It is not difficult, indeed, to contrive that an instrument shall have a wide range; but the obstruction to its motion is hence increased, and its power of action is yet proportionally diminished. Accordingly, the simple barometer is esteemed now by far the most accurate; while those barometers of a complex construction, but with large divisions, have deservedly fallen into disrepute.

QUEEN STREET, 10th Dec. 1827.

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have flowered in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, during the last three months. Communicated by Dr GRAHAM.

Buddleia madagascarensis.

10th December 1827.

Lamarck, Encyclop. Method. vol. i. p. 513.-Tableau Encyc. et Method. vol. i. p. 291. t. 69. fig. 3.

B. madagascarensis; ramis sub-tetragonis, tomentosis; foliis integerrimis, ovato-lanceolatis, petiolatis, supra nudiusculis, venoso-rugosis, subtus albido-tomentosis; paniculis terminalibus, pedicellis sub-trifloris. DESCRIPTION.Shrub erect, with long, slender, diffused branches; bark pale brown. Younger branches, petioles, back of the leaves, peduncles, pedicels, calyx, and even the outside of the corolla, though this in a smaller degree, covered with dense, white, soft tomentum, which often becomes partially brown. Leaves decussating, petioled, ovato-lanceolate or slightly cordate at the base, acuminate, soft, on the upper side dull sap-green, and sprinkled rather sparingly, especially on the young leaves, with white tomentum, slightly wrinkled, reticulated, middle rib and the veins prominent below, channelled above. Panicle handsome, (7 inches long from its first branch to the apex,) terminal, erect, bracteate, with two long opposite branches at the base, subdivided like the leading stalk. Pedicels like little corymbs, generally supporting three flowers, though often only one near the apex, and sometimes four below. Lower bractea below the branches at the base of the panicle, resembling small leaves, the others subulate, one below each pedicel, and nearly as long as it, smaller upwards, similar ones at the sides of the lateral flowers. Calyx small, (scarcely one-eighth of an inch long,) ovate, 4-toothed. Corolla, tube (three-eighths of an inch long), cylindrical, white, slightly hairy within; limb 4-cleft, perfectly naked above, segments nearly half the length of the limb, blunt, linear, spreading and yellow when first expanded, afterwards reflexed, revolute in their edges, and deep uniform orange colour, faintly and not agreeably perfumed. Anthers 4, sessile in the throat of the corolla, linear, pollen whitish. Germen round, greenish, and with the filiform, colourless style somewhat hairy; stigma green, oblong, bilobular, subexserted.

Our specimens of this very handsome species were several years ago sent to us, with a liberality by which I often profit, and which I am always happy to acknowledge, from the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow, and introduced into it, I believe, direct from India. The tomentum, by which it is so generally covered, is pure white, and could only have

been described as rusty, from the characters formerly given having been taken from dried specimens. Even these, however, if they have been carefully prepared, remain white. To the same cause I would attribute the sparing tomentum on the upper surface of the leaves having been overlooked, and the slight difference in the form of the limb of the corolla in Vahl's description (Symbol. Botan. Pars iii. p. 14.), and in Lamarck's figure, from that which I have observed.

Cassia opaca.

Ra

C. opaca; calycis foliolis obtusis, bracteolis solitariis infra pedicellos, antheris biporosis, glabris; foliis 5-6 jugis, foliolis oblongo-ovatis, ciliatis, nitidis, glandula acuta, pedicellata, inter 1-3 paria inferiora; stipulis ovatis, magnis, erectis, deciduis; racemis axillaribus, pedicellis patentibus. DESCRIPTION.Shrub, erect. Branches scattered, and slightly flexuose, green, and somewhat pubescent when young; bark on stem and older branches brown. Leaves scattered, spreading or divaricated, leafets in 5 or 6 pairs, oblong-ovate, dark green above, pale below, slightly revolute and ciliated on the margin, every where else smooth and shining. Petiole swollen, but having no gland, at its base, a small pointed stipitate gland between one, two, or three of the lowest pairs of leafets. Stipule large, ovate, erect, and embracing the axil of the leaf, dciduous. cemes axillary, collected towards the extremities of the shoots, erect, half the length of the leaves; peduncle without flowers for a considerable distance above its origin, pubescent; pedicels pubescent, long, straight, spreading nearly at right angles to the peduncle. Flowers looking downwards, handsome, every part except the receptacle, anthers, and germen, of orange-yellow colour; receptacle yellowish-green, and large. Calyx segments smooth, blunt, of the same colour as the corolla, concave, two outer phylla smaller. Corolla; petals clawed, three upper subrotund, notched, undulated, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves branched from their base, and reticulated towards the edge of the petal, central petal the largest, two lower boat-shaped, blunt, without notch or undulations, veins indistinct. Stamens very unequal. Anthers large, dark brown, smooth, opening by two pores at the extremity. Pistil bent down; germen green, curved upwards, compressed, many-seeded, having on its surface a few adpressed hairs.

