CAL'CEOLA'RIA Neo-Lat., from Lat. calee olus, a little shoe, referring to the part of the corolla resembling a slipper ). A genus of plants of the order Scrophillariacea.. There are numer ous species, natives of South America, chiefly of that part of the Andes which is more than 9000 feet above the sea. a few of them reach ing almost to the upper limits of vegetation. Some are found in lower and warmer situations, and some in the southern extremity of the American emitin•nt, others occurring in New Zealand and Mexico. They are so abundant in some parts of Chile and Peru as to give a pe culiar aspect to the landscape. The calyx in this genus is four-partite: the corolla, two lipped, the lower lip remarkably inflated, so as to form a hag: and the shape of the whole in some species considerably resembling that of a slipper. Some of the species are shrubby, some herbaceous, almost all the herbaceous species being perennial. Many of them have eorymbs of numerous showy flowers. Yellow is the color which chiefly prevails in the flowers, 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.
Cakeolarias have been prominent in floriculture since about 1830, the curious appearance of the flowers combining with their beauty to render them attractive, and in no genus is the produc tion of hybrids more easily or frequently effect ed. They are easily propagated by cuttings. Few plants require more liberal supplies of water. They are generally treated in the Unit ed States as half hardy or as greenhouse plants, and only the herbaceous forms are well known. Some of the species arc used in South America for dyeing. The roots of ('alceolurill arachnoidea, which is claimed to be one of the parents of ninny of the hybrids, are largely employed in Chile. under the name of relbuni, for dyeing woolen cloths crimson. For illustration, see GREENHOUSE PLANTS.