Loeselia
(named after John Loesel, author of "Flora Prussica"). SYN. Hoitzia. ORD. Polemoniaceae. A genus comprising six or seven species of slightly viscid, pubescent or glabrous, rigid, greenhouse under-shrubs or herbs, rarely small shrubs, natives of Mexico, Central America, and New Grenada. Flowers scarlet or violet, axillary, the upper ones often crowded at the apices of the branches; calyx five-cut; corolla funnel-shaped. Leaves alternate or opposite, undivided, often argutely toothed. The species thrive in a compost of fibry peat and sandy loam. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in heat. L. coccinea (scarlet). fl. solitary, on short peduncles; corolla scarlet. June. l. nearly sessile, ovate, acutely mucronate, cuneate at base, scabrous above, hairy beneath. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Mexico, 1824. Shrub. L. glandulosa (glandular). fl. solitary, pedunculate; corolla red. June. l. ovate-lanceolate, petiolate, spiny-toothed; those on the branches nearly linear. Stem suffruticose, beset with glandular hairs. h. 2ft. Mexico, 1825.