This is a very handsome species, the orange coloured flowers contrasting very prettily with the opaque deep green shining foliage. We received a plant from Raith this season, it having been raised by Mr Ferguson's gardener from South American seeds, communicated by Professor Leslie in 1825.

Leonotis nepetifolia.

L. nepetifolia; "foliis cordatis, acutis, inciso-crenatis; calycibus aristatis, octo dentatis, dente supremo maximo, caule herbaceo."-Bot. Reg. f. 281. DESCRIPTION.-Annual. Stems herbaceous, erect, green, simple, but with the rudiments of branches in the axils of the leaves, tetragonous, angles very obtuse, sides deeply channelled. Leaves bright green, petioled, decussating, spreading, cordate, slightly decurrent along the petioles, deeply serrato-crenate, reticulato-veined, soft, inodorous, covered with fine short and soft pubescence on both sides, veins and their reticulations prominent below, slightly channelled above; petioles as long as the leaves, and spreading at right angles to the stem. Spike terminal. Flowers nearly sessile, in dense, nearly globular, distant whorls, the upper flowers in each expanding first. Bractea numerous, surrounding the base of the whorl, and nearly hid by it, reflected, keeled, linear, mucronate. Calyx curved, subventricose and cucullate, enlarging after the corolla falls, 10-nerved, bilabiate; the upper lip 3-nerved, tapering into one long, straight tooth; the lower lip about half the length of the upper, 3-nerved, and divided into three teeth, spreading nearly at right angles to the tube; throat

4

with two teeth on each side nearly as long as those of the lower lip, at first spreading, but as the corolla fades, becoming erect, and finally, with the sides of the calyx, advancing so as to contract its throat; all the teeth terminated by hard bristles, whole calyx slightly pubescent on the outside. Corolla bilabiate; lower lip short, 3-lobed, withering almost immediately after expansion; upper lip elongated, equal in length to the tube, nearly straight, but slightly arched at its extremity, and 2-toothed, the whole of the corolla except the lower lip and base of the tube, which are smooth, thickly covered with red shaggy hairs, diminishing from the apex of the upper lip downwards. Stamens 4, didynamous, rather longer than the upper lip, and hanging loosely; filaments arising from the throat of the corolla, subulate, nearly colourless, slightly pubescent; anthers crescentshaped, pale yellow, attached by their backs to the filaments, smooth. Germen elongated, and truncated; style filiform, nearly as long as the stamens; stigma cleft, one of the segments very small.

The figure in the Botanical Register is very good, and the description generally correct, though both were made from a dried specimen. There is a wide range over which it appears that this species is found native. It is certainly the same as the East Indian plant, as is remarked in the Botanical Register. From the statement in the same work, there is reason to believe that it grows in the neighbourhood of the Congo. In the Herbarium of this University, there is an indigenous specimen from Dominica, communicated, along with a valuable collection, by my friend Staff-Surgeon Lyons; and our plants in the Botanic Garden were raised from seeds, collected by Dr Gillies, in South America, and received through Patrick Neill, Esq. in May last. They have been kept in the stove.

Loasa patula.

