Page:Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Volume 73 (1847).djvu/58



Purging Pharbitis.

Nat. Ord.

''Gen. Char. Calyx'' 5-sepalus. Cor. campanulata aut campanulato-infundibuli- formis. Stylus 1. Stigma capitato-granulatum. Ovarium 3- rarius 4-loculare, loculis dispermis.–Herbæ ''volubiles elongatæ speciosæ, perplurimæ ornamenti gratia in hortis cultæ; pleræque Americanæ, retrorsum pilosæ. Chois. in DC.''

cathartica ; caule glabro contorto, foliis glabris cordatis aut sæpius cordato-trilobis, lobo intermedio ovato-acuminato basi sæpius dilatato, lateralibus brevioribus acutis, petiolo longo, pedunculis 1-2-floris petiolis superantibus, bracteis 6-8 lineas longis bilineari-lanceolatis apice (fructis) acuminato reflexis hirsutulis, corolla speciosa purpurea.

cathartica. ''Chois. in De Cand. Prodr. v. 9. p. 342.''

cathartica. ''Poir. Encycl. Suppl. v. 4. p. 633.''

Portoricensis. ''Spr. Syst. Veget. v. 1. p. 595. Var.'' floribus roseis.

pudibundus. Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 999.

. ''Don, in Mill. Dict. v. 4. p. 276.''

A native of St. Domingo, Porto Rico, and Mexico, according to Choisy: we may further add Sta. Martha,in New Grenada; whence Mr. Purdie sent seeds in 1845, which flowered at Syon Gardens, in November of the same year, and made a very lovely appearance. The colour of the corolla is particularly vivid, varying from deep reddish-purple to rich violet-blue. The Convolvulus pudibundus of Dr. Lindley, above quoted, is doubtless the same species, with rose-coloured flowers. The ' Flore Medicale des Antilles' states that M. Bauduit, a rich proprietor of St. Do mingo, discovered in this milky plant a resinous juice, which coagulates and proves to be profusely purgative. He formed of it a much approved syrup, which, in the French colonies, bears his name. This syrup is very active, and requires, on account of its drastic properties, to be used with great caution.

Stem apparently annual, terete, glabrous, twining, slender, branched. Leaves alternate, remote, broadly cordate,