A | 88 487 / E x i ' 3 EDWARDS'S n B. BOTANICAL — on, Vi ok * ^ ORNAMENTAL FLOWER-GARDEN A AND SHRUBBERY: CONSISTING OF COLOURED FIGURES OF PLANTS AND SHRUBS, CULTIVATED IN BRITISH GARDENS; ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR EDITED By JOHN LINDLEY, Ph. D. F.R.S. ann L.S. PROFESSOR OF BOTANY «IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, AND THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, VICE-SECRETARY TO THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, &c. &c. $e. NEW SERIES, COMPLETE IN TEN VOLUMES. voL O e MISSOURI | BOTANICAL j GARDEN. LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY.. Le "MDOCCXXXIX. STANHOPEA tigrina. Tiger-flowered Stanhopea. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORcHiDACEx, $ VANDER. STANHOPEA. Bot. Reg. fol. 1529. S. tigrina ; hypochilio subrotundo intus lamellis glandulosis radiato, metachilii comubus falcatis porrectis epichilii tridentati longitudine, sepalis lateralibus maximis subrotundo-oblongis petalis multó latioribus. S. tigrina. Bateman Orchid. Mex. et Guatem. t. 7. The species of Stanhopea are so much alike, except in their flowers, that it is rarely necessary to introduce their organs of vegetation into the description of them. It is in the flowers that their differences are apparent, and especially in the labellum, if colour is disregarded. The present beautiful species is characterised by having the epichilium shallowly 3-lobed, in which respect it corre- sponds with no other hitherto discovered, except S. saccaca, which is extremely different. The inner surface of the hypo- chilium will also be found very remarkable, being broken up into glandular lamelle, which radiate from the base of a kind of ovate tooth which is itself directed towards the cavity they occupy. Fig. 1. represents this structure. The flowers of S. tigrina are larger and handsomer than those of any other known species, even exceeding those of the magnificent S. Devoniensis ; this is sufficiently apparent from the annexed figure, in which nevertheless the colours are by no means so brilliant as in the plate of this plant in Mr. Bateman’s magnificent work on the Orchidacee of Mexico and Guatemala. January, 1839. B For the opportunity of publishing it 1 have to thank Messrs. Rollissons of Tooting, with whom it flowered in August last. Mr: Bateman states that it was originally im- ported from the neighbourhood of Xalapa by Messrs. Lowe and Co. ; and that it is among the easiest of the genus to cultivate. The fragrance of the flowers is very peculiar, resembling a mixture of Melon and Vanilla. If this plant is cultivated in a pot, it must be raised con- siderably above the level of the rim, not only to prevent its suffering from too much water, but also that its flower, which is pendulous, may be seen with advantage. The best method is to hang it up in a basket. The soil should be the same for this as for other orchidaceous plants, but when put into a basket it is found useful to place a little moss (sphagnum) round the soil; this keeps it moist, and the roots seem to thrive in it. The only other circumstance necessary to be noticed is, that it must be kept perfectly dry when not in a growing state; it will be found to push much more vigor- ously when this is attended to. * LEYCESTERÍA formosa. Beautiful Leycesteria. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. CAPRIFOLIACEZX. LEYCESTERIA, Wallich. Calyx 5-partitus, inzqualis, persistens. Corolla regularis, infundibularis, tubo basi hine gibbo. Stamina 5, exserta. Ovarium 5-loculare; loculis omnibus polyspermis. Stigma capitatum. Bacca calyce coronata. L. formosa. Wallich Plant. as. rar. vol. II. p. 21. t. 120. id. in Roxb. Fl. ind. 2. 181. DeCand. prodr. 4. 338. Endl. gen. pl. 558. no. 2335. Folia infericra in surculis robustioribus sepe tripartita vel triloba. “This charming shrub," says Dr. Wallich, “ grows wild on the highest mountains surrounding the valley of Nepal, blossoming from April to October. I have also had it from much more northerly situations towards Gossain Than. . According to my friend Dr. Govan, it is found in abundance at an elevation seldom less than 8000 feet above the plains, among the pine and oak forests of Bishuhur, as at Huttoo, and at Desoo in the Thakooraee of Kioonthul, blossoming from June till August, and called by the natives Nulkuroo.” The stem is said to grow from ten to twelve feet high, from an inch to an inch and a third in diameter. Berries dark purple, approaching to black. Dr. Royle speaks of it as common in Nepal and Kemaon, as well as in ts at elevations of from 6000 to 7000 feet. * So named by Dr. Wallich after his friend William Leycester, Esq. chief judge of the principal native court underthe Bengal Presidency, a zealous friend of horticulture. From the account given of this plant by Dr. Wallich, and from the bright scarlet colour represented in that eminent Botanist's Plante asiatice rariores as belonging to the bracts, it was expected that this would prove a most ornamental addition to our gardens. But it must be confessed that it does not justify that expectation. It has been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society from seeds procured from India by Dr. Royle, and proves to be a hardy evergreen, capable of sustaining the severest cold of last winter withont protection. But its leaves are a pale dull green, it has a rambling inelegant mode of growth, and the colour of the bracts is not at all brighter than what is, represented in the accompanying plate. It appears impatient of dryness, becomes yellow and un- healthy in front of a south wall, but flourishes in an expo- sure to the east or west. It multiplies freely by cuttings or layers, and will probably before long produce its berries. Although not yet so handsome as was anticipated, Leycesteria may become more ornamental as it grows older, and acquires a larger size. The best method of improving the appearance of the plant will be to station it where, with- out being exposed to a very dry atmosphere, it is fully under the influence of light. If grown in the shade it is most likely to be a beautiful object. Fig. 1. shews the appearance of the ovary upon a trans- verse section, with five cells, each containing a similar number of ovules arranged in a double row. Kim 7 quu / b. g T - eorneo, embryone intra basin albuminis cylindraceo. 3 * XEROTES longifolia. Long-leaved Xerotes. DICECIA HEXANDRIA. Nat. ord. JUNCACEZX. XEROTES, R.Br. Flores dioici. Perianthium sexpartitum. Masc. Petala tantum, nunc etiam sepala, basi connata. Stamina 6, perigyna. Fam. Sepala et Petala distincta aut in cyathum carnosum connata. Stamina quasi completa, sed sterilia. Ovarium superum, tristylum, 3-loculare; loculis mono- spermis, ovulis peltatis. Capsula nitida, 3-locularis, 3-sperma, epicarpio ab endocarpio sponté secedente, dehiscentià loculicidà. Semina peltata, albumine Herbe rigide, vultu varie. X. longifolia; acaulis, foliis elongatis linearibus coriaceis strictis apice eroso- dentatis: marginibus scabris (?), paniculis lanceolatis subcoarctatis; ramis oppositis, scapo planiusculo. R. Brown prodr. 262. Lomandra longifolia. Labillard. nov. holl. 1. 92. t. 119. Acaulis. Folia rigida, dura, ensiformia, margine levia, apice truncata et tridentata, Scapus compressus, tenuis, erectus, foliis equalis, paniculatus ; ramis lanceolatis multifloris : Bractese bracteoleque lineares, acuminatissime, rigide, ramulis floribusque longiores. Flores foeminei herbacei, carnosi ; perianthio basi carnoso, bracteolis obtusis imbricatis suffulto. Sepala petalis paulo minora, in serie omnind externá ordinata. Stamina 6, quorum sepalina petalinis paulo inferiüs inseruntur. Ovarium obovatum, 3-loculare ; ovulis carnosis, solitariis, peltatis. Styli 3, approximati, clavati, apice divergentes. Capsula sicca, testacea, ovata, nitida, 3-valvis, loculicido-dehiscens ; epi- carpio cartilagineo separabili reflexo, endocarpio duro ligneo contractili. Semina pallida, oblonga, albumine duro, corneo, embryone cylindraceo intra basin albuminis latente, This plant is a hard, dry, evergreen-leaved, herbaceous plant, exhibiting a state of the Rush-tribe when they assume a state materially different from that of their type. It in- * So named by Dr. Brown, from ¿npoc dry, in allusion I presume to the aridity of the foliage. habits Van Diemen's Land, where it is common in various soils throughout the colony, forming large tufts. Its leaves are quite smooth at the edge, in which respect it differs from the definition of Dr. Brown; yet I presume it must be his X. longifolia, for he says it is a native of Van Diemen’s Land, and I have seen no other species among the rich collections formed in that colony by Mr. Gunn (whose number 336 it is), and others. It is a plant of no beauty ; but its leaves are so hard and tough, that it deserves enquiry whether they will not yield a fibre capable of being advantageously manufactured into cordage. I know nothing which in the unmanufactured state promises better, by the powerful resistance offered to the force employed to break it. In this country it is a half-hardy herbaceous plant, which will grow in any soil and under any circumstances, and would no doubt succeed in the most barren places in a mild country. Why Labillardiere’s name of Lomandra should have been changed to Xerotes I do not know; but as Xerotes itself must certainly be broken up into at least two genera, it is to be hoped that the original name will be retained for this. Fig. 1. is a vertical section of a female flower; 2. is a vertical and 3. a transverse section of the ovary. cadil. g 3 f "wl 0 JAMN. P4 IYI SA 4 * CALANDRINIA discolor. Discoloured Calandrinia. POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. PORTULACACEZE. CALANDRINIA. Bot. Reg. fol. 1194. C. discolor ; caule suffruticoso, foliis carnosis obovatis obtusis in petiolum an- gustatis, racemo cernuo secundo, pedunculis defloratis deflexis, petalis calyce pluriés longioribus. Facies omnino C. grandiflore, qua differt foliis magis obtusis, subtus sæpè dis- coloribus, floribus multó majoribus. A most beautiful plant, introduced from the Berlin Bota- nic Garden in 1835, by the Horticultural Society, and though apparently a half-shrubby plant, capable of being treated with advantage as an annual. In all its habits and in its appearance it much resembles C. grandiflora, but is much handsomer, the flowers being three times as large, and re- maining expanded all day long, whether in sunshine or shade, while those of C. grandiflora open only in the sun- shine. It has probably been published in some continental botanical work, but I have not succeeded in meeting with any account of it. It is a very showy half-hardy species, growing about one and a half or two feet high, in any rich -garden soil, and flowering from the end of June until destroyed by the frost in autumn. The seeds, which are produced in abundance, should be sown about the beginning of March, and treated in the same * See Botanical Register, fol. 1194. manner as those of other half-hardy annuals, that is to say should be raised on heat, and when the plants are large enough they should be potted off into small pots, putting three or four plants into each, and finally they should be planted out, about the end of May, as the least frost destroys them when young, although they will bear a little towards the end of the year. They require to be planted rather thickly in beds, when they will become one of the greatest ornaments of the flower garden; the flowers opening early in the morning and not closing until the afternoon. It may also be raised by sowing the seeds in the open border, about the middle of May, but the plants will be late in flowering, and not so fine as those raised on heat and transplanted. Y fal. e ia ASA COLI ALT La P / $9 ^ Dn. f. IF j v ur 5 BRASAVOLA Martiana. Dr. Von Martius’ Brasavola. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. OncuipAcEz, $ EPIDENDREZ. BRASAVOLA. Bot. Register, fol. 1465. B. Martiana ; labello ovali (aut ovato) acuminato ciliato-dentato sessili; petalis sepalisque lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis longioribus, clinandrio cucullato inciso. Bot. Reg. fol. 1914. in textu. Folia longa, teretia, suprà sulcis tribus exarata, racemo subcorymboso duplo longiora. Pedunculi leves, teretes, sepalis longiores, pone basin fusco- purpureo tincta. Sepala et petala lineari-lanceolata, subequalia, patula. Labellum ovatum aut ovale, acuminatum, fimbriatum, basi luteum ; ungue brevi columne appresso. -Columna apice cucullata, inflexa, fimbriata. This very distinct species of a small but interesting genus, imported from Berbice by Messrs. Loddiges, was originally discovered by Dr. Von Martius on the banks of the Rio Negro in Brazil, and it was from dried specimens in his her- barium that I first described it. B. cucullata and B. amazonica are the only other species yet known with a fringed labellum; the former has much larger flowers, and a lip of an entirely different form; the latter has a one-sided raceme, and a labellum contracted in the middle so as to be distinctly divided into a hypochilium and epichilium. All the Brasavolas yet described by Botanists now exist in this country, with the exception of B. subulifolia, a fine species inhabiting Nevis, with very slender subulate leaves, and the B. amazonica above named. The former might easily be procured; the latter is beyond the reach of ordi- nary travellers, occupying the branches of trees surrounding lake “ Egen,” one of the offsprings of the Amazons. January, 1839. c Fig. 1. represents the column, seen in front, with the fringed clinandrium or anther-bed. This genus seems to delight in a rough and stony soil, not too retentive of moisture. This circumstance should therefore be kept in view when the species are potted or shifted. The soil should consist of rough peat, well mixed with broken bricks or small stones, and the pots must be well drained at the bottom. They do not seem to require so much water as is commonly given to most plants belong- ing to this order, but in other circumstances the treatment should be the same. Some cultivators prefer tying their plants to pieces of wood, and suspending them from the roof of the stove, but upon the whole they can hardly be said to succeed so well under that treatment as in pots, particularly if they have plenty of pot-room. All the species are propa- gated by division of the rhizoma. 