This most singular genus of plants, in external appearance so resembling passerina, yet so perfectly distinct in the parts of fructification, is certainly amongst the handsomest of the natural order in which it ranks. The long slender chives which extend nearly to the length of the border of the blossom, independent of the singular retrofraction of one of its segments, give it a character, we think, decidedly sufficient on which to have formed the Genus. This is the third species known; it was introduced to the Hibbertian collection, in 1800, by Mr. Niven, from the Cape of Good Hope. It is a very delicate plant, subject to be destroyed by damps, flowers in July, and may be increased by cuttings. It thrives best in a mixture of light sand and loam. Thunberg, in his Prod. Plant. Cap. has referred the whole genus to Passerina. [Illustration] PLATE CCXCIV. PROTEA CANDICANS. _Hoary-leaved Protea._ CLASS IV. ORDER I. _TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, insertæ petalis infra apicem. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria. BLOSSOM 4-cleft, or 4 petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the point. Cup, proper, none. Seeds solitary. See PROTEA FORMOSA, Pl. XVII. Vol. I. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. Protea foliis apicibus tridentatis, eliptico-lanceolatis, obliquis, candidissimis; capitulis terminalibus; calyx imbricatus, squamis acutis; corollis luteis. Protea with leaves three-toothed at the ends, eliptically-lance-shaped, oblique and very hoary; heads of flowers terminal; cup tiled, scales pointed, blossoms yellow. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. A Floret, the petals separated, natural size. 2. One of the Petals magnified. 3. The Pointal, and Seed-bud, natural size, the Summit detached, magnified. 4. The Empalement, natural size. Our present plant is one of the rarest Proteas at this time in England; as, we believe, there has never been but one importation of the seeds from the Cape, and no one species of this numerous genus is with more difficulty propagated by cuttings. Its lower leaves are apt to suffer much from damps in winter; in consequence, the stem becomes bare till near the top; the plant grows about three feet high, and flowers in August, or September. Our figure was taken from the Hibbertian collection, where it flowered, in 1802, for the first time in Britain. We owe its introduction to Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, Hammersmith, about the year 1790. We have our doubts of this plant being the P. tomentosa of Thunberg; for although he, in his description of that species, comes nigh many of the characters of P. candicans, yet his determining the leaves to be linear, and downy, and our having drawings, taken from two other species, approaching this in habit, yet nigher affined to P. tomentosa, we have retained his specific title for one of them, the other yet unnamed; which will both be given in due course. [Illustration]