Hoffmannia
(named after G. F. Hoffmann, 1761-1826, Professor of Botany at Gottingen, &c.). Including Campylobotrys. SYNS. Higginsia, Ohigginsia. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus comprising about twenty species of herbs or shrubs, natives of tropical America. Flowers white, yellow, or red, small, in axillary, few-flowered, occasionally unilateral, pedunculate or sub-sessile cymes. Leaves opposite, or two to four-nate, verticillate; stipules interpetiolar, small, broadly triangular or transversely oblong-linear, deciduous. Hoffmannias will thrive in the open air in summer, if planted in sandy soil; but they require the protection of a greenhouse in winter. Propagated by cuttings, inserted in sandy soil, under a bell glass, in bottom heat. E. discolor (two-coloured).* This species" is remarkable for the lurid-green yet satiny surface or velvety gloss of the upper side of the leaves, and the rich red-purple tints of the branches and under side of the foliage, and the still more pronounced red colour of the peduncles and flowers and teeth of the calyx" (Sir W. J. Hooker). h. 6in. Mexico, 1850. Stove. (B. M. 4530, under name of Campylobotrys discolor.) H. Ghiesbreghtii (Ghiesbreght's).* fl. yellow, spotted red on the disk, inconspicuous; cymes on short axillary peduncles. l. large, 1ft. or more long, broad oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, much decurrent and attenuated at the base, so as to be perfoliate, strongly penninerved and sub-plicate; upper surface rich dark velvety-green above, very slightly pubescent; under surface dull purple-red, veins very prominent. Branches green, herbaceous, elongated. h. 2ft. to 4ft. South America, 1861. (B. M. 5383, under name of Higginsia Gheisbechtii.) varigata is a form with leaves blotched with creamy-white, yellow, and red.
H. pedunculata (pedunculate). fl., corolla yellow, and variegated with red, rotate; racemes few to eight-flowered, peduncled; peduncles as long as, or exceeding, the petiole. l. elliptical, pointed, cuneate at the long-petioled base, glabrescent above, rusty-pilose, with scattered down beneath. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Jamaica (in mountain woods).
H. refulgens (shining).* fl. pale red, upwards of 1in. across, in solitary cymes; corolla lobes much longer than the tube; peduncles solitary, axillary, erect, purple-red, shorter than the leaves. May. l. 3in. to 5in. long, narrow-obovate, sub-acute, contracted at base, but not petioled; upper surface dull green, suffused with red, especially towards the margins; under surface pale reddish. Branches purple, erect. h. 1ft. to 2ft. South America. (B. M. 5346, under name of Higginsia refulgens.) H. regalis (royal). fl. aggregate, sub-sessile, unattractive. August. l. roundly-ovate, acuminate, entire, sub-coriaceous, plicato-penninerved, glabrous, shining dark green above, reddish-purple beneath; stipules triangular, deciduous. Branches sub-succulent, obtuse, tetragonal. h. 1ft. Mexico, 1859. A robust stove shrub. (B. M. 5280, under name of Higginsia regalis.)