7A A ^ f. AT by [Kid way./69 Ferca clilly Febi 1839 — Y o CQ STÁTÍCE arborea. Tree Statice. PENTANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Nat. ord. PLUMBAGINACE/E. STATICE. Bot. Reg. fol. 1450. S. arborea; caule arborescente, foliis ovatis obtusis mucronatis basi angustatis, paniculá composità terminali, ramis panicule alato-ancipitibus. Willd. enum. 1.337. R. $ S. syst. vi. 797. It is hopeless in works of this kind to do justice to the beauty of a plant like this; and I am unfortunately obliged to apologize for the annexed figure being even more imper- fect than it need to be, owing to the want of skill of a new engraver employed to execute it. This is the more vexatious as the drawing which had been prepared was excellent of its kind, and because the plant itself is probably the most strikingly ornamental of all that are in cultivation as green- house plants. At one of those great meetings in the garden of the Horticultural Society, which have given so remarkable an impulse to the art of gardening, there was a specimen of this species, from the nursery of Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co. six feet high, and covered with large clusters of flowers, the brilliancy of whose blue, neither precious stones nor metallic preparations could even approach; for which a gold medal, an unusual mark of distinction, was awarded. The introduction of this noble plant to our gardens is due, I believe, to P. B. Webb, Esq. When Von Buch visited the Canaries he only found it in gardens about Orotava, and he believed it to be extinct in its native places; and in truth it is amongst the most local and rare of all known plants. It is only on a few rocks, called the islets of February, 1839. D Burgado, which seem as if broken off from the coast of Teneriffe by some violent convulsion of nature, carrying with them on their summits a little earth, that this rare plant is found, surrounded on every side by the ocean, (see Webb and Berthellot, vues phytostatiques, t. 8. f. 3.) and only a few yards removed from its surface. The temperature of the climate in which it grows is described as varying between 60° and 86° Fahr., the air being cooled by breezes from N.N.W. and E.N.E.; the sky is seldom overcast, there is little rain, except from November to January, when it falls in heavy showers; the soil is com- posed of volcanic tufa, basalt, scoria, and sheets of lava in a state of decomposition. But although the quantity of rain which falls is small, the air of the islets inhabited by Statice arborea must be constantly moist, in consequence of evapo- ration from the surface of the sea. If I were asked by a person desirous to distinguish him- self as a cultivator of beautiful and uncommon plants, to name some genus, little known, rich in species, with flowers of brilliant and permanent colours, with a foliage unlike the ** quotidiane forme” of every day plants, and at the same time which would require great skill in the management, I should certainly name Statice; and if a Botanist were to make a similar enquiry, his object being to investigate the distinctions of a curious genus, whose species are in great need of illustration, the answer would still be Statice. No one can have walked along the skirts of a salt marsh in England, occupied by our native ‘‘ Sea Lavender," without being struck with the beauty of its flat panicles of gay blue flowers, and yet the Statice Limonium is one of the least attractive of the genus; it is upon the exotic species that the attention of the Horticulturist should be fixed; a short account of a few of the less known kinds will make this more evident. S. tubiflora, a dwarf plant found near Alexan- dria, bears multitudes of round heads of large lilac flowers ; S. egyptiaca, another dwarf plant found in the isthmus of Suez and in other parts of Egypt, has large pallid blossoms ; S. sinuata, from Palestine, has when well grown blue flowers as large as sixpences ; S. emarginata is a beautiful little plant from the cliffs of Gibraltar; S. monopetala is a showy species, growing a foot or two high, near Narbonne, and elsewhere in the basin of the Mediterranean ; S. spicata, with its dense cylindrical heads of small white flowers, is one of the most curious plants found by Colonel Chesney in his expedition to the Euphrates, and inhabits the shores of the Caspian; S. scabra is one of the most interesting of Cape herbaceous plants; and finally Mount Taurus and the Bithynian Olympus are red with the brilliant flowers of the curious little Statices Echinus and acerosa. Of what other European genus, not cultivated, could so much be said ? and the subject is by no means exhausted. The present species is a shrub well adapted for planting in the bed or borders of a conservatory, growing three or four feet high, in an equal mixture of loam and peat and flowering from April to June. It strikes freely from cuttings of the young shoots, whenever such can be obtained. It is best treated as an indoor plant even in summer, as it is injured by a few degrees of frost in winter. ih “yJ Rido way 169 Beca dilly Fel Y] 1839 Y SENECIO cruentus. Blood-red Senecio. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA. ASTERACER (ComPosITE—SENECIONIDEA, DeCandolle). SENECIO. Bot. Reg. t. 1342. S. cruentus; caule herbaceo erecto pilosiusculo, foliis petiolo alato basi auricu- lato limbo cordato angulato denticulato utrinque pilosiusculo subtüs pur- pureo, capitulis corymbosis, pedicellis subbracteolatis, involucri squamis 15-16, ligulis 10-12. DeCand. Prodr. vi. 410. Cineraria aurita. Andr. bot. rep. t. 24, Cineraria cruenta. L’Herit. sert. angl.26. Vent. malm. 99. The many beautiful varieties of Cineraria, as they are miscalled, which render greenhouses so gay in the spring, and which are brought to such a high degree of perfec- tion by Mr. Henderson of Pine Apple Place, are either referable to this species of Senecio, or are produced between it and S. maderensis, (the Cineraria aurita of the gardens). It is now therefore difficult to find a specimen exhibiting the appearance of the species in its natural state, unchanged by culture. 1 am therefore glad to have the opportunity of producing a figure made from a plant raised from seed- collected in Teneriffe by Philip Barker Webb, Esq.; and at the same time of stating to what kind of climate the species is exposed in its native country. e Messrs. Webb and Berthellot, in their valuable account of the Canaries, recognize three principal modifications of climate, the lower, intermediate, and upper. Statice arborea, the subject of the last plate, belongs to the first, the nature of which has been already explained ; Senecio cruentus be- longs to the second. This zone extends from 1500 to 5000 feet above the sea, with a climate varying on the north and south sides of the mountains. It is on the northern side that S. cruentus is found, inhabiting groves of Laurels, Myrica Faya, Arbutus, Heaths, Ilex, and other shrubs, among which the Sweet Chesnut, and downy-leaved Oak are naturalized, and associating with species of Convolvulus, Ranunculus, Rubus, Geraniums, Strawberries, Violets, and similar plants. In these regions the air is moist, the sky is almost always overcast with clouds, especially during the day, while in the summer time fogs and mists are common, and in winter storms and heavy rains; there is no frost, and when snow falls upon the upper limits of the zone it melts immediately. The surface of the country is broken up into valleys and mountains, and the soil, although volcanic, is well covered with mould. How different this is from ordinary notions of the climate of the Canaries I need not say ; it is obvious that if plants from such situations are treated as if they were the natives of an arid and sun-baked land, no success could possibly be obtained. In fact its treatment is that of a green- house plant, loving moderate temperature, and more moisture than usual when growing. It is a half-hardy greenhouse perennial, of easy culture, growing well in any rich garden soil, and well adapted for early forcing, flowering nearly all the year. It is increased either by cuttings made of the young shoots in summer, or by division of the old plants early in the autumn. The cuttings, when rooted on the divisions of the old plants, should be transferred to small pots, and kept shut up close in a cold frame or pit for a week or ten days, shading them if the sun is very strong, and shifting them afterwards, as they require it, into larger pots; no artificial heat is necessary, except to keep out frost during winter. The principal thing to be attended to is the keeping the plants free from the green fly, which may be done by gentle fumigation, for if the fly is once allowed to remain until the leaves begin to curl, it will be impossible to remedy the evil, and the very best plants may be p in a single week by neglecting to smoke them, particularly if artificial heat is used in spring for forcing. ^ p a 3 A 4 $ E 3 : k 1 S Miss Drake ael pd lub by JF agwky 169 Becadilly Feb 1839 8 MAXILLARIA tenuifolia. Slender-leaved Maxillaria. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACE2, S VANDER, MAXILLARIA. Bot. Register, fol. 897. M. tenuifolia ; caulescens, pseudobulbis ovato-oblongis compressis monophyllis squamis longioribus, foliis lineari-lanceolatis acutis recurvis, pedunculis axillaribus solitariis basi squamatis, ovario denudato arcuato, floribus cernuis, sepalis ovato-lanceolatis margine revolutis subequalibus reflexis lateralibus basi subequalibus, petalis ovatis obtusis conniventibus, labello oblongo in- diviso apice ovato reflexo infra apicem utrinque contracto, callo disci oblongo integerrimo. Bot. Reg. sub folio, 1986. A native of Mexico, in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, where it was found by Mr. Theodore Hartweg, an excellent natu- ralist, employed by the Horticultural Society of London, in Mexico, upon a mission which would have already produced most important additions to our gardens, had not his collec- tions been unfortunately detained at Tampico in consequence of the French blockade of that port. The species inhabits trees in Mexico, and probably is local, as it does not appear in any of the collections brought from the interior of the country. It belongs to the first or axillifloral section of the genus, the distinctive character of which is to have caulescent stems, covered with pseudo-bulbs, and having the flowers appearing from the axils of scales covering the stem. These, which are the most genuine form of Maxillaria, are the least beautiful part of the genus, and constitute a perfectly natural group, at first sight very diffe- rent from the kinds which, like M. aromatica, have naked pseudo-bulbs rising immediately from the surface of the earth. But, upon comparing the two sections with each other, it will be found that the only essential difference be- * tween them consists in the one having erect and the other prostrate rhizomata ; the scales, or imperfect leaves, of the axilliflorous section being more developed than in the scapi- gerous species, in consequence of their being more exposed to light. Perhaps the genus should be limited to the species which form the two sections now mentioned, the spathaceous species being excluded, and such as M. Warreana and costata being either formed into a new genus or referred to Peristeria, whose character would then require to be modified ; perhaps also such genera as Bifrenaria and Dicrypta would be better reduced to Maxillaria, with which, if newly limited, they would agree in habit. But these are points upon which it will be more easy to decide when a larger number of species shall have been correctly studied. The present species is [very pretty when in flower, and, from its freshness and greenness when in leaf only, is well worth cultivation, especially as it is one of the easiest to manage. It succeeds in a warm damp stove, in a pot with a block of wood thrust into the soil, and the long branching rhizoma tied to it. It grows almost equally well when tied to a wooden block, and suspended from the rafters of the stove. It bears without injury a quantity of water at its roots, and must also be freely syringed overhead. Amongst orchidaceous plants, none are more easily multiplied, as it throws out numerous pseudo-bulbs and roots, which, if taken carefully off, and subjected to the above treatment, will soon become vigorous growing plants. Ea A A A TON Ris udi AN AAN ES c UD A Ss 9 * GUAIACUM officinale. Common Lignum Vite. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. ZYGOPHYLLACER. GUAIACUM Plumier. Calyx 5-phyllus, insequalis; sepalis obtusis. Petala 5, unguiculata. Stamina 10, nuda. Ovarium 2-5-loculare, stipitatum, ovulis funicolo longo pendulis, rostratis. Stylus 15 stigma simplex. Capsula lignea, 2-5-locularis, angulata, polysperma.. Semina. pendula. Albumen rimu- losum. G. officinale ; foliolis 2-3-jugis obovatis obtusis glabris, ramulis pubescentibus, pedicellis floribus parüm longioribus, ovario biloculari. G. officinale. Linn. sp. pl. 546. Swartz. obs. 168. Macfadyens Flora Jamaic. p.187. Lindley Fl. Med. no. 440. DeCand. prodr. 1. 707. There are few species more worth cultivation than this, which nevertheless is seldom seen, except in curious collec- tions. It isa neat and singular-looking stove plant, with bright light green leaves, and it blossoms regularly about midsummer, producing its brilliant blue flowers in abun- dance. The accompanying figure was made in the garden of the Horticultural Society. . If we were to judge, merely from the technical characters to be found in books, this would not be the species to which the name of G. officinale belongs; but it will be found by any one who will investigate the matter, that there is no little confusion among the few species or supposed species of this genus, and that the characters assigned to them in the writings of systematical Botanists require modification and a better adjustment. Whether or not this species really pro- duces Lignum Vite, as is asserted, may admit of some doubt; for it grows extremely slowly, and it is scarcely to be * Guayac, the American name. February, 1839. E believed that it will form a tree from 40 to 50 feet high, as that of Lignum Vite is reported to be; Dr. Macfadyen indeed expressly states that it does not grow more than 12 feet high. In the Flora of Jamaica of this Botanist, p. 187, is an account of the species, from which the following is an extract :— “ The bark of this tree is thick and smooth, of a greyish colour. The wood is very hard, heavy, so as to sink in water; to the taste slightly bitter, inodorous, (but when ignited giving outa slight fragrant smell). It takes a fine polish, and turns well. It is much used where solidity is an object, such as for ship-blocks, bed-rollers, pestles, &c. The centre of the wood is an obscure green, and is the part which contains the larger proportion of resin: the outer layer or sap is more yellow, lighter, and contains very little of the resin. “ The Gum-resin, known by the name of the Gum Guaiacum, is produced from this tree. It is friable, semi- transparent, of a brownish green, light, and diffuses in burn- ing a somewhat agreeable odour. It has a slight degree of bitterness, and produces a smarting or burning sensation in the fauces. It dissolves entirely in alcohol; and partially in water. Oxalic acid is produced by treating it with nitric acid. It either flowers spontaneously and concretes in tears, or is obtained by incisions. This latter operation is per- formed in May, and the juice, as it flows out, is concreted by the sun: It may also be procured by sawing the wood into billets, and boring a hole longitudinally through them, so that when one end of the billet is laid on the fire, the gum flows readily from the other, and is collected in a calabash or gourd. It may also be obtained by boiling the chips or raspings in salt water, when the gum will separate from the wood and rise to the surface. “ The Spaniards first imported the Guaiacum wood from America into Europe in the year 1508. It had the reputation of being antisyphilitic, and the names holy wood, and the. wood of life, were given to it, and it was in such esteem as to be sold at the rate of seven dollars the pound. It was in the height of its reputation in 1519, in consequence of the cele- brated warrior Van Hutten having been cured by it, after eleven unsuccessful attempts to remove the symptoms he laboured under by means of mercury. This mineral was at that time not administered to the wealthy or great, but the use of it was confined to cases occurring among the com- monalty. Gradually, however, it came to supersede the Guaiacum, so that the latter has, in a great measure, fallen into disuse. It is still, however, considered as a diaphoretic and alterative.” Lignum Vite is the hardest and heaviest wood that is known, its specific gravity being 1.333. It will break like a mineral, and can never be split. The latter property is doubtless owing to the singular manner in which the woody tubes cross each other diagonally, forming a mass so compact as to have no cleavage. Guaiacum officinale is a genuine stove plant, requiring to be grown in a high temperature, with plenty of water to its roots, and showers over its leaves. It succeeds well if potted in a mixture of rich loam and peat, but, like most other stove and greenhouse plants, prefers being planted out. It does not strike freely at all seasons; the best time to take off cuttings is early in the spring, when the plant is beginning to grow. In selecting them, a little of the ripened wood of the present year should be left upon them, which prevents their damping off. They may then be plunged in . bottom heat under a bell-glass, and they will strike root in a few weeks. Of the dissections, fig. 1. represents the estivation of the calyx; 2. the stamens and pistil; 3. a transverse section of the ovary ; 4. a vertical section of the same, with the ovules in their natural position ; and 5. an ovule apart. 7 7 s rake OL al t : D uh & by e ooh wer d 60 L rcadilly Feb :. 