Niphaea
(from niphos, snow; in allusion to the white flowers). ORD. Gesneraceae. A very small genus (two species) of softly villous, stove, herbaceous plants, of which one is Mexican, and the other a native of Cuba. Flowers white; corolla rotate, broadly five-lobed; tube very short; pedicels fascicled in the axils. Leaves petiolate, ovate, toothed, soft, sub-membranous. Stems dwarf, erect; roots creeping. For culture, see Achimenes.
N. albo-lineata. (white-lined). A synonym of Phinaea albolineata. N. oblonga (oblong).* fl. white, axillary and terminal, drooping. Winter. l. oblong-cordate, toothed, rugose. h. 1ft. Guatemala, 1841. (B. R. 1842, 5.) N. rubida (reddish). A synonym of Phinaea rubida.