Physianthus
(from physa, a bladder, and anthos, a flower; referring to the shape of the flowers). SYNS. Pentaphragma, Schubertia. ORD. Asclepiadeae. A genus regarded, by the authors of the authors of the "Genera Plantarum," as synonymous with Arauja. It comprises about thirteen species of stove or greenhouse, climbing, canescent or hirsute shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical and sub-tropical America. Flowers dirty white or pink, large; calyx five-parted, the segments leafy; corolla hypocrateriform or almost infundibular, with a spreading or sub-campanulate, five-fid limb; corona adnate to the base of the corolla; cymes two or few-flowered, on a solitary, axillary peduncle. Leaves opposite. The species thrive in a compost of sandy loam and fibry peat, with good drainage. Propagated, in summer, by cuttings of firm, stubby side-shoots, inserted under glass, in a gentle heat; or by seeds, sown on a hotbed, during spring. P. albens suceeeds in a greenhouse, and is well adapted for training up a pillar or rafter.
P. albens (whitish).* White Bladder Flower. fl. white, with a tinge of red, downy, with a companulately-urceolate corolla; cymes sub-dichotomous. July. l. opposite, cordate, white and pruinose beneath, beset with fine, white, scattered hairs above. Brazil, 1830. Greenhouse climbing shrub. SYN. Arauja albens. (B. M. 3201; B. R. 1759.) In favoured spots, this will succeed in the open air against a sheltered wall.
P. auricomus (golden-haired). A synonym of P. graveolens. P. graveolens (strong-scented). fl. white, in umbels of six or seven. July. l. cordate-obovate, obtuse, softly pubescent, shining above. h. 10ft. Brazil, 1835. Stove climbing sub-shrub. SYNS. P. auricomus (B. M. 3891), Schubertia, graveolens (B. R. xxxii. 21).
P. megapotamicus (Rio Grande). fl. green, white, and purple; lobes of corona denticulated; corolla rotate-campanulate; stigma exserted; peduncles one-flowered. June. l. narrow-lanceolate-hastate, acuminate. h. 20ft. Uruguay, 1865. Greenhouse climbing sub-shrub. SYN. Arauja angustifolia. (B. M. 5481.)