Philibertia
(named in honour of J. C. Philibert, author of some works on elementary botany). SYN. Sarcostemma (in part). ORD. Asclepiadeae. This genus comprises about thirty species of stove, twining shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical and sub-tropical America. Flowers usually greenish-white, or purple-veined inside; calyx small, five-parted; corolla often depresso-globose in bud, very broadly campanulate or sub-rotate when expanded, with five contorted, narrow lobes; cymes umbelliform. Leaves opposite. Few of the species are known to cultivation. Those described below are well adapted for training up rafters, pillars, or trellis-work, in stoves or conservatories. A compost of loam, peat, and sand is desirable. Cuttings will root readily, if inserted in sand, or in the above-named soil, under a glass, in slight heat. P. campanulata (bell-shaped). fl. greenish-yellow, purplish-marked within, large, campanulate, pubescent outside; peduncles many-flowered, shorter than the leaves. October. l. ovate-oblong, acuminate, deeply cordate at base, tomentose beneath. h. 6ft. Peru. Greenhouse climbing shrub. (B. R. 1846, 36, under name of Sarcostemma campanulatum.) P. gracilis (slender).* fl., corolla yellowish outside, red-striped inside, three times as long as the calyx. l. deeply cordate, acuminate, sub-tomentose. Buenos Ayres. Greenhouse sub-shrub. (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 403.) P. grandiflora (large-flowered). fl., corolla puberulous without, elegantly purple-striped within, with obtuse lobes; peduncles many-flowered. June. l. cordate, acute, pubescent above, incano-tomentose beneath, petiolate. Buenos Ayres, 1836. Plant pubescent. Greenhouse sub-shrubby climber. (B. M. 3618; B. R. 1843, 13.)