1620. R Sco 10 GERANIUM tuberosum ; var. ramosum. Tuberous Geranium, branched variety. DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Nat. ord. GERANIACEZ. GERANIUM. Linneus. G. tuberosum ; radice subglobosa, caule simplici erecto nudo v. medio diphyllo, foliis 5-7-partitis : lobis pinnatifidis ; laciniis passim incisis, cymá terminali patenti trichotoma glanduloso-pilosá, petalis emarginatis, staminibus liberis : filamentis recurvis pilosis alternis majoribus. Flora Greca, t. 659. cum synonymis. Var. ramosum ; caule folioso ramoso, pedunculis sub-geminis sepius axillaribus. This curious Geranium is a hardy herbaceous plant, with fleshy roots the size of a walnut. It is met with in the kingdom of Naples, which seems its most western limit, and it occurs as far to the eastward as the Euphrates, where it was met with in abundance by Col. Chesney. In the fields of Greece and some of the islands of the Archipelago it is common, and it occurs to the north as far as the Crimea. Usually its stem is quite simple, and produces two or three radical leaves, above which it rises to the height of five or six inches, where it forms a pair of opposite leaves, from between which rises the cyme of purple flowers. Such is the state of the plant in my specimens from Smyrna, the Volga, Naples, and the Euphrates; so 1 find it in others dried many years ago in the Cambridge Botanic Garden, and in Sibthorp’s Greek Herbarium, and it is so described by all systematic Botanists. The plant now figured, collected near Potenza by the Hon. W. F. Strangways, is however quite different, branching from its very base like other Geraniums; on which account 1 have thought it desirable to note it as a peculiar variety. This is supposed to be the first sort of Geranium described by Dioscorides, the root of which that author states is sweet and eatable. It is a hardy perennial, growing well in any good rich garden soil, flowering the greater part of summer, and in- creased either in spring or autumn by seeds or division of the roots. Lud e Oy J Ridgway 460 Qr, 4 uad Psd: Z 185 if il EPIDENDRUM variegatum. Variegated Epidendrum. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. Orcuipacez, $ EPIDENDREZ. EPIDENDRUM. Bot. Reg. fol. 17. E. variegatum ; pseudobulbis oblongis compressis 2-3-phyllis, foliis oblongo- lanceolatis obtusis, racemo simplici terminali, sepalis petalisque obovatis ob- tusis coriaceis, labello postico subrotundo acuto: callo baseos concavo emarginato dente columnæ posticá obtusá. E. variegatum. Bot. Mag. t. 3151. E. coriaceum. Jd. t. 3595. a variety. A native of Brazil, whence it has long since been imported, so that it now common in collections of Orchidacez, where it is valued for the delicious fragrance of its flowers, resem- bling nothing so much as Lily of the Valley. The figure now published was made many years ago in the collection of Messrs. Loddiges. In many respects it agrees with E. lancifolium a Mexican, and E. crassilabium a Peruvian species; but it differs from both in having the fleshy tooth, placed at the back of the anther, quite entire, blunt and rounded, not to mention other marks of distinction. Like Æ. fragrans it is very subject to variation, as must be obvious to any one who has remarked the peculiarities of the imported plants, which from time to time flower in collections, scarcely any two of which are exactly alike. Of these one is figured in the Botanical Magazine under the name of Æ. coriaceum. In general the sepals and petals are marked with distinct purple blotches, on a pale green ground ; but sometimes they are richly dotted, and occasionally are cream-coloured, with only a few specks of purple. Iam also disposed to regard as another variety a plant found by M. Descourtilz near Ilha Grande in Brazil, on fallen trees, in the midst of sandy plains, fully exposed to the sun. In this the leaves and pseudo- bulbs are very narrow, and the flowers are a pale dull dirty yellow, with narrow linear-lanceolate segments. It forms t. 67 of Baron Delessert’s unpublished figures of Brazilian Orchidacez. cres ciii > la y de few hee oled! "72/741 Mis Yi MAXILLARÍA vitellina. Yellow racemose Maxillaria. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. > Nat. ord. OrcHIDACEz, $ VANDEZ. MAXILLARIA. Fl. Peruv. M. vitellina ; pseudobulbis ovatis obtusé angulatis monophyllis, foliis lanceolatis in petiolum canaliculatum angustatis, racemo cernuo radicali foliorum lon- gitudine, labelli cuneati trilobi lobis lateralibus acutis anticé crenulatis intermedio bilobo rotundato cordato crenulato, tuberculo disci trilobo obtu- sissimo, ungue pubescente. Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 116. A Brazilian epiphyte, allied to M. racemosa, which differs in having an undivided labellum, a hairy column, and in many other circumstances. M. aureo-fulva, another beautiful plant related to this, and well figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3269, has an acuminate even lip, little differing in form from the sepals „and petals. Itis the “ Epidendre Limodore " of Descourtilz, and was found by that traveller in great abundance upon fallen trees encumbering the sandy plain through which the great public road passes from Bananal to Ilha Grande. The exact locality of this is unknown. It was imported by Messrs. Loddiges, with whom it flowered in June, 1838. It requires the temperature and humidity of the moist stove. After it has perfected its pseudo-bulbs for the season, it should be kept perfectly dry for a considerable length of time; and, if convenient, removed to a cooler house. This will make it grow and flower freely when it is brought back to the moist stove. In all other respects, its treatment should March, 1839. F be the same as is practised with other tropical plants of this very extensive order. Any of the back pseudo-bulbs, such as are represented in the plate, by being taken off will form plants, but the front ones are by far the best. This genus is now so extensive, that it is difficult even for those most familiar with the species to avoid errors in publishing what are supposed to be new ones. I therefore may be permitted to observe, not for the purpose of criti- ~ cizing, but for the sake of preventing, if possible, the incon- venience of multiplying names, that the M. Henchmanni of the Bot. Magazine, t. 3614, is one of the forms of M. varia- bilis. M. pumila of the same work, t. 3613, is so very near M. uncata, that although from the figure it seems different, it is desirable to re-examine it, and I shall be glad to receive it from some of my correspondents. Pura In, GF Bin, AL 4 / Af / O O Of rn; Af SAW YY Y Dou 760 Pucudilly Mut? 7839 ` S. Bs ar 1 13 ALSTROMERÍA Ligtu. The Ligtu. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. AMARYLLIDACEE. ALSTROMERIA. Bot. Reg. vol. 17. p. 1410. A. Ligtu ; foliis lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis glabris apice subcirrhosis, pedun- culis corymbosis subbifloris foliis longioribus, sepalis obovatis emarginatis mucrone interjecto, petalis 2 posticis spathulatis apiculatis. Hemerocallis floribus purpurascentibus striatis vulgó Ligtu. Feuillée obs. 710. €. 4. A.Ligtu. Linn. sp. pl..462. Fl. Peruv. 3. p. 59. Römer et Schultes, 6. 735. Herbert Amaryllid. 92, A. Feuilleana. Meyer in Reliq. Hank. 2. 122. Caulis in spontaneá 1-13-pedalis, adscendens, simplex, in cultá 3-pedalis et ultra. Folia linearia et lineari-lanceolata, alterna, torsione resupinata aut omnind recta, sub corymbo verticillata. Pedunculi corymbosi, sepius biflori, nunc triflori, foliis longiores, medio bracteati. Sepala membranacea, apice patentia, vix serrata, obovata, emarginata vel feré obcordata, mucrone viridi interposito, alba, purpureo pallidissimo suffusa. Petala postica spa- thulata erecta, apiculata, basi alba sanguineo punctata, apice sanguinea, medio lutea sanguineo oblique et interrupte vittata. How the figure of the Ligtu given by Feuillée, barbarous as it is, could have been supposed to represent the Brazilian plant called in gardens Alstromeria Ligtu, which is in fact the A. caryophyllea of Jacquin, it passes my skill to dis- cover. This is a distinctly marked species, the characteristics of which are the long-branched peduncles, and the obovate or obcordate sepals; to which may be added, that the latter are little if at all serrated. A. Ligtu is so named because, according to Feuillée, it is called “ Ligtu” in Chile; dried specimens from that country are not uncommon in herbaria, and the plant pro- bably exists in many gardens, although not distinguished from either A. Pelegrina or pulchra. The former differs in its short, one-flowered, rigid, peduncles; the latter in its shorter flowers, and spathulate rather than obcordate, serrated sepals. The accompanying figure was obtained from a plant in the possession of Charles Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill, in July, 1838. It was exhibited at one of the great meetings in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, where it was conspicuous among many beautiful species for the delicacy of its flowers and their large size. In his elaborate account of Amaryllidacee, Mr. Herbert notices four varieties of this plant. But I conceive that one of them (No. 2.), the A. lineatiflora is more referable to A. pulchra than to Ligtu, if it is not different from both; and another (No. 4.), noticed from dried specimens in my herbarium, to A. Pelegrina. It is not intelligible why those very beautiful flowers should not be more generally cultivated, for surely there is no genus more likely to reward the care of a skilful gar- dener. It would appear however that they are not general favourites, for although the Horticultural Society have en- couraged the growth of them by assigning the genus a separate place in the list of objects for which medals are oftered at their Garden meetings, yet there has at present been little competition. For the information of those who are disposed to turn their attention to the subject, and who have the opportunity of procuring new species from South America, where the most showy species still remain to be introduced, the following extract is taken from Mr. Herbert's excellent work. * Being chiefly natives of alpine situations, these beau- tiful plants require free air, and (with the exception of Caryophyllacea amongst those we possess) very little pro- tection, except from severe frost. A. Hookeri, planted in front of one of my stoves, formed a large patch, the foliage resisting all frost in that situation, and flowered throughout the summer ; but the two last dry summers have greatly re- duced it. "They are very thirsty plants in the season of their growth, and should be abundantly watered in dry weather at that time.” “A. psittacina, as well as heemantha and aurantiaca, flowers well in the open ground, if covered with straw or a thick coat of leaves in the winter. The soil should be light, and the tubers set pretty deep; and any heading that would throw the wet off in the winter will be found advantageous. It is absolutely necessary to pick the slugs off the border, which will otherwise devour every shoot at its first appear- ance above ground ; and it will be found advantageous to cover the bed in the spring with dry sawdust, which the slugs do not like to crawl over, and will keep moisture in the ground. A top covering of peat is also disagreeable to slugs, which I find very troublesome in biting the flower- stalks of Gladioli on sandy loam, but they rarely do so on a border of black earth.” 4 El ü SETS 14 * HUNTLEYA Meleagris. Speckled Huntleya. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. OncHIDACER, $ VANDER. HUNTLEYA. Bot. Reg. fol. 1991 in textu. H. Meleagris ; sepalis petalisque ovatis acuminatis tessellatis, labello subcon- formi unguiculato concavo cristà baseos fimbriatá, columns cucullo crenato. Huntleya Meleagris. Bot. Reg. l. c. 1838. misc. no. 20. This is at present one of the rarest of the epiphytes in cultivation, the only specimen I have seen being that now figured, which flowered with Messrs. Rollissons in July, 1838. Its blossoms are much yellower and less tessellated with purple than in the Brazilian drawing from which the species was first described, and it is not improbable that it will be found to vary in this respect. The whole surface of the flowers had quite the appearance of being glazed. The following is M. Descourtilz's account of the plant, a little reduced from his manuscript in M. Delessert's copy. Rootstock as thick as the little finger, green, cylindrical, with white rootlets on the under-side. Leaves alternate, in two opposite rows, forming a very much compressed fan ; above they are bright green and smooth, beneath they are bluish green, with paler and projecting longitudinal veins. These leaves are a foot or more long, and about an inch wide ;. from the axil of the lowest of them rises a cylindrical pale green peduncle, with two opposite bracts near the middle. The flower is large, terminal, solitary, having five petals, broad at the base, with a white claw, and a claret-coloured ground on the inside, which is sometimes speckled with i * So called by Mr. Bateman, in compliment to the Rev. Mr. Huntley, a zealous collector of rare plants. greenish pink, and always marked by longitudinal lines connected by other transverse ones, which thus form nume- rous elevations, and make the flower look like a draught- board. The two lower sepals have their inner edge at the base rolled inwards like a horn. The /abellum is triangular, tongue-shaped, of a pure ivory white, bordered with deep purple, and nerved with a deeper tint. Its edges are turned downwards, and it is attached to the base of the column by a narrow white claw. At the origin of the claw is a crescent- shaped plate, hollowed out at its upper edge, and fringed with long stiff white hairs, which furrow downwards all the part that supports them. This charming plant is found in gloomy damp woods on the banks of the Rio de Pirapitinga, in the district of Bananal. It is scentless, and flowers in June. Mr. Rollisson assures me that he received his specimen from the same country as that which produced the Zygo- petalon cochleare, figured in this work, plate 1857; if so, I must have been misinformed as to Trinidad being the native country of the latter. I am the more disposed to believe that such was really the fact, because I find a drawing, of what is e! a luxuriant specimen of Z. cochleare, among M. Descourtilz's collection, gathered in Brazil, on the high mountains separating the province of St. Paul's from that of Minas Geraes, and known by the name of the Manti- queiras, where it flowers in the hottest season. It thrives very well in the orchideous-house at Tooting» where the atmosphere is kept saturated with moisture, and the temperature is in winter from 60° to 70° Fahr., and in summer from 70° to 90°. The house is of course well shaded from the bright rays of the summer’s sun. Like other kinds of orchidaceous plants with thick fleshy roots, this requires a considerable quantity of water, and should be freely syringed. It is grown ina pot, but would probably succeed quite as well if hung up, as the greater part of those with fleshy roots do much better in that way. It is propagated by taking off the young shoots, which it sends out rather slowly. Miss Drake ddt ePub de Y JS. Fidgway 109 Piccadilly. Mancha TEIG. Go atela pi 15 DIANTHUS ferrugineus. Yellow Pink. DECANDRIA DIGYNIA. Nat. ord. SILENACER. DIANTHUS. Bot. Reg. vol. 18. fol. 1548. D. ferrugineus; herbaceus, floribus aggregatis, bracteis spinescentibus squarrosis propriis calyce brevioribus, petalis flavis cuneatis dentatis, foliis linearibus margine leevibus basi longè connatis. D. ferrugineus. Linn. mantiss.: 563. DeCand. prodr. 1. 356. Tenore Sylloge 207. Among the many beautiful species of Dianthus which the lovers of hardy herbaceous plants possess, that now figured is one of the rarest and most remarkable, on account of its flowers being of a clear pale yellow, instead of white or pink as is more usual. It is nearly allied to D. carthusianorum, from which it differs in the squarrose character of its bracts, and its smooth edge leaves, as well as in the colour of the petals. Whether it is to their intermixture with this, or the little knowh D. ochroleucus of the Levant, that some of the more precious varieties of Piccotees and Carnations owe their yellow, is unknown; this is, however, so rare a colour in the genus, that the effect has probably been produced by either one or the other. The specimen figured was given me by Henry Fox Talbot, Esq. Its seeds were brought from the Botanic Garden, Florence, by the Hon. W. F. Strangways. This is a delicate but very neat hardy perennial, growing from twelve to eighteen inches high, in any light rich soil and rather dry situation, flowering about July or August. It may be increased either by seeds sown in the spring, or by pipings in autumn; but, like Dianthus Libanotis, it suffers very much, and is often entirely destroyed, if not protected from the wet in autumn and winter by a hand- glass. It is a native of Calabria, the Abruzzi, and other parts of - the kingdom of Naples; and also it is said of the Apennines. Misa Drake’ at? Pub hy E Tee 7 0 Y . Piccadilly Marchi, 1 OF Y Garda IC A A 16 ONCIDIUM luridum ; var. guttatum. Mr. Boyd's Oncidium. