Gustavia
(named after Gustavus III., King of Sweden, and a patron of Linnaeus). SYN. Pirigara. ORD. Myrtaceae. A genus consisting of about eleven species of stove evergreen trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America. Flowers showy; peduncles one-flowered, sub-umbellate. Leaves large, alternate, ovate or spathulate, glossy. Gustavias thrive in a rich loamy soil. Cuttings, made from ripened shoots, root freely if inserted in sand, under a glass, in heat.
G. gracillima (very slender).* fl. rose-red, 4in. in diameter, produced from the leaf axils in the young plants, from the wood in old ones, solitary or in pairs; peduncle stout, clavate, 1in. to 2in. long. September. l. close-set, spreading and recurved, acuminate, serrate, narrowed into a slender petiole, 1in. to 2in. long; margin somewhat waved; midrib prominent beneath. Trunk slender, quite glabrous. New Grenada, 1845. (B. M. 6151.) G. insignis (remarkable).* fl., corolla very large, 5in. to 6in. in diameter; petals cream-white, concave, spreading, externally tinged with rose-colour; filaments rose; anthers orange. June. l. glossy, dark green, obovate-lanceolate, acuminated at the point, much attenuated at the base, and sessile, or nearly so. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Tropical America, 1858. (B. M. 5069.) G. pterocarpa (wing-fruited).* This is closely allied to G. insignis, but differs from it by the ovary being winged, the smaller and white flowers, the comparatively large calycine lobes, and the more coriaceous, nearly entire foliage. (B. M. 5239.)