Posoqueria
(Aymara posoqueri is the name of P. longiflora in Guiana). SYNS. Cyrtanthus (of Schreber), Kyrtanthus, Solena, Stannia. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus consisting of about a dozen species of ornamental, very glabrous, stove shrubs, confined to tropical America. Flowers very sweet-scented, on ebracteate pedicels, disposed in terminal, many-flowered corymbs; calyx small, five-toothed; corolla white, pink, or scarlet, pendulous, with a terete tube sometimes more than 1ft. in length, a glabrous or villous, hardly dilated throat, and a five-parted limb; stamens five, a little exserted. Leaves opposite, on short petioles, coriaceous. For culture of the species described below, which are those best known in gardens, see Gardenia. P. formosa (beautiful). fl. white, erect, very long, showy, sweetly scented; inflorescence terminal, cymose. July. l. opposite, oval, petiolate; stipules intrapetiolar, oblong-triangular, entire, at length deciduous. h. 15ft. to 20ft. Caraccas, 1815. (F. d. S. vi. 587; L. & P. F. G. i. 114.) P. fragrantissima (very fragrant).* fl. white, very fragrant, with a slender, cylindrical tube, 6in. long, and reflexed, elliptic-oblong segments, disposed in sub-corymbose panicles at the ends of the branches. l. opposite, ovate-oblong, coriaceous, shining green, the principal veins yellow. Branches yellow Brazil, 1871. A very handsome plant. (I. H. ser. iii. 27.) P. gracilis (slender). fl. white, four or five in a corymb; corolla with a curved tube and an irregular limb. September. l. ovallanceolate; stipules oblong. h. 5ft. to 6ft. Guiana, 1825.
P. longiflora (long-flowered). fl. white, with the tube 6in. long, very much incurved, nutant at the apex, green at the base; hairs in the throat very long; corymbs from six to twelve-flowered. Summer. l. oblong, acuminated, acute at the base. h. 5ft. to 6ft. French Guiana, 1820. P. multiflora (many-flowered).* fl. white, fragrant, with a slender tube 4in. long, and a spreading, star-shaped limb 2 1/2in. across; cymes terminal. l. broad, oval-oblong, coriaceous, velvety, villous beneath. Brazil, 1866. A magnificent plant.(I. H. 597.) P. revoluta (revolute). fl. white, disposed in dense corymbs; corolla with a straight tube, a villous throat, and an irregular limb. April. l. elliptic-ovate, each ending in a short, cuspidate point, and having revolute margins. h. 5ft. to 6ft. Brazil, 1852.
P. versicolor (various-coloured). fl. various-coloured, changing from white to crimson through pink, long, pendulous, fragrant; segments of corolla not much longer than the stamens. August. l. oval-lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, glabrous. h. 6ft. Cuba, 1840. A handsome shrub. (B. R. 1841, 26.)