Bertolonia
(named after A. Bertoloni, an Italian botanist, author of "Rariorum Italiae Plantarum Decades," &c.). ORD. Melastomaceae. Elegant little creeping or dwarf-growing stove plants, chiefly cultivated for their exquisitely marked leaves. Flowers white or purple. Leaves stalked, ovate-cordate, five to eleven-nerved, crenulated; cymes corymbose, terminal. They thrive in a compost of equal parts peat, leaf mould, and sand, in a warm, close, and moist atmosphere, but are most successfully cultivated under a bell glass in the stove; in fact, the latter is the only plan of growing them where a constantly humid atmosphere cannot be otherwise obtained without such means. They are easily propagated by cuttings or seeds.
B. aenea (coppery). fl. purple. h. 6in. Brazil B. guttata (spotted). See Gravesia.
B. maculata (spotted).* fl. violet-purple; peduncles axillary, bearing at the apex a short raceme of six to seven flowers. l. on long petioles, cordate, ovate, quite entire, pilose on both surfaces and on the margins, five-nerved. Branches, petioles, peduncles, and calyces hispid from long bristles. Steam rooting at the base. Brazil, 1850. (B. M. 4551.) B. marmorata (marbled).* l. 5in. to 8in. long, ovate-oblong, hairy, five-nerved; upper side vivid bright green, beautifully marked with irregular streaks of pure white; under surface of a uniform rich purple. Stem fleshy. h. 6in. Brazil, 1858.
B. pubescens (downy).* l. ovate-acuminate, 3in. to 4in. long, and 2in. to 3in. broad; bright light green, with a broad chocolate-coloured band down the centre; upper surface clothed with long white hairs. Ecuador.