L patula; capsula contorta, quinque loculari; calyce marcescente. DESCRIPTION.Root branching, fibrous. Stems herbaceous, numerous, spreading wide, ascending, branched, 4-sided, pale, succulent, semipellucid, streaked with deep green. Leaves opposite, decussating, petioled, spreading, 3-lobed, the middle lobe by much the longest, lobes doubly incised, each with a strong branching middle rib; petioles channelled, and stem clasping. Peduncles axillary, erect, tapering, round, longer than the leaves. Bractea, 2 at the top of the peduncle, small, subulate. Flowers nodding. Calyx of 5 subulate segments, marcescent. Corolla 5-petaled; petals white, spreading at right angles to the axis of the flower, cucullate, compressed, clawed, with one, sometimes two teeth, on each edge, at the lower part of the limb, and one at the extremity. Stamens numerous, inserted into the receptacle, inclosed by the petals, till the pollen is ripe, when they become erect, and advance to the centre of the flower; filaments reaching half-way up the hollow of the petals, filiform, colourless, united into five bundles at the base; anthers short, bilocular, bursting at the side, greenish-yellow; pollen white. Germen inferior, obovate, twisted, green, quinquilocular, seeds numerous, and attached to the dissepiments; style straight, cylindrical, pointed at its extremity, at first shorter than the nectaries, afterwards nearly twice as long; stigma very minute; nectaries ten, slender, flattened, curved, half the length of the filaments, and included in pairs in five sheaths, which are erect in the centre of the flower around the style, opening longitudinally on their inner side, yellow, with two reddish-orange bands passing across them near their apex, and two terminal oblong spots: the first band consists of short broad streaks, arranged side by side, and longitudinally in reference to the sheath; the second of a continuous, somewhat projecting edge. At the base of each sheath, and equal to more than half its length, there are three spreading yellow threads, and at the apex two smaller, and colourless; the last at first erect, afterwards recurved. Whole plant, even to the corolla, covered with inverted stinging hairs, which arise from glands, and transmit

through them a transparent fluid secreted by these. This fluid is also seen with the microscope scattered over the plant in little receptacles under the cuticle. There are besides these hairs, others, smaller, barbed along their whole length, but not proceeding from obvious glands. Similar hairs are observed in greater numbers in L. nitida, and probably in other species. They are possibly merely abortive appearances of the more formidable pubescence.

We received seeds of this plant, under the name of Blumenbachia insignis, from Dr Fischer of Göttingen, in February 1827, without any notice of its native country, which, however, without doubt is South America. The peculiarities of the germen and calyx which I have adopted as the specific character, may be considered enough to constitute this a genus distinct from Loasa; but however true it is that natural genera are formed in innumerable instances on modifications of these parts, yet I conceive that this is an example, among many others, in which a good rule, if applied indiscriminately, would disunite individuals among whom nature has established the closest affinity. In the whole habit, appearance and structure, with the exceptions above stated, this is a Loasa. Polemonium Richardsonii.

P. Richardsonii; cauli piloso, angulato, erecto; foliis pinnatis, multijugis, pinnis ovato-rotundatis, mucronulatis, subtus pubescentibus; floribus corymbosis, nutantibus, corollæ segmentis obtusis, crenulatis; radice subfusiforme, longissima.

DESCRIPTION. Root perennial, very long, in the old plant 3 or 4 feet, yellow, about as thick as the finger, somewhat branched at the apex, descending deep into the sand, and tending to bind it together, very much resembling liquorice. Stem erect, herbaceous, green, purplish at the base, branched. Branches axillary, chiefly from the lower part of the stem and the crown of the root, ascending, as well as the stem angular, and having a slightly prominent line along each flat side. Leaves pinnate, with an odd leafet; common footstalk channelled, from the leafets being narrowly decurrent, and forming a border on each side; pinnæ very numerous on the root-leaves (10 or 12 pairs), fewer on the stem-leaves, quite entire, a very few shewing a tendency to become lobed, sessile, rotundato-ovate, mucronulate, oblique, pubescent below, naked above, somewhat fleshy, middle rib channelled, veins obscure; root-leaves depressed, and spreading, star-like, on the ground, at least when the plant is young. Flowers in terminal corymbs, buds nodding, when fully expanded fronting outwards, large, pedicels round. Calyx persisting, ovate, as well as the stem, branches, and pedicels, villous, and slightly viscid, 5-cleft; segments ovate, pointed, spreading a little while the corolla is fully expanded. Corolla slightly marcescent, but soon after falling, perfume faint but disagreeable, salver-shaped; tube nearly as long as the calyx, yellow and somewhat plaited in its upper half, colourless below; limb of five broad, obovate, spreading segments, minutely crenated, pale purple marked with deeper veins, darker at its base, where on the outside it is very slightly pubescent. Stamens five, included; filaments connivent, slender, flattened, awl-shaped, contracted at the base, inserted into the apices of small, connivent, hairy valves, which arise within the throat of the corolla, alternately with the segments of the limb; anthers sagittate, curved inwards, large, white; pollen white. Germen small, ovates style filiform, equal in length to the filaments; stigma in most of the flowers 4-cleft, revolute, pubescent. Seeds gathered by Dr Richardson in 1825, from plants growing in deep sandy soil on Great Bear Lake, in 66° North Latitude, and received from him in this country in 1826. The species flowered in a cold frame at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in the beginning of October

1827.

