Brownea
(named after Patrick Browne, M.D., author of a History of Jamaica). ORD. Leguminosae. Very handsome stove evergreen trees or shrubs, allied to Amherstia. Flowers of a rose-scarlet colour, rising in fascicled heads from the axillary buds. Leaves abruptlypinnate, when young flaccid, and with the leaflets revolute at the edges; leaf-bud long and stipulaceous. All the species are well worthy of the most extensive cultivation. A mixture of loam, peat, and sand, is a soil well adapted for them, and great care should be taken not to over-water the plants in winter, as too great a supply will be sure to kill them. Propagated by cuttings, taken from ripened wood, planted in a pot of sand, and placed under a hand glass, in a moist heat. B. Ariza (Ariza).* fl. richest scarlet, produced in a large, globular, drooping head of immense size. Summer. l. pinnate, usually with six or eight pairs of pinnae, which are oblong-lanceolate, and sharply tapered to a point. h. 20ft. to 40ft. Columbia, 1843. This noble tree requires a large house to fully perfect its beauty. SYN. B. princeps. (B. M. 6469.) B. Birschellii (Birschell's). fl. rose-coloured, in drooping racemes. April to July. l. pinnate; leaflets oblanceolate, 6in. long. h. 10ft. to 20ft. La Guayra, 1872. (B. M. 5998.) B. coccinea (scarlet).* fl. scarlet, fascicled. July and August. l. with two to three pairs of oval-oblong, acuminated leaflets. h. 6ft. to 10ft. Venezuela, 1793. (B. M. 3964.) B. grandiceps (large-headed).* fl. red, in dense capitate spikes. July. l. with usually twelve pairs of oblong-lanceolate glandless leaflets, ending in a long cuspidate acumen; branches and petioles pubescent. h. (in its native home) 60ft. Caraccas, 1829. (B. M. 4859.) B. latifolia (broad-leaved). fl. red, in dense fascicles; involucre tomentose. l. with one to three pairs of ovate or obovate-cuspidate leaflets. h. 6ft. to 8ft. Caraccas, 1824.
B. macrophylla (large-leaved).* fl. orange-scarlet, in dense heads, often measuring nearly 3ft. in circumference. Central America, 1879. (G. C. 1873, p. 779.) B. princeps (chief). A synonym of B. Ariza.
B. racemosa (clustered).* fl. rose-coloured, racemose; involucre and calyx clothed with fine tomentum. l. with four pairs of unequal-sided, oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, cuspidately-acuminated leaflets, which are glanduliferous at the base. h. 4ft. Caraccas, 1826.
B. Rosa del Monte. fl. scarlet, in dense heads; leaflets of the involucre roundish, imbricated, and, when in a young state, rather velvety. June. l. with two to three pairs of oval-oblong acuminated leaflets; branches and petioles glabrous. h. 8ft. South America, 1820. (B. R. 1472.)