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEA, $ VANDEA. ONCIDIUM. . Swartz. ` O, luridum. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 201. B guttatum ; sepalis petalisque luteis sanguineo-maculatis. Epidendrum guttatum. Linn. sp. pl. 1351. Cymbidium guttatum. Willd. sp. pl. 4. 102. Oncidium Boydii. hort. That this is the long lost Epidendrum guttatum of Linneus, a Jamaica plant, unknown to Swartz, who so carefully in- vestigated the Botany and especially the Orchidaceous plants of the island, I do not doubt. The name luridum ought therefore in strictness to be abolished ; but that of guttatum applies so generally to the whole genus, that there would be more inconvenience than advantage in the measure. It was imported from Jamaica by Messrs. Rollissons, to whom I am obliged for the specimen from which the figure has been taken. Certainly, O. Lanceanum and Forbesii alone excepted, this is the most beautiful plant of the genus yet in our gardens; the richness of its colours, the profusion of its flowers, and its stately growth, for it is from three to four feet high, would even make it doubtful whether it does not rival the former species, only it wants the aromatic odour. In structuré it differs nothing from O. luridum, so far as I can ascertain. It requires to be cultivated in the orchidaceous-house or moist stove, either suspended from the roof, or elevated above March, 1839. G the surface of the pot. It should be placed in the warmest part of the stove, and its roots in particular freely syringed. The soil should be turfy peat, kept open with broken bricks or pots, to allow a free passage for the water. Water must be given more freely at certain seasons than at others ; but it does not require such a long period of rest as Catasetums and plants of that kind, and therefore may be kept almost continually growing. It is multiplied by division, the front shoots making the best plants. So little is correctly known concerning the native habits of the great order of Orchidaceous epiphytes, that 1 gladly avail myself of a vacant space to give the following localities of some other Oncidiums, as stated by M. Descourtilz in his MSS. Oncidium ciliatum. Flowers in September, in low woods, sur- rounding the table-land (plateaux) of the neighbourhood of Bananal. Oncidium iridifolium. Found in Brazil, exclusively on branches of the Orange and Lemon, flowering in April. The fruit is large, and has six large transparent wings. Very common in the province of St. Paul's, about the town of Bom Jesus de Bananal, choosing in preference dry places exposed to the sun. Oncidium pubes. Thin forests, surrounding the table-land near Bom Jesus de Bananal, flowering in the month of May. Oncidium | divaricatum. Trunks of the highest trees, in elevated mountains of the Serra das Argoas in the district of Ilha Grande, flowering in February. Mh Ay oF FLAG ay 160 Peccnuda AKE 17 MAXILLARIA stapelioides. Stapelia-like Maxillaria. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORcHIDACE E, $ VANDER. MAXILLARIA. Fl. Peruv. M. stapelioides ; pseudobulbis ovatis tetragonis 1-2-phyllis, foliis tenuibus lan- ceolatis patentibus pallidé glaucis reticulatis, pedunculo diffuso bifloro, sepalis petalisque subrotundo-ovatis acutis patulis subequalibus, labello ob- longo trilobo : laciniis lateralibus erectis linearibus obliquis obtusis inter- mediá ovato-oblongá basi cucullatá, cristá transversá flexuosá carnosá intús dente carnoso ovato auctá. M. stapelioides. Lind. et Otto abbild. 111.t.52. Gen. et Sp. orch. 146. This is one of the Brazilian Maxillarias, whose pseudo- bulbous habit separates them in appearance so widely from the caulescent species upon which the genus was originally founded. For remarks upon this point, the reader is referred to plate 8 of the present volume. The species whose singular speckled flowers have sug- gested the comparison with a Stapelia, inhabits the Organ Mountains, where it was found by Mr. Gardner, (No. 651); but it was long before obtained from Brazil by the director of the Berlin Garden, by whom it was named. It is now common in collections, where it is at once recognized by its pallid glaucous thin leaves, which look as if suffering under the attack of red spider. It is one of the most easy species to cultivate. Brazil will doubtless be found to contain many such plants. M. Rollissoni (Bot. Reg. 1838, t. 40) is one, and a plant called by Descourtilz * Epidendre Jonquille,” because ` of its colour not its smell, for it is scentless, is another. This was also found in the Organ Mountains by Mr. Gardner, from whom I have a specimen (No. 652), and as it is pro- bably already in this country, it may as well be named and characterized. Theunpublished name of Jonquil is so likely to lead to misconception, that 1 make no excuse for changing it to M. xanthina; pseudobulbis ovalibus tetragonis 1-2-phyllis, foliis angusté lan- ceolatis, pedunculis ascendentibus unifloris pedicello sterili terminatis, bracteá ovatá mucronatá cucullatá, sepalis petalisque oblongis acutis patu- lis subequalibus, labello oblongo trilobo laciniis lateralibus erectis linearibus obtusissimis integris intermediá bilabiatá : labio superiore carnoso abbreviato truncato 5-dentato inferiore oblongo acuto. This is very different from both M. aromatica and Rollissonú. M. Descourtilz found it on the high mountains of Ilha Grande, on the side towards the sea, and exposed to the rising sun. He does not say whether it occurs on trees or on the ground. ARE Cbd,” Pu lp Z 1. E m " eS Bruta ar AULA. CLEA Di Ly I Kilyuny V Piccasity Apt f 1039 G Aud) 18 * HOYÁ coriacea. T'hick-leaved Hoya. ` PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. Nat. ord. ASCLEPIADACER. HOYA. R. Br. Corolla rotata, 5-fida. Corona staminea 5-phylla, foliolis depressis patentibus carnosis, angulo interiore producto in dentem an- there incumbentem. Anthere membraná terminate. Masse pollinis basi affixe, conniventes, compresse. Stigma muticum, vel subapiculatum. Folliculi leves. Semina comosa. Frutices aut suffrutices, volubiles, scandentes, aut decumbentes. Folia opposita, carnosa v. membranacea. Umbellæ late- rales, multiflore. Wight Contributions to the Botany of India, p. 35. ` H. coriacea ; foliis subvenosis ovalibus acutis v. acuminatis coriaceis glabris, corolla intús sericeà. Blume Bijdr. 1063? Suffrutex. Caulis teres, glaber. Folia glabra, subcoriacea, ovalia, acuta, venosa nec nervata, suprà atroviridia, infra pallida. Umbellæ mul- tiflore, pedunculate, pendule, axillares ; pedicellis glabris; bracteis minutis, squameformibus, tomentosis involucrate. Flores albidi; corolla rotatá, reflexá, intus pubescente, basi tomentosá, laciniis linearibus acuminatis. Corona staminea glaberrima ; foliolis utrinque acuminatis. Anthere oblonge, obtuse, membraná brevi bidentatá terminate. Pollinia erecta, glandulá simplici exsulcá. A very pretty stove plant, sent by Mr. Cuming to Messrs. Loddiges, from Manilla; it flowered for the first time in August 1838. The genus Hoya is a large one, the species of which abound in the southern parts of India, and are but imper- fectly known to Botanists. Dr. Wight mentions twenty as found in Hindostan and the neighbouring islands ; to which Dr. Blume adds nine more. The characters of the latter are so very short that it is impossible to ascertain, in the * Named in compliment to Mr. James Hoy, for many years the Botanical Gardener to the Duke of Northumberland at Syon House. April, 1839. H absence of authentic specimens, whether a plant correspond- ing with those characters is really the one intended ; for dis- tinctions expressed in such brief terms may apply to several different species and not be peculiar to one only. For this reason I am in doubt whether the plant now figured is really the H. coriacea, although I perceive no difference between it and Dr. Blume’s definition of that species. It is to be hoped that this and all such points will be settled by M. Decaisne, who, fortunately for science, has undertaken the elaboration of the natural order Asclepiadacez for DeCan- dolle’s Prodromus. Fig. 1. represents an anther viewed from the inside; and fig. 2. a pair of pollen-masses adhering to their common gland. This curious species seems to be nearly parasitical in its habits. Messrs. Loddiges grow it in the Orchideous house, on the block of wood upon which it was imported,—this is placed in a pot, and surrounded with soil. It will grow in any light soil, the chief thing in its cultivation being a warm and moist atmosphere. It does not send out roots from its stem like the other species, and is found at present rather difficult to propagate. However, there is little doubt of its being multiplied with a little patience either by cuttings or layers. en 19 EPACRÍS impressa ; var. parviflora. Small-flowered Pitted Epacris. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. EPACRIDACER. EPACRIS. Bot. Reg. vol. 18. fol. 1531. E. impressa; ramulis pubescentibus, foliis sessilibus ovatis acuminatis pungen- tibus margine scabriusculis subtus obsoleté nervosis, floribus axillaribus soli- tariis pendulis subsessilibus, sepalis acutis margine lanulosis, corollà cylin- draceá rectá basi foveatá. E. impressa. Lab. nov. holl. 1. 43. t. 58. R. Brown prodr. 407. Sweet fi. australas. t. 4. Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 1691. Bot. Mag. t. 3407. B. parviflora ; foliis acutissimis pungentibus margine scabris, corollæ atro-rosez tubo cylindraceo limbi laciniis acutissimis, The supposed species of Epacris from Van Diemen's Land are so very difficult to limit, that it is not improbable that many of them are mere varieties of each other. It must be obvious enough to any one who is acquainted with them in gardens, that the same parcel of wild seeds yields strikingly different individuals ; and this is confes to what occurs in their native haunts. Mr. Gunn, whose accurate observations are invaluable as regards the Botany of Van Diemen's Land, and who has studied these plants with considerable attention, has lately sent over numerous wild specimens of what he regards as one species, concerning which he observes, that ‘‘ the colours vary from a deep red, through all the paler shades of blush, to pure white, so that colour constitutes no distinction ; size is as variable." He distinguishes four chief varieties, viz. 1. red flowering, tall; 2. red flowering, dwarf ; 3. white flowering, tall; 4. white flowering, dwarf; in addition to which many others might be named. That which is now figured was sent from New Holland to his house at York by Mr. James Backhouse, under the name of E. ruscifolia ; but that species, as defined by Dr. Brown, has stalked leaves, and it is to be inferred, from the way in which the definition in the Prodromus is constructed, that it has pedunculate flowers. The latter circumstance 1s so variable, that no importance can be attached to it; the former appears more stable; but in the absence of authen- tically named specimens, it is impossible to form a correct opinion as to whether Æ. ruscifolia is, or is not, one of the varieties of E. impressa. The plant now figured is certainly nothing more. The natural season for flowering, for these plants, is our winter; they begin to blossom in August, and are not out of flower before the following March. For this reason they are so particularly well suited for the ornament of green- houses in the winter; and those who wish to possess an abundance of flowers at that season, will find it in general less difficult to obtain them from these natives of the anti- podes than from the species inhabiting the northern hemi- sphere, which can only be brought into bloom by great skill in the art of forcing. Cuttings of this species should be taken off in the early part of spring, inserted in silver sand, and placed under a bell-glass. "They should then be put upon a cool shelf or frame, and allowed to remain there until they begin to root. They may then be potted off in very sandy peat, and shaded for a few days from bright sunshine. The treatment in the greenhouse should be precisely the same as is practised with other well-known species. Like the Cape heaths this is easily injured by neglecting to give it a supply of water, or by removing it carelessly from one place to another. "9 Ly r J 04 ACCOL 20 L4 DENDROBIUM aureum; var. pallidum. Golden-flowered Dendrobium ; pale variety. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACE£, $ MALAXIDE£. DENDROBIUM. Bot. Reg. vol. 7. fol. 548. D. aureum ; caulibus teretibus clavatis internodiis brevibus, foliis lineari-oblongis apice obliquis emarginatis, pedunculis subbifloris aggregatis lateralibus, se- palis lineari-ovatis acuminatis obtusis, petalis latioribus ovatis acutis undu- latis, labello ovali undulato obtusiusculo indiviso medio serrulato per axim pubescente. D. aureum. Gen. $ Sp. Orch. p.78. A native of Ceylon, where it was first found by Mr. Macrae growing upon trees, near Nuera Ellia, flowering in January. It has since been frequently imported, and is occasionally seen in the collections of this country. The accompanying drawing was made in the Nursery of the Messrs. Loddiges, in March 1838. The species varies with pale yellow and white flowers, the latter being what is here represented. In both varieties the fragrance is remarkable, forming a something interme- diate between violets and primroses. The materials from which it was first described were very imperfect, and consequently various alterations and emendations in the specific character have become necessary, and are now made. The magnified figure represents the labellum seen from the inside. It is propagated in the same way, and requires precisely the same treatment as D. crumenatum, described at t. 22 of this volume. The side shoot with the roots represented in the figure, if taken carefully off, would make an excellent plant. | il i E FGD, j T » 2 P 2. * 1091 Mf y A dou" — Jed Piccoli Ay 1 1830 21 PENTSTEMON barbatum ; var. carneum. Flesh-coloured bearded Pentstemon. DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. Nat. ord. SCROPHULARIACER. PENTSTEMON. Bot. Reg. vol. 13. fol. 1121. P. barbatum ; glaucum, foliis integerrimis radicalibus spathulatis petiolatis acutis caulinis sessilibus lanceolatis, floribus pendulis paniculatis, labio inferiore corolle barbato revoluto tripartito. a. foliis latioribus radicalibus magis spathulatis corollis coccineis. Chelone barbata. Cavan. ic. UI. 22, t. 242. Bot. Register, vol. 2. fol. 116. B. foliis angustioribus longioribus, corollis carneis. In a fresh state this pretty Mexican plant looks unlike the old Pentstemon barbatum; the colour of its flowers, especially, and its long narrow leaves giving it a peculiar aspect. Upon being dried, however, which is one of the great tests of species, its distinctions disappear for the most part, and it is no longer separable from its original type. It was raised from seed presented to the Horticultural Society by George Frederick Dickson, Esq. and is a hardy perennial, only suffering from excess of moisture during winter, growing from two to three feet high, in any rich garden soil, and flowering in July and August. It is increased readily by cuttings, in the autumn, or by seeds, which should be sown in pots, as soon as they are ripe, and protected from the wet in winter. The seeds will not vegetate before the spring, and as the old plants become exhausted in flowering, and are very subject to damp off in winter, it is best to raise young plants from cuttings every autumn, and also to protect the old ones with a hand-glass during winter. It may appear necessary to offer some explanation of having changed the name of this plant from Chelone to Pentstemon. These two genera have been divided by the former having woolly anthers, and the latter smooth ones ; and supposing that this were really the essential distinction between them, the subject of this notice would belong to , Pentstemon. Others have distinguished the genera by the form of the flower, ascribing to Chelone a corolla short, inflated, and contracted at the orifice, with winged seeds; and to Pentstemon a funnel-shaped corolla, with angular seeds; in this view of the subject the latter would still be the station of the present species. It is only when the genera Chelone and Pentstemon are merged into one, in which case the former name supersedes the latter, that Chelone can be the proper appellation of our plant; and this combination is, it is needless to say, any thing rather than a judicious one. I therefore agree with Mr. Bentham (Scrophulariacee indice, p.7.) in striking out of the genus Chelone all the plants hitherto referred to it, with the exception of C. Lyonit, glabra, obliqua, and nemorosa, and in placing all the others in Pentstemon. A Ñ D 7 hf) . s VAR y, E ^0 3^ O Ñ EE EA ¡Duake deb” — f by y Rider 149 7 ¿eco vu 7 1830) S. DAY él 22 DENDROBIUM crumenatum. Sweet Club-stemmed Dendrobium. