in botany: A genus of the angiospermia order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 16th order, Perianthia. The calyx is quinquifid, the corolla ringent, the capsule ligneous, covered with a bark, with a hooked beak, trilocular, and bivalved.—There are two species; both of them tender, herbaceous, flowery plants of South America; one of them an annual, the other a perennial, rising with erect stalks, from a foot to two feet high, garnished with oblong simple leaves, and terminated by short spikes of large monopetalous, bell-shaped flowers, of blue and purple colours. They flower in July and August, and are very ornamental, but require always to be kept in the hottest part of the stove.