Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 55/2803 Banksia marcescens

[ 2803 ]

Class and Order.

(Nat. Ord. - )

Generic Character.

Cal. quadripartitus (raro quadrifidus). Stamina apicibus concavis laciniarum immersa. Squamulæ hypogynæ 4. Ovarium biloculare, loculis monospermis. Folliculus bilo- cularis, ligneus: dissepimento libero, bifido. Amentum flosculorum paribus tribracteatis. Br.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

marcescens; foliis cuneiformibus planis sparsis truncatis extra medium dentato-serratis: basi acutius- cula, ramis tomentosis, calcycibus persistentibus folli- culisque glabris. Br. marcescens; Br. in. Linn. Trans. v. 10 p. 208 Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. p. 395 Sweet Fl. Austr. t. 14 præmorsa. Andr. Repos. t. 258. aspleniifolia. Knight et Salisb. Prot. 113. (excl. Syn. Salisburii Prod. (Br.)

A shrub from four to six feet high in our collec- tions, much branched, the ultimate and younger branches downy. Leaves scattered, two to three inches long, erecto- patent, rigid, oblong, cuneate at the base, petiolate; petiole half an inch long; truncate at the extremity, the upper half deeply dentato-serrate, the lower half entire; the upper side deep green, the under white, with numerous green, minute reticulations: the midrib is prominent on the under-
 * side,

-- side, and in the younger leaves only, downy. Amentum terminal, large, cylindrical, of exceedingly numerous flow- ers, placed in pairs, each pair subtended by three closely- placed bractea, two inner and one outer one, clothed with long, silky, fulvous hairs, the middle one having a conical, naked point. Perianth or Calyx glabrous, greenish yellow, with the tube slender, filiform, the upper half separating into four segments, spathulate and concave at the extremity, and, in the hollow, bearing, each, a solitary anther. Style scarcely longer than the perianth, filiform, yellow. Stigma simple.

The seed of this fine species of were received from Mr., and, according to Mr. , it is an in- habitant of Lewin's Land, near the shore, in the Southern part of New Holland. Introduced into England by Mr., its discoverer, in 1794. I have no opportunity of comparing the plant with the figure quoted by Mr. , in Repository, nor am I quite sure of its being the true B. marcescens. The leaves are not decidedly cu- neate, and they are reticulated with white, downy areolæ. In some respects it approaches the B. oblongifolia, but that is described by Mr. as having sericeous calcyces.

The B. marcescens flowers in the greenhouse in the month of April, and our drawing was made from the Glasgow Botanic Garden.

Fig. 1. Bracteæ with two Flowers.--Magnified. --