Amongſt a variety of other beautiful plants, I found a very remarkable one of the compoſite tribe; which had never before been diſcovered. It conſtitutes a new genus, which I named richea, after Citizen Riche, one of the naturaliſts to our expedition. This philoſopher fell a victim to his love for ſcience, having made, when already in a very advanced ſtage of conſumption, a long and fatiguing journey, in which he had more conſulted his ſcientific zeal than the ſtate of his health.
This new genus naturally ranks in the third ſection of the cynarocephales. (Jufs. gen. plant.)
The common calix is compoſed of ſeveral obtuſe foliolæ, ſcarious at their extremities, of equal length, and diſpoſed in a ſingle row; it incloſes ſeveral diſtinct calices, each of which is ſupported by a very ſhort peduncle. Each of the ſmall calices is compoſed of five or ſix foliolæ, and contains five or ſix floriolæ, all hermaphrodite, and provided with ſheaths of nearly the ſame length with themſelves.
The floriolæ are inflated at their ſuperior extremity, and divided into five equal diviſions.
Five diſtinct filaments, attached to the inſide of the corolla, ſupport the ſame number of antheræ, united in the form of a cylinder.
The ſtyle is filiform, and of an equal height with the ſtamina. The ſtigma is bipartite.