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACE®, $ MALAXIDEZ. DENDROBIUM. Bot. Register, vol. 7. fol. 548. D. crumenatum ; caulibus cespitosis erectis basi incrassatis teretibus, foliis ovato- oblongis obtusis emarginatis, racemo terminali (3-5) multifloro, sepalis pe- .talisque ovatis acuminatis subundulatis conformibus, labello cucullato tri- lobo: lobis lateralibus truncatis intermedio ovato acuto, disco lamellato. Angrecum crumenatum. Rumph. herb. amb. VI. 105. t. 47. y: 9. Onychium crumenatum. Blum. Bijdr. p. 326. Dendrobium erumenatum. Swartz. Willd. sp. pl. no. 20. Hort. Trans. VII. p.70. Gen. et Sp. orch. p. 88. A native of various parts of the Indian Archipelago, where it inhabits the branches of trees: this species has long been known to Botanists from the figure given by Rumphius, and by specimens which travellers, attracted by its delicious perfume, have from time to time sent to Europe. Dr. Blume found it in Java, near Batavia, and on the coast of the little island of Nusa Kambanga ; and the late Sir Stamford Raffles met with it in Sumatra. Rumphius gives no locality for it, referring from the body of his work to a description in the Appendix or Auctuarium, where, how- ever, nothing is to be found except a back reference to the body of the work ; it is doubtless however an inhabitant of Amboyna. The specimen now figured was sent by Mr. Nightingale from Ceylon to his Grace the Duke of Northum- berland, in whose collection at Syon it flowered in August 1837. According to Blume it varies with white and pink flowers, and with leaves more or less oblong and coriaceous. It is one April, 1839. I of the easiest of the genus to manage, and well repays the cultivator for the trouble he bestows upon it. Why it is called crumenatum, (literally purse-shaped) I am unable to state. Rumphius, with whom the name origi- nated, gives no explanation; but in one place he calls it A. crumenatum, and in another Angrecum angustis crumenis. Fig. 1. represents a side view of the labellum; 2. the column, and 3. the pollen-masses. The species is easily multiplied by taking side shoots from the old plant; sometimes young shoots will grow from the stem instead of flowers ; these, if taken off carefully and laid upon warm damp moss, will, in a short time, make excellent plants, Its cultivation is simple. It belongs to that class of plants which have a period of growth and a period of rest. All that is requisite, is the temperature of the stove, and a plentiful supply of water during the growing season. When this season is past, the plant should be removed to a cooler house, or at least to the coolest part of the house, and kept perfectly dry, when its wood will harden, it will lose its leaves, and form its flower-buds, lt may afterwards be brought into the warmest part of the stove, when the result will be a profusion of flowers. 4 y ; en o bf : Ms Idee del.” Rf hy 4 y Vd giu / 69 Prccaelilly Án vil Y 7639 de ony i 23 SALVIA patens. Large Blue Mexican Sage. — ——— DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LaMIACEZ, or LABIATA. SALVIA. Bot. Register, vol. 18. fol. 1554. $ 7. LonGIrLORA, ceruleee. Bentham lab. 276. S. patens ; radice tuberosá, foliis cordatis aut hastatis ovato-oblongis suprà pi- losis subtus pubescentibus floralibus lanceolato-linearibus, verticillastris re- motis subbifloris, floribus maximis, galeá falcatá, labelli trilobi lobis lateralibus minutis acutis intermedio transverso concavo subangulato emarginato. S. patens. Cav. ic. V. 33. t. 454. Bentham Labiat. 295. Id. in hort. trans. ^. s. 11. 222. t. X. S. spectabilis. H. B. K. n. g. sp. pl. II. 304. Of this, the finest of the genus, a beautiful figure has been published in the last part of «the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, together with an account of it by Mr. Bentham. Instead of referring to that account I avail myself of a manuscript communication upon the subject, for which I am indebted to my excellent correspondent Mr. W. B. Booth, of whose drawing the annexed is a copy. Specimens were sent me last autumn by Mr. Rogers of Southampton, Messrs. Lowe and Co. of Clapton, and Mr. Pontey of Plymouth. T My knowledge of this handsome species of Salvia was first derived from a plant exhibited at the Meeting of the Cornwall Horticultural Society at Truro, in July, 1838, by John Penberthy Magor, Esq. of Penventon, near Redruth, to whom lam indebted for the specimens from which the accompanying figure and description were taken. It is a native of Mexico, from whence roots of it, in a dried state, were forwarded to this country in the spring of 1838, one of which shortly afterwards produced its magnificent flowers in Mr. Magor's garden, and has continued to do so in an airy greenhouse ever since. It is one of the largest blue flowering kinds yet introduced, and is a valuable addition to the splendid assortment of Mexican Salvias which we already possess. * Hoot perennial, fasciculated, fleshy and fibrous, very much resembling that of an Alstromeria, and in this respect differing from most other Salvias with which I am ac- quainted. The old tubers decay after planting, and are succeeded by new ones, which are long and slender, and of a pale brown colour. Stems shrubby, upright and much branched, from two and a half to three feet high, but pro- bably larger when grown in the open border. Leaves three- lobed, or more probably hastate, rounded at the base, with obtuse points, and finely serrated at the edges. Those of the stem have channelled hairy footstalks, from two and a half - to three inches long, and are besides much larger than the rest, usually measuring about four inches in length, and nearly the same from the point of one lobe across to the other. The smaller leaves have short footstalks, and are narrow in proportion to their length; the latter varies from two to two inches and a half, while they are only about one inch and a half in breadth. All of them are of a deep green, strongly reticulated, and densely clothed with soft hairy pubescence. Bracts linear-lanceolate, three-nerved, and about an inch long. Pedicels scarcely half the length of the bracteas, round, and of a paler green than the leaves. Calyx somewhat campanulate, two-lipped, both of them acu- minate, and tinged with brown at the point. The upper lip is larger and rather longer than the lower one, which is bifid. The Flowers are produced in loose, erect, terminal spikes, containing upwards of sixteen on each. They are large and handsome, of a deep purplish blue, and come in pairs at each joint. The upper lip, which extends horizontally, is much arched and compressed. It measures about two inches in length, from the calyx to the point, and its breadth in the middle of the arch, from which it diminishes both ways, is about half an inch. The edges are a pale blue. The lower lip is three-lobed, and hangs nearly at right angles with the upper, which it exceeds a little in length. The middle lobe is the largest, and measures one inch and a quarter across. It is round and spreading, somewhat undulated at the margin, and notched in the middle. The lateral lobes are revolute at the edges, and about an inch in length. The opening of the throat is marked by three small white stripes on each side. Stamens filiform, curved, and together with the style, which is rather longer and more slender, concealed by the upper lip. At the base they are slightly gibbous, and unite into a small spathulate process, which projects a little below the junction with the two bodies that attaches them to the lip. Ovarium four-lobed, containing one erect seed in each, and enclosed by the calyx, which contracts at the mouth after the flowers drop. _ “The plant, perhaps, is seen to most advantage when cul- tivated in the greenhouse, its large blue flowers being liable to be "e by high winds, if exposed in the open border; although, like the other Salvias, it will grow in any rich garden soil. It increases easily from cuttings, or by seeds, which are freely produced. In the course of a short time it will no doubt become common." ; + E uo 4 a a e ^a x N ru. CAR EA WC A O IR Y EYES ME TUNES ER T ING o cad A AO x “oh ~ Ņ 24 ECHINOCACTUS Scopa. The Broom Cactus. fi QUERIA ERE ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Nat. ord. CACTACER. ECHINOCACTUS. DeCand. Prodr. 3. 461. Revue des Cactées, p. 35. E. Scopa ; caule oblongo multicostato, fasciculis spinarum approximatis basi lana- tis, subulis extimis 30 40-debilibus albis centralibus 3-4 purpurascentibus rigidis, petalis biseriatis luteis apice serratis. Cactus Scopa. Link enum. plant. hort. berol. ii. 21. Cereus Scopa. Princeps Salm- Dyck in DeCand. prodr. iii. 464. Echinocactus Scopa. Hort. Berol. fide Pfeiffer Cact. p. 66. A native of Brazil, whence it was many years since sent to Prussia, and thence distributed through other parts of Europe. It derives its name of the Broom Cactus from having the hairs of its stem so long and stiff as to resemble that instrument. Dr. Pfeiffer mentions two varieties, one with all the hairs white, the other with the central ones purple, as in the accompanying figure. The latter was taken from a specimen which flowered in the valuable collection of Thomas Harris, Esq. of Kingsbury. Some explanation of my having placed this plant and the two species formerly represented in this work, in the same genus, seems to be required. After eliminating the Melo- cacti because of their producing their flowers in the woolly receptacle peculiar to those plants, the Mammillarias on account of their tubercles not being confluent into ridges, and the Opuntias because of their rotate flowers and leafy spiny sepals, there remains a considerable number of species formerly included under the old genus Cactus, which modern writers have divided between the two genera Cereus and Echinocactus. Now this partition may be effected in two May, 1839. K ^ ways ; either the whole of the species with ribbed, and round or oblong stems may be placed in Echinocactus, and the rest in Cereus, without regard to the flowers; or all the long flowered species may be placed in Cereus, and those with short flowers in Echinocactus, without regard to habit. In either case there are difficulties, for there are species whose flowers are intermediate between the long-tubed and short- tubed forms, and others whose stems are intermediate between the round and the cylindrical, or flattened or long condition. On this account itseems to me better to take the stem as the distinctive character, because it is the most obvious, unless it should be thought better to combine Echinocactus and Cereus into one genus, REA E Ci iE CAE a FS re dic X The seeds should be sown in silver-sand and very slightly | covered ; they should then be placed in a dry bottom heat and covered with a bell-glass. The young plants should be potted in pots of the smallest size, well drained, and chiefly in sand. Afterwards the soil used should never be too rich, and well mixed with broken stones or bricks. The plant may be preserved in a cool dry house where the temperature 1$ very low, but a slight bottom heat in the growing season ÀJ will always be found to suit it best. z E It seldom sends out shoots from its sides, and therefore it- - is difficult to obtain cuttings; but where propagation is of more consequence than a specimen plant, it should be cut across, when the top part will form one plant, and the bottom will send out shoots from the sides of the cut. Cuttings Should be treated precisely in the same way as seedlings. | UUE Cel Si Vy — Kicloiray 100 Ficcion Mes Z f 830 25 * MATTHIOLA odoratissima. ¡Sweetest Evening Stock. TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSA. Nat. ord. BRASSICACER, or CRUCIFERZ. * MATTHIOLA. R. Brown. Calyx erectus, basi bisaccatus. — Petala unguiculata, limbo patente obovato aut oblongo. Stamina libera, edentula, longiora subdilatata. Siliqua teres vel compressa. elongata, bilocularis, bivalvis, stigmate connivente bilobo, lobis dorso vel incrassatis vel cornigeris. Semina compressa, l-serialia, sepiús marginata. Cotyledones plane, accumbentes. DeCand. syst. veg. 2. 162. S LUPERIA. Petalorum lamine oblonge, undulate aut oblique, sordide e flavo purpu- rascentes. Silique apice non tricuspidate, stigmatum dorsis crassis gibbisve non verd in cornua excrescentibus. DC. l. c. M. odoratissima ; caule erecto ramoso, foliis tomentosis pubescentibusve dentatis pinnatifidisve, siliquis compressis puberulis. DC. l. c. M. odoratissima. Brown in hort. Kew. 4. 120. Bot. mag. t. 1711. Hesperis odoratissima. Poir. suppl. iii. 195. Cheiranthus odoratissimus. Bieb. fl. taur. cauc. 2. 192. suppl. 444. This is one of the many interesting plants which have ceased to be cultivated, and have resigned their place to newer species. It is one of those Stocks which DeCandolle called Luperie, or sad coloured, because their flowers have ih all cases a dull heavy appearance, in consequence of the mixture of purple and yellow in the petals, but which in general possess the curious property of becoming deliciously fragrant towards evening. In a wild state this plant inhabits the calcareous moun- tains of the Crimea, stony places of the eastern Caucasus, . * Named after Peter Andrew Matthioli, the laborious commentator upon Dioscorides. and the rocky ground about Tiflis in Iberia, and also of the sea-coast of the province of Baku. When cultivated it is a half-hardy biennial, growing from 15 to 18 inches high in any strong rich soil, and flowering about May. The seeds should be sown about the end of May, in pots, and placed in a cold frame; the plants, when large enough, should be transferred to small pots, putting two or three plants into each pot, and shifting them afterwards, as they require it; and finally, they should be placed in an airy part of the green-house during winter, for the damp or a few de- grees of frost soon destroy them. J f GN / pa C2 / f ust A) n, » det I 2 / GF . "gg f Nan 5 MAAS LL URE olel. AMAT Uy I Riclopurwy 1600) Siuaslisly Aag rá J BA 6 Y f OU ve) be 2 / 26 LALIA furfuracea. Scurfy-stalked Lelia. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACER, $ EPIDENDREZ. LZELIA. Botanical Register, vol. 21. fol. 1751. L. furfuracea; pseudobulbis ovatis striatis submonophyllis, foliis angusté ob- longis erectis acutis scapo multo brevioribus, scapo unifloro (?) tereti, brac- teis oblongis membranaceis acutis, sepalis lanceolatis acuminatis patentissi- mis, petalis subrhombeis lanceolatis undulatis sublobatis, labelli trilobi bila- mellati lobis lateralibus erectis rotundatis truncatis intermedio oblongo revo- luto, ovario glandulis nigris furfuraceo. This plant was imported by Mr. Barker of Birmingham, from whom I received it in November 1838, as a new species. It is very like L. autumnalis, represented in the next plate, but its pseudo-bulbs are merely ovate and slightly furrowed, instead of having a long neck and being deeply furrowed ; the leaves are solitary or in pairs, and not in twos or threes; they are erect and straight, not spreading and curved; the flowers have little or no smell; the petals are so much more undulated as to appear lobed, and they are distinctly rhom- boidal, and finally the ovary is closely covered with black mealy glands. It would seem moreover that the scape does not bear more than one flower instead of several, but of this I cannot so well judge. It was found near Oaxaca, by Count Karwinski, and is probably not uncommon in collections, large quantities having been received by various persons from Mexico, espe- cially by the Horticultural Society, who have distributed it among their fellows. A. and B. are varieties differing in colour, but apparently in nothing more. The species is hgured in the next plate to L. autumnalis, in order that the differences between the two species may be the more readily perceived. The cultivation of this species, in so far as our knowledge extends, is rather difficult. It probably proceeds from the nearly uniform temperature of our stoves in this country, differing so much from the temperature to which plants are subjected, at considerable elevations in tropical regions. There are many plants which belong to this order, the peculiar treatment of which is now perfectly understood, and which consists in removing them from the stove, and placing them in a cooler house for several months every season ; some of the species of Bletia are examples of this. The present species should be cultivated ina cooler house than is generally used for Orchidaceous plants, and subjected to considerable variations of temperature by being at certain seasons kept in the greenhouse. 