[353]
Mahernia Incisa. Cut-Leav'd Mahernia.
Class and Order.
Pentandria Pentagynia.
Generic Character.
Calix 5-dentatus. Petala 5. Nect. 5 obcordata filamentis supposita. Capsula 5-locularis.
Specific Character.
MAHERNIA incisa caule hispidulo, foliis lanceolatis incisis, stipulis integerrimis.
No. 353
In point of size and mode of growth, this beautiful species comes near to the pinnata already figured in this work; but differs essentially in the singular hispidity of its stalks, the form of its leaves, and the colour of its flowers.
The stalks to the naked eye discover a manifest roughness, a magnifying glass shews this roughness to be of a singular kind, that they are beset on every side with little protuberances, from whence issue tufts of pellucid hairs, and here and there a single hair is discoverable with a small red viscid globule at its extremity; a portion of the stalk, when highly magnified, somewhat resembles that of the creeping Cereus. The leaves, which are not so manifestly hairy as the stalk and calyces, are deeply jagged on the edges, and bear some little affinity in their appearance to those of the Pelargonium tricolor. The flowers, when in bud, are of the richest crimson imaginable; as they open they incline to a deep orange, and finally become of a yellowish hue.
As this plant produces abundance of blossoms, they may be seen in all their states during most of the Summer and Autumnal months.
The plant from whence our drawing was taken, flowered this Summer with Mr. Colvill, Nurseryman, King's-Road, it requires the same treatment as the pinnata, is probably a native of the same country, and may be propagated by cuttings in the same manner.