Phinaea
(an anagram of Niphaea, to which this genus is closely allied). ORD. Gesneraceae. A genus comprising three or four species of dwarf, erect, villous, stove herbs, with the habit of Niphaea (under which they have until recently been include), natives of Columbia. Flowers white or pale lilac; calyx turbinate-campanulate, the tube adnate to the ovary, the lobes five, obtuse; corolla tube very short, the limb shortly and broadly five-lobed; pedicels twin or fasciculate in the axils, rather long. Leaves opposite, petiolate, soft. For culture, see Achimenes.
P. albo-lineata (white-lined).* fl. white, borne on axillary, umbellate peduncles. September. l. opposite, long-stalked, ovate-acute, crenate-serrated, often purplish beneath. h. 9in. New Grenada, 1844. (B. M. 4282, and F. d. S. 210, under name of Niphaea albo-lineata.) P. a.-l. reticulata (netted). This variety differs from the type only in the discoloured nerves of the leaves being reticulated. (B. M. 5043 and F. d. S. 8, 823, under name of Niphaea albolineata reticulata.) P. rubida (reddish).* fl. white, very numerous, fasciculate, very long-stalked. July. l. clustered, ovate, sub-cordate-auriculate at base, toothed. Branchlets very short. h. 6in. Guatemala, 1846. Whole plant reddish velvety-villous. (F. d. S. iii. 251, under name of Niphaea rubida.)