Tourretia
(named in honour of Mare Antoine Louis Claret de la Tourrette, 1729-1793, a friend of Rousseau, and author of several botanical works). SYNS. Dombeya, Medica. ORD. Bignoniaceae. A monotypic genus. The species is a hardy, climbing herb (or sub-shrub?), usually treated in gardens as an annual. Seeds should be sown, early in spring, on a hotbed. When the young plants are strong enough to handle, they may be planted in light soil, against a wall or pillar. T. lappacea (Bur-like). fl. in long, spicate racemes, on terminal peduncles; calyx two-parted, deciduous; corolla purple-violet, with a very unequally bilabiate limb; stamens four, didynamous. July. l. opposite, di- or trichotomously divided; segments petiolulate, membranous, serrated; petioles produced into a branched tendril or leaflet. Branches slender, tetragonal. h. 6ft. Mountains of tropical America, 1788. (B. M. 3749.)