Triopterys
(from treis, three, and pteron, a wing; the samaras are three-winged). ORD. Malpighiaceae. A small genus (three species) of stove, climbing shrubs, inhabiting the West Indies and Mexico. Flowers blue or violet; calyx five-parted, with eight glands; petals clawed; stamens ten, all perfect, the alternate ones longer; racemes or panicles axillary and terminal; peduncles bracteate and bibracteolate at base. Leaves opposite, highly glabrous, lucid, veined, petiolate, without glands or stipules. It is doubtful whether the plants here described are still in cultivation, as they are very shy flowerers in this country. A compost of peat and sand is best suited to their requirements. Propagation may be effected by ripened cuttings, inserted in sand, under a hand glass, in heat.
T. rigida (rigid). fl. blue; racemes distant, forming a loose panicle. May. l. rigid, coriaceous, orbicular-obovate, elliptic, or oblong-linear, shining, with many parallel and anastomosing veins. West Indies, 1822. T. r. jamaicensis (Jamaica). l. 1/2in. to 1in. long, 1/4in. to 1/2in. broad. T. r. lucida (clear). l. retuse or blunt, 1 1/2in. long, eight to sixteen lines broad.