Sebaea
(named after Albert Seba, 1665-1736, an apothecary and botanical author, of Amsterdam). ORD. Gentianeae. A genus comprising about eighteen species of stove or greenhouse, erect, annual herbs, natives of tropical and Southern Africa, Madagascar, Australia, and New Zealand. Flowers whitish or yellow, rather small, numerous, in corymbose cymes, or rarely few or solitary and long-pedicellate, or sub-sessile on the branches; calyx four or five-cleft or parted; corolla tube cylindrical, at length swollen, the lobes four or five, spreading, twisted; stamens four or five, the filaments short. Leaves sessile or stem-clasping, often small. The three species introduced are elegant plants. They require to be raised on a hotbed, and afterwards planted out in a warm, sheltered border, at the end of May.
S. albens (white). fl. whitish; sepals obtuse, connivent, striated; corolla lobes elliptic, obtuse, nearly equalling the ample, cylindrical tube. August. l. cordate-oblong. h. 6in. South Africa, 1820.
S. aurea (golden). fl. golden-yellow; calyx five-parted; corolla lobes elliptic-oblong, equalling the tube; stigma clavate; cymes dichotomous, many-flowered. July. l., lower ones cordate-triangular; upper ones ovate or lanceolate, all obtuse. h. 6in. South Africa, 1824.
S. ovata (ovate). fl. yellow; calyx five-parted, the segments ovate-lanceolate; corolla lobes ovate, slightly acute, one-half the length of the tube. August. l. ovate and somewhat rounded at base, slightly obtuse. h. 6in. Australia, 1820.