CALCEOLA'RIA (Lat. calcrolus, a little shoe), a genus of plants of the natural order scropladariacem (q.v.). of which there are numerous species, natives of South America, chiefly of that part of the Andes which is more than 9600 ft. above the sea, a few of them reaching almost to the utmost limits of vegetation; although some are found in lower and warmer situations, and some in the southern extremity of the American con tinent. They abound so much in some parts of Chili and Peru, as to give a peculiar aspect to the landscape. The calyx in this genus is 4-partite; the corolla, 2-lipped; the lower lip remarkably inflated, so as to form a bag; and the shape of the whole in some species considerably resembling that of a slipper. There are only two fertile stamens, and the capsule is semi-bivalvular with bifid valves. Some of the species are shrubby, some herbaceous, almost all the herbaceous species being perennial. Many of them have corymbs of numerous showy flowers. Yellow is the color which chiefly prevails
in the flowers of the original species, and next to it purple; but the art of the gardener has succeeded in producing varieties and hybrids which exhibit many other rich and delicate tints. Calceolarias have been florists' flowers since about 1830, the curious appearance of the flowers combining with their beauty to render them attractive, and in no genus is the production of hybrids more easily or frequently effected. They are easily propagated by cuttings. Few plants require more liberal supplies of water. They are generally treated in Britain as half-hardy or as greenhouse plants.—Some of the species are used in South America for dyeing. The roots of C. arachnvidea, a parent of many of the hybrids in our gardens, are largely employed in Chili, under the name of rellmn, for dyeing woolen cloths crimson.