To New Holland we export criminals for our convenience and safety, and from thence import furs for our covering and flowers for our amusement. So far the balance of trade is in our favour. But by whose hands, or at what time, our present subject was first brought over, we have not been able to learn. The specimen was communicated by A. B. Lambert, esq. in the beginning of April from his collection at Boyton, and we have also seen the plant very finely in flower at Mr. Whitley’s nursery, Brompton. Its woolly leaves and branches, contrasted with the Mimosas and other hard-leaved plants from the same country, make an agreeable variety, and the early blossoms are very ornamental. The plants we have seen are moderate-sized branchy shrubs, are kept in the green-house like other New Holland plants, and require no particular treatment. We have seen more species from the same country in herbariums, and some are now alive in this country, although they have not yet blossomed. [Illustration] PLATE DLXX. JUSTICIA NITIDA. _Shining-leaved Justicia._ CLASS II. ORDER I. _DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Two Chives. One Pointal. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. CALYX simplex seu duplex. Corolla 1-petala, irregularis. Capsula ungue elastico dissiliens: dissepimentum contrarium; adnatum. EMPALEMENT simple or double. Blossom one-petalled, irregular. Capsule splitting with an elastic claw: partition contrary to the valve; affixed. SPECIFIC CHARACTER JUSTICIA fruticosa: foliis ellipticis, acuminatis: racemis spicæformibus, verticillatis: bracteis minutis: pedicellis calycibusque glabris. _Swartz._ _Flora Indiæ occidentalis._ Habitat in insulis Jamaicæ, S. Christophori, Martiniquæ, S. Crucis, et Guadalupæ. JUSTICIA with a shrubby stem: leaves elliptic and pointed: raceme in the form of a spike, whorled: floral leaves small: footstalks and calyx smooth. Native of Jamaica, St. Christopher, Martinique, St. Croix, and Guadaloupe. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. A flower spread open. 2. Seed-bud and pointal, 3. The capsule. 4. The same split open. * * * * * Of this species of Justicia the only figure extant that we know of is a very indifferent representation of it in Sloane’s Jamaica, evidently from a dried specimen. The fine glossy character of the foliage has furnished it with a specific title. The flowers are abundant in succession, but, like most of this genus, of a deciduous or short-lived character. It was introduced to the British gardens, according to Donn’s Catalogue, in 1793, Our drawing was made from a plant brought from the West Indies by Lord Seaforth, which flowered in August 1808 in the hot-stove of A. B. Lambert, esq. [Illustration] PLATE DLXXI. SIDA PATENS. _Spreading Sida._ CLASS XVI. ORDER VIII. _MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA._ Threads united. Many Chives. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.