21 LALÍA autumnalis. Autumnal Lelia. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACE®, $ EPIDENDREZ. : LAELIA. Botanical Register, vol. 21. fol. 1751. L. autumnalis; pseudobulbis ovatis teretibus costatis apice attenuatis 2-3-phyl- lis, foliis oblongo-linearibus patentissimis scapo multó brevioribus, scapo tereti apice subsexfloro, bracteis oblongis membranaceis acutis, sepalis lan- ceolatis acuminatis patentissimis, petalis oblongo-lanceolatis undulatis, labelli trilobi bilamellati lobis lateralibus erectis rotundatis truncatis intermedio oblongo-lanceolato apice reflexo, ovario glabro. Bletia autumnalis. La Llave et Lexarz. nov. veg. descr. 2. 19. L. autumnalis. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 115. Bateman Orch. Mexic. et Guatemal. t. 9. . A very fragrant and beautiful plant, imported from Mexico of late years, and now not uncommon in gardens. A considerable number of iv has been given away among the Fellows of the Society by order of the Council of the Horticultural Society of London. The specimen now figured was taken from a plant which flowered at Woburn, and which was sent me by the Duke of Bedford. I have nothing to add to the following account extracted from Mr. Bateman's magnificent work on the Orchidaceous plants of Mexico and Guatemala. ‘ The genus Lelia may be regarded as one of the most ornamental of its tribe, since pleasing colours, graceful habit, long duration, and delicious perfume, in short, all the essentials of floral beauty, seem to be combined in its various species. Of these, five or six are already known, of which the one now represented, however charming it may be, is, perhaps, the least interesting; for it is far surpassed by L. grandiflora (the Flor de Corpus of Mechoacan) in the magnitude of its flowers, and by L. anceps and some un- published species, in the brilliancy of its colours. Being found at a considerable elevation they all thrive best in a moderate temperature, and require to be high-potted, as by that means the roots are more likely to be retained in a healthy state, and are better able to withstand the extremes of heat and moisture which, even in the most carefully con- ducted establishments, will sometimes occur, and which we have found excessively injurious to Lelias, Cattleyas, and species of some allied genera. In winter they should be very sparingly watered, and kept in almost a dormant state. -L. autumnalis flowers both in this country and its own, at the season which its name implies.” In the Garden of the Horticultural Society its cultivation is found extremely simple. When plants are received they are tied to a block of wood, and kept perfectly dry until they begin to send out roots, and manifest other signs of growth. They are then freely syringed two or three times a day, and this practice is continued until the growing season is past. They are then removed to a cooler house with a drier atmosphere, in which they are allowed to winter, and when this season is over, the above treatment is again renewed. It is multiplied in the usual way; the front shoots make the best plants. 28 * TRICHINIUM alopecuroideum. Foxtail Trichinium. MONADELPHIA PENTANDRIA. Nat. ord. AMARANTHACEZ. : TRICHINIUM. R. Br. Flores hermaphroditi, tribracteati, Perigo- nium 5-phyllum, foliolis linearibus. Stamina 5, basi connata ; filamenta fili- formia; anthħeřæ biloculares ; staminodia interjecta nulla. Ovarium uniloculare, uniovulatum ; stylus simplex; stigma capitatum. U triculus evalvis monosper- mus, perigonii foliolis basi conniventibus, apice patulis, p inclusus. Semen lenticulari-reniforme ; testá crustaced. Embryo annularis, periphericus, albumen farinaceum cingens ; radiculá centrifugá. Herbe annue v. perennes, in Nova Hollandia intra et extra tropicos provenientes ; foliis alternis, flori- bus terminalibus capitatis v. spicatis, bracteis scariosis nitentibus. Endl. gen. plant. no. 1963. T. alopecuroideum ; caule ramoso sulcato glabro, foliis lanceolatis subtüs sca- briusculis integris vel denticulatis, spicis cylindraceis elongatis, bracteis ro- tundatis, calycibus herbaceis sursum calvis acutis, rachi pilosá, cyatho staminum dentato. T. alopecuroideum. Lindl. in Mitchell’s Australian expeditions, vol. ii. l3 rks 2. The singular genus to which this species belongs is ex- clusively Australian. Six species only are described by Dr. Brown, but many more are known, and their number will probably be found considerable. It is remarkable for the great quantity of delicate knotted hairs with which the densely spiked or capitate flowers are covered. That now figured, the first which has been known to flower in Europe, was raised from Swan River seeds by Robert Mangles, Esq. of Sunning Hill; I possess wild speci- mens from the same country, for which I am indebted to * rpíxiwoc, composed of hairs, in allusion to the shaggy flowers. May, 1839. L Captain James Mangles, and to Mr. Toward, gardener to H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester. It was also met with by Major Sir T. L. Mitchell, during his important expedition to the Rivers Darling and Murray in the year 1836, and was named by me in the note to his account of the proceed- ings of his party. It is a half-hardy annual, flowering abundantly in the open border during the summer, and although not appearing very pretty in a plate, is sufficiently striking to deserve cultivation, for the surface of its flowers is glossy like those of the cockscomb. Fig. 1. is a magnified view of a single flower; fig. 2. re- presents the cup, stamens and ovary, whose style is clothed with straggling hairs, one of which is seen magnified at fig. 4.; and fig. 3. exhibits a section of an ovary, with the ovule and the funiculus, from whose end it hangs suspended. At Swan River are two other species, whose beauty would make them most desirable plants to introduce; as neither of them are described, 1 beg to name the one after my ex- cellent friend Captain James Mangles, R.N. to whom Í am indebted for a fine collection of dried New Holland plants, and the other after His Excellency Sir James Stirling, who has done so much for the introduction of new plants to England during his government of the Swan River colony. Tr. Manglesii ; caulibus simplicibus ascendentibus sulcatis foliisque spathulatis acutis undulatis glabris, capitulis maximis ovatis, bracteis lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis, sepalis apice erosis et serrulatis calvis basi pilis densissimis lana- tis, cyatho staminum integerrimo brevissimo, stylo glabro. Heads three inches across. Flowers pink at the tips, silvery at the base. Tr. Stirlingii ; caulibus flexuosis ramosis puberulis, foliis lineari-oblongis acutis- simis sessilibus, capitulis spheericis subsolitariis, bracteis subrotundis cuspi- datis, sepalis truncatis ad apicem usque villosis intus basi lanatis, cyatho staminum brevissimo integerrimo. Heads rather less than an inch and a half across, silvery, just tinged with pink. 29 SALVÍA confertiflora. Close-flowered Sage. DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LAMIACEA, or LABIAT4E. SALVIA. Bot. Register, vol. 18. fol. 1554. $ VIII. CaroseHACE—Zrianthe. Bentham lab. 273. S. confertiflora ; caule fruticoso tomentoso, foliis petiolatis ovato-oblongis acu- tiusculis crenatis basi cuneatis suprà rugosis subtüs albo-tomentosis, flora- libus nanis ovatis acuminatis reflexis v. deciduis, racemis elongatis, verticil- lastris densé multifloris, calycibus corollisque fulvosanguineis lanatis his dupló tantüm longioribus ; limbi conniventis lobo intermedio integro, con- nectivis deflexis dilatatis abbreviatis connatis hinc ciliatis, stylo glabro. S. confertiflora. Bentham labiat. 276. This Sage is one of the many Brazilian species which de- serve introduction to our gardens. It was found near Rio Janeiro by Mr. Macrae, while in the service of the Horticul- tural Society, and in other parts of the empire by Sellow and Pohl. It belongs to a small section of the genus with short woolly flowers, the only other species of which, as yet in gardens, is the Salvia leucantha of Mexico. Its flowers are so bright and numerous as to render the plant a conspicuous object during the autumn months, at which time it blossoms. Whether or not it is sufficiently hardy to live out of doors in the summer is uncertain. The figure was taken from a plant presented to the Horti- cultural Society by John Dillwyn Llewellyn, Esq. The leaves have rather a heavy disagreeable smell of a peculiar nature, resembling perhaps a combination of the Dead-nettle and Sorrel. ies may be cultivated either in a greenhouse, or This spec n a rich border during the summer months. It planted out i is however seen in its greatest beauty when grown in a house which is intermediate between a greenhouse and stove ;— that is, where the temperature in winter and spring is never below 55° of Fahr. It delights in a rich soil, composed of equal parts of loam and peat, mixed with a portion of manure and sand, and will require, when growing luxuriantly, a great quantity of water. Of all the species of Salvia this is the most easy both to cultivate and propagate. If cuttings of the young shoots are inserted in sand, they will soon make strong plants. 30 * PAONÍA Brownii. Douglas Californian Peony. POLYANDRIA DI-PENTAGYNIA. Nat. ord. RANUNCULACE. PZONIA. Botanical Register, vol. |. fol. 42. $ OngpIa. P. Brownii ; herbacea, carpellis 5 glaberrimis erectis, foliis utrinque glabris bi- ternatis, foliolis ternatim divisis pinnatifidisve laciniatis, sepalis subrotundis convexis petalis subrotundis coriaceis longioribus. P. Brownii. Douglas in Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 27. Torrey and Gray Flora of North America, 1. 41. Petala circiter sex, coriacea, subrotunda, sanguinea, margine lutea, sepala breviora. Discus carnosus, elevatus, lobatus, Folliculi 5, quorum pars tantum perfecta, coriacea, rugosa, levia, obovata. Testa seminum sicca, nec succulenta. This extremely rare and very curious plant was intro- duced several years ago by the Horticultural Society, to which it was sent by Mr. Douglas. It is a singular instance of a genus hitherto exclusively Asiatic or European, appear- ing in the New World under a form different from its ordi- nary state, and yet as it seems too similar to be separated. Since the discovery of this by Douglas, a second species has been found in Upper California by Nuttall. The two form a section of Pzonia, characterized by short leathery petals, a lobed fleshy disk, and a dry not succulent seed coat. Douglas found it near the limits of perpetual snow, on the subalpine range of Mount Hood in North West America ; according to Torrey and Gray it was met with by Nuttall * See Botanical Register, fol. 1208. June, 1839. M east of the Blue Mountains of Oregon, not in subalpine situations. It is a hardy perennial, with tuberous roots like those of the common Peony, but much smaller; it grows little more than a foot high, and flowers about the middle of May. It may be increased like the other Ponies, either by seeds or by division of the roots. It seems rather difficult to keep, for the old roots sent home by Douglas, as well as all the young ones raised from seeds and given away by the Horticultural Society, have died, the only plant now alive being that in the Society's Garden, where it grows vigorously, planted in a mixture of silver sand, peat, and a small portion of loam, more than one-half of the whole mixture being sand. It is kept in a north aspect, where the sun only shines on the plant a few hours during the middle of the day in summer, and not at all in winter, and where the temperature is not subject to very great variation during summer. The plants which perished died chiefly during the hotter part of summer and autumn, when fully exposed to the sun. It seems necessary that they should be covered in winter with a hand glass to keep the roots rather dry. 31 LUPINUS Hartwegil. Mr. Hartweg’s Lupine. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Nat. ord. LEcuMINOsz, $ PAPILIONACER. LUPINUS. Bot. Reg. vol. 6. fol. 457. L. Hartwegii; annuus pilosus, stipulis setaceis, foliolis 7-9 oblongis obtusis, racemo elongato multifloro, bracteis setaceis plumosis floribus inapertis duplo longioribus, bracteolis calycis setaceis longissimis, carinà imberbi. Caulis 2-pedalis, erectus, pilis longis vestitus. Folia etiam pilosissima, laxé tamen nec densé. Bractee citissime decidue, more L. plumosi longis- sime. Flores cerulei, vexillo medio roseo ; cariná imberli. This very fine plant differs from Z. plumosus not only in its annual duration and brilliant blue flowers, but also in its obtuse green leaves and much longer hairs. It was sent to the Horticultural Society by Mr. Hartweg, after whom it is named, and it has since been extensively distributed among the Fellows of the Society. It was found growing in corn-fields, and appears to be different from all the Mexican species described by Schlech- tendahl in the Linnza. It is a very fine half-hardy annual, growing from two to three feet high, and flowering freely from the end of June until destroyed by frost in the autumn, if planted in any good rich soil. The seeds should be sown in pots about the beginning of April, and placed in the greenhouse for a few days until the plants come up, when they should be removed to a cold pit or frame, and when large enough should be potted into ` small pots, putting four plants into each pot, and finally they should be planted out, when the danger of the May frosts is over; a little frost destroys them when young, but not when old in the autumn. ERE. A Mis UY take ae” 7 Rik y wi, 164 Focceolitly Sume 189 4 ; RR ~ E = ES 32 PHILADELPHÚS Gordonianus. Gordon's Philadelphus. ICOSANDRIA TETRAGYNIA. . Nat. ord. PHILADELPHACER. PHILADELPHUS.' Botanical Register, vol. 7. fol. 570. P. Gordonianus ; ramis pendulis testaceis, ramulis pubescentibus, foliis ovatis acutis grossé dentatis subtüs pilosis, racemis compactis 5-9-floris terminali- bus, ovario semisupero, stylo 4-partito, calycibus fructus patentissimis. P. Gordonianus. Bot. Reg. 1838, misc. no. 23. A hardy shrub found by Mr. Douglas on the banks of the Columbia River, where it forms part of the underwood. It was raised many years since by the Horticultural Society, and has been extensively distributed. It is the latest species that flowers, grows from eight to ten feet high, and has almost a weeping appearance in consequence of producing numerous slender side shoots. The leaves are bright green, rather small, ovate, pointed, 3-nerved at the base, and coarsely serrated. The flowers are large, pure white, in close bunches of from five to nine, are nearly scentless, and are produced in such great pro- fusion that this is one of the handsomest of hardy deciduous shrubs. The fruit is large, smooth, with the lobes of the calyx broad and nearly horizontal. It is readily known by its small deeply serrated leaves, its nearly superior fruit, its broad spreading calyx, and by the compact manner in which its flowers are arranged. It is a very showy shrub, growing in any soil, and very hardy, not having been at all injured by the severe winter of 1837-8. It flowers about the end of July, and may be increased from seeds or by cutting off the half-ripened shoots about August, when they strike as freely as the common Willow. This is the latest of all the species in flower, and the most showy. It has been named in compliment to Mr. George Gordon, who has the charge of the Hardy department in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, and who has paid particular attention to the difficult genus of which this forms a part. | l l P | | | | 33 * ASAGR/EÁ officinalis. | Spike-flowered Asagrea. HEXANDRIA TRIGYNIA. Nat. ord. MELANTHACER. ASAGRZ:A. Flores polygami, racemosi, nudi. Perianthium 6-partitum, foliolis linearibus aveniis subaequalibus, basi excavatis nectarifluis, staminibus eequalibus. Stamina alterné breviora ; antheris cordatis, quasi unilocularibus, post dehiscentiam clypeolatis. Ovaria 3, simplicissima, in stigma obscurum at- tenuata. — Folliculi tres; acuminati, chartacel; seminibus acinaciformibus, cor- rugatis, alatis, Herbs bulbose, foliis gramineis, floribus parvis, pallidis, dens? racemosis. ASAGR&a officinalis. Veratrum officinale. Schlecht. in Linnea, vi. 45. Helonias officinalis. Don. in Edinb. new phil. journ. Oct. 1832. p. 234. Lindl. fl. med. 586. Herba bulbosa, foliis gramineis, subcarinatis, viridibus, margine aspe- riusculis, scapi 4-5-pedalis longitudine. Scapus teres. Racemus semipe- dalis, densissima, stricta, spiceformis. Flores albi, basi bracted rotundatá suffulti. Anthere lutee, basi cordate, bivalves, uniloculares, demim cly- peatim peltate (loculis binis apice confluentibus). This half-hardy bulbous plant was received by the Horti- cultural Society from Mr. Hartweg, who found it in Mexico, in the neighbourhood of Vera Cruz, where it was called Sabadilla. It is no doubt the plant found by Deppe and Schiede on the eastern side of the Mexican Andes, near Barranca de Tioselo, by the Hacienda dela Laguna, in rocky places, and is probably that from which the Sabadilla seeds of commerce are, at least in part, procured. It is however neither a Veratrum as Schlechtendahl sup- * In compliment to Dr. Asa Gray, the author of a treatise upon North American Melanthacez, and, in conjunction with Dr. Torrey, of the Flora of North America, now publishing. Ld posed, nor a Helonias as Professor Don has imagined, but a quite distinct genus of Melanthacez, differing from both those genera and from all others with which it is necessary to compare it, in the segments of the perianthium having a nectarifluous excavation at the base. Independently of this it differs from Helonias and Xerophyllum in having clypeo- late anthers, from Amianthium in its short stamens, and from Scheenocaulon in its whole habit. In cultivation it is a half-hardy bulb, growing about four or five feet high in any strong rich soil, and flowering in September or October. It requires the same treatment as Tigridia pavonia. Fig. 1. is a flower magnified; 2. one of the sepals ; -3. 