Class and Order.

Pentandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character.

In the Autumn of 1792, Samuel Tolfrey Esq. most kindly invited me to inspect a vast number of the natural productions of Botany-Bay, in his possession; collected with great assiduity, and brought over in high preservation by Captain Tench; among other curiosities, he shewed me specimens of the earths of that country, imported in very small bags. I suggested to Mr. Tolfrey, that those earths might possibly contain the seeds of some curious and unknown plants; he readily acquiesced in the idea, and permitted me to make trial of them: accordingly, in the Spring of 1793, I exposed them in shallow pans, on a gentle tan heat, keeping them duly watered; in the course of the Summer they yielded me fourteen plants, most of which were altogether new, and among others the species of Goodenia here figured; this we have since found to be a hardy greenhouse plant, flowering from July to October, and very readily increased by cuttings.

The oldest plant in our possession is about a foot and a half high, much branched, the stalks are round and smooth to the naked eye, green below, above purplish, the leaves are smooth, a deep bright green colour, alternate, standing on footstalks, which gradually widen into the leaves, somewhat ovate, and deeply toothed; the flowers grow in the alÆ of the leaves, forming a thin spike, they are sessile, of a pale violet colour, and have a peculiar smell which is rather unpleasant; at the side of each flower are two long narrow BracteÆ; the Calyx, which is placed on the germen, is composed of five short ovate leaves, which appear edged with hairs if magnified; the Corolla is monopetalous, the lower part, which at first is tubular, splits longitudinally above, and forms a kind of half tube, the edges of which are brown, the inside yellow, the outside greenish, the mouth beset with short hairs, each of which is terminated by a small villous head; the limb is deeply divided into five linear segments, spreading out like a hand, and terminated by short points; the Filaments are five in number, of a whitish colour, somewhat broadest above, rather flat, inserted into the receptacle; AntherÆ oval, flattened, yellow, bilocular, a little bent, the length of the pistillum; but this is to be understood of such flowers as are not yet fully expanded, in those that are, they are much shorter, and appear withered; the Style, in flowers about to open, the length of the filaments, upright, in those that are opened much longer, and bent somewhat downward; Stigma at first upright, in the form of a cup, having the edge curiously fringed with white hairs, afterwards it closes together, loses its hollow, and assumes a flat appearance, and nods somewhat, the back part of it is bearded; Germen beneath the calyx, oblong, usually abortive with us.

The name of Goodenia has been given to this genus by Dr. Smith, in honour of the Rev. Samuel Goodenough, LL. D. of Ealing, my much-honoured friend, whose name will be ever dear to Botanists for his laborious investigation of the British Carices[4].