Russelia
(named in honour of Alexander Russel, M. D., F.R.S., author of a "Natural History of Aleppo," 1756). ORD. Scrophularineae. A genus comprising four or five species of showy-flowered, stove, evergreen shrubs, natives of Mexico and Central America. Calyx deeply five-fid or five-parted, with closely imbricated segments; corolla scarlet, with a cylindrical tube and a sub-bilabiate, five-fid limb; stamens four; cymes dichotomous, bracteate. many-flowered or reduced to one. Leaves opposite or whorled; those on the branchlets (which are often nodding or pendulous) frequently reduced to small scales. All the species introduced are described below. They thrive in light, rich soil. Propagation may be readily effected by cuttings, inserted in similar soil, under a glass, in heat.
R. floribunda (bundle-flowered). A synonym of R. rotundifolia. R. juncea (Rush-like).* fl. in loose, remote-flowered racemes; corolla 1in. long; peduncles elongated. July. l. linear, lanceolate, or ovate, small; those on the branchlets minute and scale-like. Branches twiggy, rush-like, pendulous at apex. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Mexico, 1833. (B. 220; B. R. 1773.) R. multiflora (many-flowered). A synonym of R. sarmentosa. R. rotundifolia (round-leaved). fl. like those of R. sarmentosa; peduncles many-flowered. June. l. sessile, orbicular, deeply cordate at base, the cauline ones 2in. to 4in. long and broad, reticulate-veined beneath, softly pubescent, closely sessile or semiamplexicaul. h. 4ft. Mexico, 1824. SYN. R. floribunda.
R. sarmentosa (sarmentose).* fl. falsely whorled or loosely cymose; corolla more or less bearded on the throat below the lower lip; peduncles from three or four to thirty or forty-flowered, axillary and remote, or in crowded racemes. July. l. variable, sometimes opposite or in whorls of three or four on the same specimen, cuneate or sub-cordate at base, acuminate and acute or obtuse, serrate or crenate, glabrous or slightly hairy. h. 4ft. Central America, 1812. SYNS. R. multiflora (B. M. 1528), R. ternifolia. R. ternifolia (ternate-leaved). A synonym of R. sarmentosa.