_Spear-leaved Helonias._ CLASS VI. ORDER III. _HEXANDRIA TRIGYNIA._ Six Chives. One Pointal. GENERIC CHARACTER. CALYX nullus. COROLLA. Petala sex, oblonga, æqualia, decidua. STAMINA. Filamenta sex, subulata, corolla paulo longiora. Antheræ incumbentes. PISTILLUM. Germen subrotundum, trigonum. Styli tres, breves, reflexi. Stigmata obtusa. PERICARPIUM. Capsula subrotunda, trilocularis. SEMINA numerosa, angulata, minima. EMPALEMENT, none. BLOSSOM. Six petals, oblong, equal, deciduous. CHIVES. Six threads, awl-shaped, a little longer than the blossom. Tips lying on the threads. POINTAL. Seed-bud roundish, three-sided. Shafts three, short and reflexed. Summits obtuse. SEED-VESSEL. Capsule roundish, three-celled. SEEDS numerous, angulated, very small. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. Helonias foliis lanceolatis, nervosis; bracteis cordato-lanceolatis. Helonias with lance-shaped, nerved leaves; floral leaves between lance and heart-shaped. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. Flower, complete. 2. The Chives and Pointal, natural size. 3. The same, magnified. All the species of this genus, yet discovered, are natives of North America, and are considered as hardy herbaceous plants; the winters of this country not being too severe for them; although they are found as far south as Carolina, yet they are more plentiful in Pennsylvania, about Philadelphia. They flourish most in a shady, moist situation; and increase, freely, by parting the roots in the month of March. The flowers are produced in May, the flower-stem increasing in length, till the flowers are entirely decayed. The Helonias bullata has been an inhabitant of our gardens ever since the year 1758, when it was introduced by Mr. Ph. Miller, and cultivated by him at Chelsea. See Mill. ic. 181. t. 272. Our drawing was made at the Nursery, Hammersmith, in June 1801. [Illustration] PLATE CCCLIII. ASPALATHUS CRASSIFOLIUS. _Thick-leaved Aspalathus._ CLASS XVII. ORDER IV. _DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA._ Threads in two sets. Ten Chives. GENERIC CHARACTER. CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum, semiquinquefidum; laciniis acuminatis, æqualibus, superiore longiore. COROLLA papillionacea. _Vexillum_ compressum, adscendens, obovatum, externe sæpius hirsutum, obtusum cum acumine. _Alæ_ lunulatæ, obtusæ, patulæ, vexillo breviores. _Carina_ bifida, alis conformis. STAMINA. Filamenta decem, connata in vaginam, superne dehiscentem longitudinaliter, adscendentia. Antheræ oblongæ. PISTILLUM. Germen ovatum. Stylus simplex, adscendens. Stigma acutum. PERICARPIUM. Legumen ovatum, muticum. SEMINA sæpius duo, reniformia. OBS. _Singulare huic sunt folia ex eadem gemma plura in planta frutescente._ EMPALEMENT. Cup one leaf, half-five-cleft; segments tapered, equal, the upper one longer. BLOSSOM butterfly-shape. _Standard_ compressed, ascending, inversely egg-shaped, often hairy on the outside, obtuse with a point. _Wings_ half-moon-shaped, obtuse, spreading, shorter than the standard.