Saxofridericia
(named in honour of Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony). ORD. Rapateaceae. A genus comprising five species of robust, stove herbs, natives of Guiana and North Brazil. Flowers in sessile heads; calyx tube hyaline, the lobes rigid, paleaceous; corolla tube hyaline, the lobes broad; involucral bracts two, membranous, readily parting; scape tall, often thickened under the head. Leaves radical, long, petiolate or sessile in a sheath. Only one species has yet been introduced. It thrives in a compost of loam and peat, and requires to be kept wet, as it is a marsh plant. Propagated by division. S. subcordata (sub-cordate). fl. densely brown-spotted, sessile, in semi-globose, mediocre heads; spathe red, bivalved, at length splitting. l. distichous, ancipitous at base, then petiolate, oblong, acuminate, sub-cordate at base, 6in. or more long; petioles spiny-edged, glabrous. h. 1ft. Amazon, 1873. (G. C. n. s., i. 275.) SYN. Rapatea pandanoides (I. H. xx. 153-154).