Thomasia
(named in memory of Peter and Abraham Thomas, collectors of Swiss plants in the time of Haller). ORD. Sterculiaceae. A genus comprising twenty-five species of very elegant, Australian, greenhouse shrubs, with the habit of Lasiopetalum, but with the leaves often lobed or cut. Flowers often tomentose; calyx usually purple, bluish, or white, five-lobed; petals none, or minute and scale-like; stamens five, alternate with the sepals, free or slightly connate at the base; bracts narrow, deciduous; bracteoles under the calyx three; racemes leaf-opposed, simple or rarely cymosely branched. Stipules leafy. The under-mentioned species are well worth cultivating in every collection. They thrive in a compost of loam, peat, and sand. Cuttings of the ripened wood will root freely in sand, under a glass. T. foliosa (leafy). fl. small, on slender pedicels; petals none; racemes numerous, often branched, slender, hirsute. June. l. petiolate, ovate-cordate, deeply sinuate-lobed, rarely above 1in. long, sprinkled with stellate hairs above, more densely hirsute beneath. h. 3ft. 1823.
T. glutinosa latifolia (glutinous, broad-leaved). fl. pink, pretty, disposed in racemes; stamens, as well as a blotch at the base of the petals, dark brownish. Summer. l. stalked, cordate, acute, covered with stellate hairs. 1885. An attractive plant. (R. G. 1186.) T. grandiflora (large-flowered). fl., calyx red, spreading to about 1in. in diameter, not divided to the middle; petals none; racemes terminal. June. l. mostly ovate-lanceolate or oblong, or the lowest ovate, obtuse, 1/2in. to 1in. long, entire, cordate or obscurely three-lobed at base, glabrous or sprinkled with a few stellate hairs. h. 3ft. 1840.
T. macrocarpa (large-fruited).* fl., calyx red, opening to about 1in. in diameter, loosely woolly-hirsute outside; racemes tomentose-hirsute, few-flowered. June. l. broadly ovate-cordate, obtuse, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long, irregularly angular-toothed or shortly lobed, pubescent above when young, at length glabrous, tomentose beneath. h. 3ft. or more. 1842. (B. M. 4111, under name of T. stipulacea.) T. purpurea (purple). fl. rather small, on very short pedicels; calyx purple, about 1/2in. in diameter; petals small, occasionally wanting; racemes longer than the leaves. June. l. oblong or nearly linear, obtuse, 1/2in. to 1in. long, entire, sprinkled with stellate hairs above, more hirsute beneath, or rarely nearly glabrous. h. 2ft. 1803. SYN. Lasiopetalum purpureum (B. M. 1755).
T. quercifolia (Oak-leaved). fl. rather small; calyx purple, the lobes not reaching the middle, broad and obtuse; petals none; racemes simple. May. l. ovate, usually deeply three-lobed, the lateral lobes short, divaricate, and often obtusely three-lobed, the middle one longer, often three-lobed, the whole leaf rarely exceeding 1in., sprinkled with stellate hairs above, rigidly hirsute beneath. h. 2ft. 1803. SYN. Lasiopetalum quercifolium (A. B. R. 459; B. M. 1485).
T. solanacea (Solanum-like). fl., calyx white, more or less tomentose, about 1/2in. in diameter, divided to rather below the middle; petals usually wanting; racemes pedunculate, several-flowered, occasionally branched. June. l. deeply cordate-ovate, obtuse, mostly 1 1/2in. to 3in. long, rather deeply sinuate-lobed, scabrous or hirsute above, softly and densely tomentose or hirsute beneath. h. 3ft. and upwards. 1803. SYN. Lasiopetalum solanaceum (B. M. 1486).
T. stipulacea (prominent-stipuled). A synonym of T. macrocarpa.