It is a hardy annual, requiring support, and rarely exceeding the height of two feet, flowering in July and August, and is readily raised from seeds, which should be sown in the open border at the beginning of April. [Illustration: No 253] [Illustration: No 254] [254] LOPEZIA RACEMOSA. MEXICAN LOPEZIA. _Class and Order._ MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. _Generic Character._ _Cal._ 4-phyllus. _Cor._ irregularis, pentapetala, duo superiora geniculata, quintum inferne declinatum, plicatum, ungue arcuata. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ LOPEZIA _racemosa_ caule herbaceo ramoso; foliis alternis ovato-lanceolatis, serratis; floribus racemosis. _Cavanilles Ic. et descr. Pl._ Some plants have a claim on our attention for their utility, some for their beauty, and some for the singularity of their structure, and the wonderful nature of their oeconomy; in the last class we must place the present plant, the flowers of which we recommend to the examination of such of our readers as may have an opportunity of seeing them; to the philosophic mind, not captivated with mere shew, they will afford a most delicious treat. We first saw this novelty in flower, towards the close of the year 1792, at the Apothecaries Garden, Chelsea, where Mr. FAIRBAIRN informed me, that he had that season raised several plants of it from seeds, communicated by Dr. J. E. SMITH, who received them from Madrid, to which place they were sent from South-America, and where the plant as Mons. CAVANILLE informs us, grows spontaneously near Mexico. In October 1793, we had the pleasure of seeing the plant again in blossom in the aforesaid garden, raised from seeds which ripened there the preceding year, but unfortunately from the lateness of their flowering, and the very great injury the plants had sustained from the Cobweb Mite (_Acarus teliarius_) vulgarly called the red Spider, there seemed little prospect that the seed-vessels would arrive at perfection. The seeds were sown by Mr. FAIRBAIRN, in March, and the plants kept in the green-house till very late in the summer, when to accelerate their blowing, they were removed into the dry stove: it is worthy of remark, that these plants, even late in the autumn, shew no signs of blossoming, but the flowers at length come forth with almost unexampled rapidity, and the seed-vessels are formed as quickly, so that if the flowers were not very numerous, their blossoming period would be of very short duration; future experience may perhaps point out the means of making the plant blow earlier: in Spain, the blossoms appeared later than here, Mons. CAVANILLE observed them in the Royal Garden, in November and December, most probably in the open ground, as no mention is made of the plants having been preserved from the weather.