. _Linn. Syst.
Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 235._ _Ait. Kew. V. 1. p. 268._

ALATERNOIDES africana ericae 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
LINNAEUS's specific description.

It is usually propagated by cuttings, which strike readily.

[Illustration: _No 225_]

[225]

LOBELIA SURINAMENSIS. SHRUBBY LOBELIA.

_Class and Order._

SYNGENESIA MONOGAMIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cal._ 5-fidus. _Cor._ 1-petala, irregularis. _Caps._ infera, 2 sive
3-locularis.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

LOBELIA _surinamensis_ caule suffruticoso, foliis oblongis glabris
serratis, floribus axillaribus pedunculatis. _Ait. Kew. V. 3. p.
498. Sp. Pl. 1320._

LOBELIA _laevigata_ 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 LINNAEUS, under the name of
_laevigata_, 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 gent