4. different views of the anther; 5. the ovary; 6. a ripe fruit; 7. a seed. ds N; Acorde bly Gf. o E A ral gar Ch 16 7 Gh Drake del A 6 Aus & 34 * BESSERA elegans. Elegant Bessera. MONADELPHIA HEXANDRIA. Nat. ord. LILIACER,. BESSERA. Schultes fil. Umbella. Perianthium pendulum, campanu- latum, hexapetaloideum, zquale. Stamina basi in urceolum epipetalum con- nata, zequalia, regularia, exserta. Ovarium sessile, loculis polyspermis ; ovulis ascendentibus ; stigma obsoleté trilobum, pubescens. [Capsula erecta, perian- thio stipata, septicido-trivalvis. Semina compressa, testa membranaceá atrá. ] B. elegans ; urceolo stamineo inter stamina unidentato, filamentis pubescentibus styli longitudine. This charming plant was originally found by Count Karwinsky at Saltepec in Mexico; 1t was first sent to this country by John Parkinson, Esq. H. B. M.'s Consul in Mexico, and from a specimen in the possession of John Rogers, Esq. Jun. of Sevenoaks, the accompanying drawing was made. Recently a large packet of what is believed to be it has been received by the Horticultural Society from Mr. Hartweg. A second species has already been published by Mr. Her- bert in this work in the year 1832, under the name of Pharium fistulosum (fol. 1546), but the latter generic name must give way to that of Bessera, which dates from January, 1829. Mr. Herbert’s species apparently differs not only in the colour of the flowers, but in having the staminal cup un- toothed, the filaments smooth, and the style longer than the stamens. I did not see the leaves of this species ; scribes them to me as two, two feet long, cy Mr. Rogers de- lindrical with a * So named after Dr. Besser, Professor of Botany at Brody, and author of an enumeration of the plants Volhynia, Podolia, Sc. June, 1839. N furrow on one side, deep green not glaucous, and about twice as thick as the scape, which is two feet high. He also states, that when first the anthers burst the pollen is bluish grey, but it becomes yellow after a day or so exposure to light and air; and the pollen of the first flowers was darker than that of the later ones. The first flower expanded September 12th, and it was still in beauty in October. The bulb is tunicated, obconical, and about the size of a Crocus. Little is as yet known of the habits or cultivation of the plant. Although perhaps hardy it is more advisable that it should be grown in pots in the greenhouse, or planted out in a conservatory. If planted out in a cold pit or frame, it should be well protected in severe weather. If it ripens its seeds, they ought to be sown in light soil, and in order that they may germinate more readily they may be plunged in bottom heat, in a frame that is nearly exhausted. As the first year’s bulbs will be small they ought not to be dis- turbed in the seed pot, and should be kept perfectly dry after the growing season is past. As soon as they are pretty strong, they may be potted off in a mixture of peat and sand, and then the only thing to be attended to will be to give them a free supply of water while growing, and to keep them perfectly dry and cool when the leaves wither and drop off, until the next season. VD Í y 160 Y “Wceciclibly fF ona, Z 1339 o UU voley AC 35 v u ERIA ferruginea. Rusty Eria. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEÆ, Y MALAXIDEZ£. ERIA. Botanical Register, vol. 11. fol. 904. kd E. ferruginea ; caulibus teretibus articulatis vaginatis, foliis oblongis obtusis, racemo erecto laterali multifloro basi squamato, bracteis ovatis acutis ovario villosissimo brevioribus, labelli lobis lateralibus erectis truncatis intermedio ovato serrato subplicato : disci cristis 4 dentatis intermediis carnosis incurvis. This very distinct species him E cuin from Calcutta by Messrs. Loddiges, and flowere at' Hackney in March, 1838. I have no information as to the ¿part of India which it inhabits. It is not handsome, but it is very distinct, has a particu- larly deep green foliage, and the smooth delicate pink petals form a striking contrast with the coarse green shaggy sepals. The lip (fig. 1.) is most singularly crested, and looks more like the edge of some cowrie shell than the petal of a flower. lt is propagated like all other orchidaceous plants, namely, by divisions of the rhizoma. The soil used in its cultivation is turfy peat, well mixed with broken bricks ; and the pot should have plenty of drainage. Its treatment generally is similar to that which has been frequently re- commended for plants of this description. The house in which it is grown must be well shaded from bright sun- shine in summer. by, Dacia. dc ? Oo nau. PA 2 s Uy C A CCE Z Y A y tig va 36 CYNOGLOSSUM colestinum. Blue and White Hounds-tongue. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. BORAGINACEZ. CYNOGLOSSUM, Linn. Calyz 5-partitus. Corolla hypogyna, in- fundibuliformis, fauce fornicibus 5 clausá, limbi quinquefidi laciniis obtusis. Ova- rium 4-lobum. Stylus simplex. Stigma subcapitatum. Nuces 4, distincte, depresse, echinatee, umbilico dorsali styli basi pyramidate inserte. Herb in extratropicis, primis hemisphere borealis obvie ; racemis scepiüs ebractea- tis, nunc bracteatis, bracteis interdum foliiformibus. Endlich. gen. 650. C. celestinum ; pubescens, foliis caulinis ovatis acutis basi cuneatis radicalibus cordatis ovatis longè petiolatis, racemis ebracteatis, calycis laciniis tubum corollee equantibus, nucibus marginatis: basi et margine (et interdum linea dorsali) glochidiatis. _ Herba. perennis, 13-2-pedalis, pubescens, subscaber, maleolens. Folia radicalia cordata, ovata, suprà callis subepidermoidalibus scabra; caulina ovato-oblonga, acuta, basi cuneata, nullo modo amplexicaulia. Racemi sepiüs bisbifidi, ebracteati, flore solitario subsessili in dichotomiis. Calyx pubescens, laciniis obtusiusculis tubi corolle longitudine. Corolla cyanea, margine alba; laciniis undulatis obtusis, dorso pallidis. Nuces membrana- ceo-marginate ; cavitate dorsali glabrá v. glochidibus quibusdam minutis e aut lineatis conspersá ; margine lateribusque glochidibus majoribus obsitis. This plant is a hardy biennial, and probably inhabits some part of the North of India, though it does not appear in the collections of either Dr. Royle or Dr. Wallich. 1t was raised by the Horticultural Society from seeds presented by John Nimmo, Esq. of Bombay, and flowered for the first time in August, 1838. It is a very pretty species, but its smell is heavy and unpleasant. It differs from C. uncinatum in its fruit, and in the leaves not being at all acpminate ; from C. microglochin, longiflorum, and grandiflorum in the cauline leaves not being rounded at July, 1839. o the base; and from C. glochidiatum in its smaller flowers, and much less hairy, as well as broader and more cordate leaves. The seeds should be sown at two different seasons, the first about the beginning of June, the second about a month later. The plants should be treated in the same manner as the common Giant or Brompton Stocks, part of them being placed where they are to remain, and the rest being potted for protection in a cold pit or frame during the winter. Qa Hite SS MEN) K ~ 4 ao 27 G. Patetley. Putty E Ridgway 107 Viccadilly, July 7: 7 Hoe 9 unc te" LW Ae 97 DENDROBIUM Jenkinsi. Captain Jenkins's Dendrobium. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. OrcHiDACEZ, $ MALAXIDEZ. DENDROBIUM. Botanical Register, vol. 7. fol. 548. D. Jenkinsii ; pseudobulbis aggregatis oblongis tetragonis monophyllis, foliis oblongis coriaceis marginatis retusis, pedunculis subradicalibus unifloris vel racemosis, sepalis ovatis obtusis petalis multó minoribus, labello cucullato rotundato basi parüm producto limbo dilatato serrato villoso emarginato. D. Jenkinsii. Wallich. in litt. This pretty plant has been sent by Dr. Wallich to many persons in this country, and is now by no means uncommon, The accompanying drawing was made in September, 1838, from a plant in the possession of Messrs. Loddiges, and I have since received it from other places. To Sir Charles Lemon I am indebted for the following account of the species from the pen of Dr. Wallich. ** This elegant little Orchidaceous plant grows in large tufts on trees. The pseudo-bulbs are densely aggregated on a creeping rhizoma, oblong, marked with one or two rings and vestiges of sheaths, about an inch long, each bearing an oblong, shining, coriaceous, obtuse, sometimes slightly retuse, sessile leaf, about 14 inch long, sometimes a little longer. Flowers spreading, large, yellow, inodorous, on long and slender peduncles, geminate from the side of the pseudo-bulb on a very short cylindric common peduncle, having a few scales at its base. Partial peduncles filiform, two or three inches long. Sepals and petals obtuse; the latter broadest, oval. Lip very large, reniform, retuse, slightly pubescent and ciliate, measuring nearly an inch across, almost sessile, a little channelled at the base, other- wise spreading flat. **[ received the plant from Capt. Jenkins in November, 1836. He had obtained it at Gualpara. It flowered finely at this garden in the middle of March following. ] have since had abundant supplies from the same liberal and indefatigable source. “I am very happy in dedicating this very distinct species to my valued friend Capt. Jenkins, to whom this garden, the cause of botany, and science generally, are deeply indebted. “The flowers are larger than those of D. aggregatum of Roxburgh, to which it bears a slight resemblance.” The species shews in a striking manner the impropriety of generically separating the pseudo-bulbous Dendrobia from those with slender stems, notwithstanding the dissimilarity in their appearance. Here we have a plant with the pseudo- bulbs consisting, in the majority of instances, of a single internode, hardened, become four-cornered, and as dissimilar as possible from the same part of the stem of Dendrobium Pierardi; but in D. aggregatum, figured in this work, t. 1695, several internodes (3) together constitute a body altogether intermediate in nature between a pseudo-bulb and ordinary stem, and similar transitions from one to the other occur in D. densiflorum, fol. 1828, and D.Griffithianum, all which are so nearly allied to each other that a person unacquainted with all of them may possibly mistake one for the other. To prevent this the following distinctions in the labellum will be found certain. D. Jenkinsi. Labellum broader than long, repand, slightly two-lobed, shaggy, serrated: D. aggregatum. Labellum broader than long, scarcely wavy, undivided, downy only near the base. D. densiflorum. Labellum cordate, repand, two-lobed, reflexed at the point, serrated. D. Griffithianum. — Labellum ovate, slightly hastate, serrated, downy, except near the edges. This species is more difficult to cultivate than those kinds with long free-growing stems. It is frequently seen in an unhealthy state, owing to its being grown in a pot, and subjected to a uniform high degree of temperature. The best way to insure its success, is, to tie it to a block of wood with a piece of turfy peat attached to it, and suspend it from the rafter of the house. There it must be well syringed at least twice a day, so long as it continues to grow, and afterwards it may be removed to a cooler house. In fact it never requires so much heat as those species with long trailing stems. It is propagated in the usual way. BS 38 LILIUM Thunbergianum. Thunberg's Orange Lily. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LILIACER. LILIUM. Botanical Register, vol. 2. fol. 132, L. Thunbergianum ; caule superné villoso, foliis ovato-lanceolatis inferioribus alternis superioribus verticillatis, floribus terminalibus erectis, perianthii la- ciniis sessilibus patentibus apice revolutis intus glabris staminibus multo longioribus. L. Thunbergianum. Römer $ Schultes syst. veg. vi. 415. L. bulbiferum. Thunb. in act. soc. Linn. Lond. II. 333. L. philadelphicum. Id. fl. jap. 135. This noble Lily was drawn in the nursery of Messrs, Rollissons, in June 1838, and is one of those introduced to Europe from Japan, by Dr. Siebold. It was originally found by Thunberg, who first referred it to L. philadelphi- cum, although its sepals and petals are sessile, and subse- quently to L. bulbiferum, although it has no bulbs, and is also destitute of the papille which render the inside of the flower of that species scabrous. It is doubtless a distinct species. In the volume of this work for 1837, fol. 2000, another fine species is figured; and in the same place will be found a short account of the other Lilies natives of the same country. Since that time I have received Siebold’s beautiful Flora Japonica, in which L. speciosum and a variety are figured, with the following remarks, which the rarity of that work in England will justify my producing at second hand. « Among more than 20 kinds of Lily brought by me from Japan to Europe, and deposited in the Botanic Garden at Ghent, are the varieties of L. speciosum now represented. To that with flowers rose-coloured, blotched with purple, I give the name of L. speciosum Kempferi, because it was the indefatigable botanist Keempfer who first made it known to Europeans. For the second, with pure white flowers, I pre- serve the Japanese name Tametomo, which it bears in its own country, in consequence of having been first brought by that hero from the Loo choo islands, as the Japanese assert. The beauty and fragrance of the flowers of these two kinds rank them among the most magnificent of their genus; I should even say that L. speciosum Kempferi stood at the head of them all, if a variety of Lilium longiflorum, which I have seen in Japan, with flowers often 8 or 10 inches long, did not dispute the palm, on account of its sweetness. ** L. speciosum Kempferi is cultivated all over Japan as an ornamental plant. Its true country is probably China, or rather Korai, if we may judge from its name Korai-juri, or Korai-lily. It flowers in May and June; in the Botanic Garden at Ghent, it did not flower in 1832 (the first time in Europe) till August. Like other kinds of Lily it is freely propagated by scales; it does not however bear bulbs in the axils of the leaves. It succeeds very well in a cold green- house, and even in the open air, if protected.” “ The variety Tametomo, although it has pleased some Botanists to make a peculiar species of it, under the name of L. eximium, differs, nevertheless, only in its flowers being quite white, and the leaves rather more distinctly stalked. According to some of the Japanese botanists it is found wild, not only in the Loo choo islands, but also in: the north of Japan ; but it has, perhaps, been confounded with L. japoni- m which is often wild in those countries."— Flora Japonica, . 