stylidium

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of gamopetalous plants, now known as Candollea (Labillardière, 1805), type of order formerly called Stylidieæ, and now known as Candolleaceæ. It is characterized by flowers with the fifth lobe of the irregular corolla very different from the others, forming a small or narrow curving lip, and by the long recurved or replicate and usually elastic stamencolumn. The 87 species are all Australian but 3, which are natives of Asia, principally of India, Many species are cultivated under glass, under the name of stylewort, for their rose-colored flowers: see also hairtrigger-flower. The name Stylidium (Loureiro, 1790), no longer used for Candollea, is at present applied instead to a small tropical genus of cornaceous trees and shrubs, formerly Marlea (Roxburgh, 1819), sometimes cultivated under glass for its yellow flowers.