I have a double reason for dedicating this species to our excellent and indefatigable countryman. It is the first which has flowered among the

plants raised from seeds received from him last year; and while I was in the act of writing the description, I received information of his having arrived in Edinburgh from his last successful survey of the shores of the Arctic Sea.

Salpiglossis atro-purpurea.

S. atro-purpurea, foliis lanceolato-ellipticis, convexis, sinuatis, superioribus integerrimis, linearibus; stylo edentulo.

DESCRIPTION.-Stem herbaceous, procumbent for a little way at the base, afterwards erect, 2 feet high, somewhat flexuose, branching. Branches ascending. Leaves scattered, varying considerably in shape, the larger (3-4 inches long, 11-14 broad) lanceolato-elliptical, often nearly elliptical or ovato-elliptical, flaccid, and folded back from the middle rib, sinuated, the segments generally blunt and entire, sometimes sharp and occasionally toothed on their sides, decurrent along the petiole, which is nearly equal in length to the leaf; upper leaves lanceolato-linear and entire, and on the flowering branches passing into linear bractea. Flowers on loose terminal panicles. Pedicels opposite to, or alternate with, the bracteæ, stout, slightly curved upwards, as well as the stem and branches, cylindrical. Calyx persisting, oblong-ovate, 5-cleft, segments acute, 5-angled, angles deep green, the intervening spaces paler and rugose. Corolla large, inserted into the receptacle, veined, rich deep purple within, more lurid on the outside, funnel-shaped; tube cylindrical, twice the length of the calyx; throat much inflated, a little more on its lower side, and half as long again as the tube; limb spreading, 5-cleft, segments obcordate, the largest above, the two smallest below; stamens four didynamous, with the slender rudiment of a fifth between the two longer, inserted into the orifice of the tube of the corolla; filaments slightly flattened, purple towards the anthers, paler below; anthers very large, yellow, ovate, bi-lobular, bifid at the base, the outer lobe always the largest ; pollen yellow. Germen conical, channelled on both sides, bilocular, green; style single, terminal, slender below, transversely flattened and much expanded above, without lateral teeth, pale green, longer than the filaments, included; stigma truncated, cleft along its extremity, green. The stem, branches, leaves, pedicels, and calyx, are covered with a soft, glandular, glutinous pubescence, which appears more sparingly on the outside of the corolla, and on the filaments. When fading, the upper part of the corolla is nearly deliquescent, the decay beginning in round transparent spots, the lower part is somewhat marcescent.

It is impossible to suppose this the same species with the S. straminea of Hooker, Ex. Fl. t. 229.; yet as the leaves probably vary, it may not be easy to find good specific characters. It seems a larger and more robust plant, the branches and pedicels being considerably stouter and more straight, and the stamens inserted higher in the tube. It first flowered in the greenhouse of Mr Neill, Canonmills, Edinburgh, from seeds sent by Dr Gillies from hills fifty miles beyond Mendoza. Both the species have flowered freely in the stove of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin. burgh, in September and October, the seeds having been sent from the Cordillera by Mr Cruckshanks in 1826. Both differ from the Salpiglossis figured by Ruiz and Pavon, Prodr. Fl. Peruy. et Chil. t. 19. in the segments of the corolla being larger, more spreading, and obcordate rather than emarginate, and in the absence of teeth on the style. Our speci mens of S. straminea have the tube of the corolla as long as in the S. atropurpurea, which is considerably longer than in Dr Hooker's figure; and in this respect both agree with the figure of Ruiz and Pavon. Verbena barbata.

V. barbata; caule suffruticoso, erecto, tetragono, angulis barbatis; foliis petiolatis, cordato-ovatis, acutis, crenato-serratis, utrinque pubescentibus; spicis terminalibus, strictis, gracilibus.