Iochroma
(from ion, violet, and chroma, colour; colour of flowers). SYN. Choenesthes. ORD. Solanaceoe. A genus containing about fifteen species of greenhouse trees or shrubs, inhabiting Western tropical America. Flowers violet, blue, white, yellowish, or scarlet; calyx tubular, somewhat distended; corolla tubular, much longer than the calyx, and concealing the stamens. Leaves entire, often ample, membranous. For culture, see Cestrum. I. fuchsioides (Fuchsia-like).* fl. drooping, large, handsome; corolla orange-scarlet, thrice as long as the calyx; tube elongated, nearly straight; peduncles shorter than the leaves, single-flowered. Summer. l. often fascicled, obovate, inclining to oval or oblong, very obtuse, entire, tapering at base into a short footstalk. h. 5ft. Quitinian Andes, 1843. A glabrous unarmed shrub. (B. M. 4149, under name of Lycium fuchsioides.) I. grandiflorum (large-flowered). fl. rich purple, large; cymes simple, pedunculate, terminal, many-flowered, pendulous; corolla funnel-shaped; tube long, pubescent; throat sub-campanulate; limb large, five-lobed; lobes triangular, recurved. November. l. broadly-ovate, acuminate, pubescent above, very pale and sub-tomentose beneath. Branches terete, pubescent. Ecuador and Peru, previous to 1860. A very handsome shrub. (B. M. 5301.) I. lanceolata (lanceolate).* fl. drooping, in supra-axillary terminal umbels; calyx unequally five-toothed; corolla rich deep purplish-blue, 2in. long, cylindrical, glabrous, dilated at the mouth into a short, five-toothed, spreading limb; pedicels filiform, pendent; stamens and style scarcely exserted. Summer. l. alternate, rather large, oval or elliptic-lanceolate, membranous, acute, entire, tapering below into a long petiole, glabrous with age. h. 4ft. to 5ft. Andes of Chili, 1847. A beautiful shrub. (B. M. 4338, under name of Choenestes lanceolata.) I. tubulosa (tubular-flowered). fl., corolla blue, showy, tubular, with five short teeth. August. l. ovate, three or four times shorter than the corolla. h. 5ft. Tropical America, 1843. (B. R. 1845, 20.)