Nematanthus
(from nema, nematos, a thread, and anthos, a flower; the flowers of one species hang down from long, thread-like footstalks). ORD. Gesneraceae. A small genus (three or four species) of very ornamental, stove, evergreen, climbing, fleshy, Brazilian shrubs. Flowers large, solitary or twin, axillary; corolla with an obconical tube gradually merging into a funnel or bell-shaped expansion. Leaves opposite, thick, entire, glabrous. The species thrive in a compost of sandy peat and turfy loam, with charcoal and dried cowdung. Propagation may be freely effected by cuttings inserted in sandy soil, and kept rather dry.
N. chloronema (green-threaded). fl. scarlet, 2in. long, beset with white hairs outside. July. l. oblong-lanceolate, acuminated at both ends. 1841. (B. M. 4080.) N. corticicola (epiphytal). fl. scarlet, beset with scattered minute hairs; peduncles 6in. to 12in. long, clothed with violaceous and white hairs. l. broad-lanceolate, acuminated at both ends. 1848. (B. M. 4460; F. d. S. 498, under name of N. ionema.) N. ionema (violet-threaded). A synonym of N. corticicola. N. longipes (long-stalked). fl. bright red, about 2in. long, with the segments of the tube suddenly reflexed; stalks thread-like, 3in. long. December. l. thick, fleshy, oblong, deep green. Stems erect, 1 1/2ft. high. 1841. (B. M. 4018.)