Chirita
(from Cheryta, the Hindostanee name for the Gentian plant). ORD. Gesneraceae. Greenhouse or stove evergreen herbaceous plants or shrubs. Corolla tubular, bilabiate; calyx five-cleft, valvate in aestivation For culture, see Gloxinia.
C. lilacina (lilac).* fl. very beautiful and produced in great abundance; corolla lobes pale blue; tube and throat white; base of tube ornamented with a large yellow blotch at the base. Chiriqui, 1870. This charming plant is very ornamental and effective.
C. Moonii (Moon's).* fl. pale purple; corolla large, downy; peduncles axillary, solitary or twin. July. l. shortly petiolate, three to four in a whorl, ovate-lanceolate, acutish, obsoletely and glandularly serrated. Branches bluntly tetragonal, suffruticose, villous, h. 2ft. Ceylon, 1847. Stove. (B. M. 4405.) C. sinensis (Chinese).* fl. lilac; corymbs many-flowered, bibracteate at the base. July. l. opposite, elliptic-ovate, crenated; petioles trigonal. Stemless. h. 6in. China, 1843. Greenhouse evergreen,(B. M. 4284.) C. zeylanica (Ceylon). fl. rich purple, reddish and paler in the tube; large, handsome. l. stalked, ovate, acute, entire, covered with rather close-pressed silky-brownish hairs. h. 1ft. Ceylon, 1840. Stove. (B. M. 4182.)