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Lonchocarpus (From lonche a lance and karpos)

(from lonche, a lance, and karpos, a fruit; in allusion to the shape of the pods). ORD. Leguminosae. An extensive genus (about fifty species have been described) of tall climbing shrubs or trees, for the most part natives of tropical America, a few inhabiting tropical Africa, and one a native of Australia. Flowers violet-purple or white, in simple racemes, or rarely paniculate. Leaves alternate, impair-pinnate; leaflets opposite, rarely stipellate. In all probability, the species here described is the only one yet introduced. It is a stove evergreen tree, requiring a compost of turfy loam and fibry peat, with a small quantity of sand added, to ensure perfect drainage. Propagated, in May or June, by half-ripened cuttings, placed in sand, under a bell glass, in a gentle heat.

L. roseus (rose-coloured). fl. rose, large, showy; pedicels one-flowered; racemes erect. l., leaflets thirteen to fifteen, lanceolate, acuminated, glabrous, shining above, rather pale beneath. h. 20ft. South America, 1700.