Botanical Magazine 106 - 1880.pdf - hibiscus.org

TAB. 6478.
PHYTEUMA COMOSüM.
Native of the Austrian Alps.
Nat. Ord. CAMPANFLACES.•Tribe CAMPANULES.
Genus PHYTEUMA, Linn.; {Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. vol. ii. p. 561.)
PHTTETJMA (Synotoma) comosum; glabrum, caulibus e rhizomate ramoso grácil i bus
decuinbentibus dein, ascendentibus simplicibus, foliis polymorphis radicalibus
cordatis v. orbicularibus longe gracile petiolatis, caulinis brevius petiolatis
lanceolatis ovatis ellipticis ovato-lanceolatisve omnibus grosse et argute deii-
tatis, floribus umbellatim capitatis, capitulo bracteis t'oliaceis involucrato,
calycis lobis filiformi-subulatis, corolla basi inflata subglobosa 5-rimosa dein in
tmbum tenuem ore minuto desinente, ovario 2-loculari.
P. comosum, Linn. Sp. PL vol. i. p. 242; DC. Prodr. vol. vii. p. 450; Jacq. FL
Austr. Append, t. 50 ; Reich. In. Fl. Germ. vol. xix. 1.1579 ; Sturm Deutsch.
Flora, vol. vi. t. 22 ; Trattn. Archiv, t. 364.
A very rare and interesting little plant, hardy, and for
the first time introduced into cultivation in Britain by
George Maw, Esq., F.L.S., who procured roots, at Monte
Tombea in the Southern Tyrol, and transporting them to
his rich collection at Benthall Hall, flowered them in July of
last year. As a species it is unique in the genus as to the
form of the corolla, the lobes of which are free only in the
inflated basal part, and are above that combined into a very
slender tube, with an entire or merely toothed mouth, which
closely sheaths the style; in all the other species of the
genus, of which there are between forty and fifty, the
corolline lobes, though coherent for a considerable period
before fertilization is effected, are finally free. In P. comosum
the openings at the base of the corolla are no doubt efficient
promoters of cross-fertilization, for insects seeking the
honey secreted by the disk capping the ovary, would ine-
vitably carry away pollen with them, wherewith to dust
the forest of exserted stigmas.
P. comosum is a native of the Eastern Alps of Austria,
Lombardy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Transylvania, where it
inhabits elevations of 4000 to 5000 feet, its favourite site
FEBBUABY 1ST, 1880.