Trochetia
(named in honour of R. I. G. du Trochet, 1771-1847, a French physiologist and writer on botany). ORD. Sterculiaceae. A genus comprising about half-a-dozen species of stove or greenhouse, evergreen shrubs or trees, natives of Mauritius, St. Helena, and Madagascar. Flowers rather large, often pendulous; calyx five-parted, coriaceous; petals five, flat, broad, persistent; staminal column short, bearing five ligulate staminodes; bracteoles none, or minute and deciduous; peduncles axillary, one to three-flowered. Leaves entire, coriaceous. Two species have been introduced. They thrive in a compost of well-drained loam, leaf mould, and sand. Cuttings will root in sand, under a glass.
T. erythroxylon (red-wooded). The correct name of plant described in this work as Melhania erythroxylon.
T. grandiflora (large-flowered). A synonym of T. triflora. T. triflora (three-flowered). fl. white and yellow; sepals acuminate, 1in. long; petals obovate, 1 1/2in. long; staminal column cylindrical; peduncles much deflexed, exceeding the petioles, three-flowered. December. l. oblong, crowded near the ends of the branches, 4in. to 6in. long, acute, sub-entire or dentate, broadly rounded at base, coriaceous, brown-tomentose beneath; petioles erect, 1in. to 2in. long. h. 10ft. Mauritius, 1842 Stove. (B. R. 1844, 21, under name of T. grandiflora.)