33. I presume the Lilies called by the Belgians Z. Lebrous- sardi and L. punctatum, are both varieties of L. speciosum. In cultivation this is a handsome frame or half-hardy bulb, growing about three feet high, and flowering from the beginning of July to the end of September, according to the manner in which it is treated. The bulbs should be fresh potted or planted in a pit, well protected from wet, late in the autumn, or very early in the spring, in a mixture of sandy-peat, loam, and a small portion of well-rotted dung or leaf mould. “hg Cr a nd RTA å The soil in the pots or pit in which the fresh bulbs are planted, should be kept dry until they begin to grow, when water should be given, but rather sparingly at first, as there is more damage done to fresh imported or fresh potted bulbs by over watering, or keeping them damp during winter, or while they are in a dormant state, than by all other causes taken together. The plant may be increased freely from every scale which the old bulb is composed of. These if separated, potted in sand, and placed in a gentle heat, will soon make plants, but they will not flower for two or three years. * ag 39 PHILADELPHUS laxus. Go Ane OWA Weak-branched Syringa. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. PHILADELPHACEZR. PHILADELPHUS. Botanical Register, vol. 7. fol. 570. P. laxus ; ramis debilibus pendulis atrofuscis, folis ovatis acuminatis pilosiuscu- lis acuté dentatis basi cuneatis supremis linearibus integerrimis, floribus subsolitariis, stylo 4-partito staminibus longiore, calycis laciniis fructu elongatis patentissimis. P. laxus. Schrad. in DC. prodr. ii. 206. Loudon Arboret. Brit. 2. 954. ic. ? P. grandiflorus. Elliott Fl. South Carolin. 1. 538. : Whatever may be thought of some of the supposed species of Philadelphus now cultivated in gardens, there can be no doubt, 1 should think, of this being quite distinct from all others. It is occasionally received from North America, in a live state, and yet there is no certain trace of the plant in the writings of North American Botanists. It is a hardy shrub, like all the rest of the genus, but less hardy than most others, wherefore it may be supposed to be a native of the Southern States of the American Diib: but upon turning to Elliotts Flora of Carolina, where some information concerning it may be expected, it turns out that only P. inodorus and grandiflorus are mentioned by that author. It is, however, possible that P. larus is what is meant by the latter name ; and if so, the species *' grows along the margins of rivers in the upper part of Georgia and Carolina ; common near Columbia.” The leaves are smaller than is usual in the genus, very sharp-pointed, with the toothings unusually sharp; the uppermost leaves become gradually narrower, till those im- uly, 1839. P mediately below the flowers are, not unfrequently, linear and entire; their upper surface is bright green, with a few fine hairs, the under is much more closely covered. The flowers are white, most commonly solitary, and almost desti- tute of smell. The species forms a straggling bush, not more than five feet high, but covering double that space upon the ground with its long slender deep-brown shoots. As it leafs early the young shoots are apt to be killed by frost, and if this takes place there will be no flowers, because it is from the ends of the lateral shoots that blossoms always appear in this genus. aid oni et LL Be d cst ED 28 (ON 7A . : lares : T C | \ VA Mioi Dickies del! Vitel E Peor 169 Vccadilty, Kety 1 1839. G. lbarclay’ so 40 CROCUS speciosus. Showy Autumn Crocus. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. IRIDACER. CROCUS. Botanical Register, vol. 17. fol. 1416. C. speciosus ; foliis hysteránthiis, vagina radicali subbiflorá, perianthii ventricosi obovati laciniis omnibus penicillatis, stylo erecto antheris longiore, stigma- tibus linearibus multifidis, cormi tunicis lentis levibus. C. speciosus. Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2752. Host. Fl. austr.1.43. Baumgart. enum. Transylv. 1. 60. This beautiful autumn Crocus is one of those neglected flowers which ought to abound in every select garden. It blossoms in October, is quite hardy, and can scarcely be said to require cultivation. It was communicated for this work from the nursery of Messrs. Osborn and Co. of Fulham, who have it for sale. According to Mr. Wilson it is naturalized in a meadow near Warrington, where it flowers in September; and in the opinion of this Botanist it is only distinguishable from C. nudiflorus by its long style. In English Botany it is referred to the C. speciosus of Bieberstein, upon the authority of Sir Wm. Hooker. If this is correctly done, the species will inhabit the woods of the Crimea, under trees, and the grassy hills of the Eastern Caucasus; and I do not perceive any thing in the short account given by Bieberstein at variance with this plant. But as 1 find the opinion of Mr. Herbert, who has studied the genus with care, opposed to this conclusion, I forbear to quote any synonyms beyond those concerning which there is no doubt. It is certainly a native of most of the forests and orchards of Transylvania, whence I have a wild specimen, named C. nudiflorus, collected by Dr. Baumgarten himself; according to Host it was found by the late Dr. Sadler on the outskirts of woods in various parts of Hungary. Mr. Strangways saw it cultivated at Naples, under the name of Crocus speciosus. 41 * INGA Harrisii. Mr. Harris's Inga. POLYGAMIA POYANDRIA. Nat. ord. Lecuminos®, $ Mimosea. INGA. Botanical Register, vol. 2. fol. 129. I. Harrisii ; (Hymenzodea) scandens, inermis, foliis conjugato-pinnatis pilosis, innis bijugis, foliolo interiore jugi inferioris deficiente ceteris obovato-ob- Logis obliquis subcordatis, pedunculis solitariis petiolorum longitudine, floribus capitatis. Frutex scandens, viridis, pilosus. ^ Petioli semipollicares, pedunculis paulo breviores. Foliola subequalia, fere 2-pollicaria. Capitula subviginti- Hora. Calyx obconicus, albus, laciniis viridibus, rotundatis, convexis, glan- dulosis. Corolla monopetala, turbinata, rosea, viridi limbata, laciniis rotun- datis glabris. Stamina ultra corollam monadelpha; filamentis pollicem longis basi albis ultra medium purpureis. A pretty climbing shrub, imported from Mexico by Thomas Harris, Esq. of Kingsbury, a most zealous collector of rare plants, in compliment to whom it is named. It seems distinct from all the published species of this large genus ; approaching Inga canescens in character, but with much larger leaves, shorter peduncles, and smaller flowers. The crimson silken tassels of stamens are very graceful and pretty. The drawing was made in Mr. Harris's collection in February last. Like many Mexican plants, this species grows best in a house where the temperature is a little higher than in a common greenhouse. It delights in a rich fresh soil, which * This name first appears in the work of Marcgraaf upon Brazilian plants, and ap to be the vernacular appellation of certain species of the genus to which it is now applied. August, 1839. Q may be formed with a mixture of good loam and peat, and about one-fourth of pure sand. The best time to strike cuttings is when it begins to grow vigorously. All that is requisite is to insert them in silver- sand, and to cover them with a bell-elass. : D ( 4 E Ware tag n7 Vi 4 Le 169 Licoallill y A m PA / SIG Y Medd Drake del” Ved by A Bagues 16g 42 ONCIDIUM pulvinatum. The Cushion Oncidium. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEE, $ VANDE&. ONCIDIUM. Swartz. O. pulvinatum ; paniculá ramosissimá divaricatá, sepalis obovatis lateralibus liberis, petalis conformibus acutis, labelli lobis subequalibus intermedio bi- lobo undulato lateralibus crenatis rotundatis crispis, disco pulvinato villosis- simo, columnz alis rotundatis. Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 115. Panicula ramosissima, intricata, glabra, 8-9-pedes longa; axi percur- rente rectiusculo penne corvina crassitudine, ramis simplicibus ramosisque divaricatis geniculatim flexuosis, internodiis pollicaribus bracteis refractis membranaceis acutis pluries longioribus. Flores O. divaricati simillimi, lutei in medio sanguineo guttati. One of the largest of the Oncidia, vieing with O. altissi- mum in stature, its panicle being 8 or 9 feet long, of which one of the smaller branches only is represented in the accom- panying plate, and resembling O. divaricatum in the struc- ture, colour, and size of its flower. It however differs from that species in its lip having the middle lobe largest, not smallest ; and in the cushion at its base being much more villous and equally convex, not divided into equal quarters. The lateral lobes of the lip are also crisp in this species, not plain, as in O. divaricatum. In the specimen before me there is one central axis, in the middle, about as thick as a crow’s quill, gently wavy, and so weak as to be unable to support its flowers without the assistance of neighbouring objects. At regular distances from this proceed the branches, which are either simple or themselves branched, and zigzag in a.remarkable manner; the whole forming an entangled mass of inflorescence. It is a native of Rio Janeiro, whence it was sent to Mr. A A P RIS Richard Harrison, of Aighburgh, in the year 1834, by his brother, Mr. William Harrison. The treatment frequently recommended for orchidaceous plants of this kind, will be found to suit the present. Like the greater number of species in the extensive genus to which it belongs, it succeeds best if hung up in a basket, or tied to a block of wood, and suspended from the rafters of the stove. The only things to be noticed in this system of cultivation, is, first to tie some good turfy peat to the block along with the plant; and secondly, to syringe freely, as the plants are apt to get too dry. 43 GOMPHOLOBIUM versicolor. Changeable Gompholobium. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. Ord. LEcuMINosz; PAPILIONACER, GOMPHOLOBIUM. Supra vol. 6. fol. 484. G. versicolor ; caule erecto, foliis breviter petiolatis trifoliolatis : foliolis linearibus mucronatis glabris margine revolutis, racemo laxo paucifloro, calycis laciniis oblongo-linearibus cuspidatis extüs glabris intüs pubescentibus, carina glabrá. Supra miscell. no. 62. : Suffrutex debilis, glaber, ramis subangulatis flexuosis. Folia trifolio- lata, petiolo stipulis setaceis æquali vel breviore; foliolis linearibus, mucro- natis, margine revolutis, omninò aveniis et uniformibus. Racemi terminales, 2-3-flori, pedunculis capillaribus flexuosis subangulatis clavatis ; bracteole setacee, distantes. Calyx extus glaber, intüs lined tomentosá intramarginali circumdatus ; laciniis oblongis mucronatis subequalibus. Flores fusco-san- guinei, etate pallescentes ; vexillo reniformi, undulato, alis dupló longiore, valdé transverso, bilobo: lobis imbricatis. Stamina equalia, glabra. This little Swan-river, and therefore Greenhouse, shrub, with pretty brownish crimson flowers, becoming paler after a short expansion, was introduced by Robert Mangles, Esq. of Sunning Hill, to whom I am obliged for the accompanying figure. | : There are three species of Gompholobium, with this habit, very much like each other, and difficult to distinguish, if indeed they are distinct. One of them is the G. tenue of this work, fol. 1615, with yellow flowers; it has in a wild state the petioles longer than the stipules, and the peduncles seem to be usually one-flowered. The second is G. sparsum of Mr. Allan Cunningham, found by that zealous botanist at King George’s Sound ; it has the dark flowers of G. versicolor, and its short petioles; but its branches are more angular, the leaves are distinctly veiny on the upper side, and those near the bottom of the branches are much shorter and broader than the others. The third isthe G. versicolor, which differs from G. tenue in its short petioles, and subracemose dark flowers ; and from G. sparsum in the leaflets not being at all veiny, and all equal sized. This species strikes readily from cuttings, either in autumn or in spring, if they are put into a pot of sand and covered with a bell-glass. The soil most congenial to its growth is peat and sand, with about one-fourth of good loam. When the plant is young its top should be taken off, it will then send out several lateral shoots, and by topping some of these, it will soon form a handsome bush. It is as easily cultivated as the more common G. polymorphum. Of course it requires the protection of the greenhouse. y A ite sed 3 7 3 E. 44 BURLINGTONÍA maculata. Spotted Burlingtonia. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA, Nat. ord. ORcuipACEX, $ VANDEZ. BURLINGTONIA. Botanical Register, vol. 23. fol. 1927. . B. maculata ; racemis pendulis, sepalo anteriore emarginato : supremo sepalisque ovato-oblongis. undulatis acutis, lamellis labelli cristatis dentatis, labello bilobo undulato denticulato versus unguem lacero, foliis lineari-lanceolatis. Pseudobulbi ovales compressi monophylli basi aphylli; foliis lineari-lan- ceolatis striatis rectis. Pedunculi penduli, racemosi, foliorum longitudine; bracteis ovario dimidio brevioribus. Flores odorati, lutei, cinnamomeo colore maculati, in genere parvi ; labellum ceteris longius, basi album, lamellis 3 inequaliter dentatis carnosis parallelis antice abrupté truncatis. Columna ungue labelli brevior eique appressa, clavata, semiteres, apice utrinque bicornis sanguinea. A sweet-scented epiphyte, obtained from Brazil by Messrs. Loddiges, with whom it flowered in May, 1838. It is very distinct from all the species of this genus previously known, and is, I hope, an omen of there being many more yet to dis- cover. It confirms the generic character originally given, and removes all doubt about the distinctness of Burlingtonia from Rodriguezia. In cultivating this plant, it should be tied to a block of wood and suspended from the rafters of the orchidaceous house. If a little piece of turfy peat is tied to the block along with it, it is of considerable service in keeping the roots moist. In the growing season it will require to be syringed freely two or three times every day, and shaded from bright sunshine. When it is not growing, water must be given very sparingly. If this treatment is practised it will flower freely. Fig. 1. is a view of the two connate anterior sepals ; 2. is the column and lip, shewing the lamelle and lacerated margin of the latter, together with the crimson teeth at the apex of the column; 3. are the caudicula, gland, and pollen masses; one of the latter being divided across to shew that it is really a plate rolled up. TIOS Id 45 SENECIO populifolius ; var. lacteus. Milk-white Poplar-leaved Senecio. SES eto SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA. Nat. ord. ASTERACEZ, or COMPOSITÆ. SENECIO. Linn. S. populifolius ; fruticosus foliis petiolatis cordatis ovatis acutis denticulatis suprà adultis glaberrimis subtüs ramisque cano-tomentosis, capitulis corym- bosis glabris, pedicellis tenuissimé bracteolatis, involucri squamis 12-15, ligulis circiter 10. DeCand. prodr. vi. 409, Cacalia appendiculata, Linn. f. suppl. 352. Willd. sp. pl. 3. 1729. Cineraria populifolia, D Herit. sert. angl. 26. Cineraria appendiculata. Poir. suppl. 2. 263. Var. C. lactea. Willd. enum. suppl. 59. A little known greenhouse shrub, which, now that the growth of the Cineraria-like Senecios has become so suc- cessful, deserves to be brought to notice, either for cultivation in its original purity, or for the purpose of producing hybrid intermixtures. No coloured figure of it has previously ap- peared, but it appears from DeCandolle's Prodromus that it is to form the subject of one of the outline engravings illustrative of Webb and Berthellot’s ** Flore des Isle Canariennes.” It is a native of the Canaries, in woods on the isle of Palma, whence it was sent by Mr. Philip Barker Webb to his Gardener at Milford, near Godalming ; and the drawing now published was made so long since as June, in the year 1832, from a plant communicated to me by Mr. Young, now nurseryman of that place. DeCandolle considers it a variety of the yellow C. populi- folia. The species is best treated as a half-hardy perennial ; it grows freely in any rich soil, and flowers during a great August, 1839. R part of the year, particularly in the spring. It may be in- creased from cuttings of the young shoots, or by dividing the old plants in the autumn, and it requires about the same treatment as the herbaceous kinds of Calceolaria. specimens are as much as four feet high. Strong MitrD alee dell < a F UE Wy a ^ E 4 44 4 2 Gaby A hidgway WY beccaddly. Puget PH . | f 1 46 POLYGÓNUM amplexicaule. Stem-clasping Polygonum. OCTANDRIA TRYGYNIA. Nat. ord. POLYGONACEZX, POLYGONUM. Linn. . P. amplexicaule (Bistorta); caule erecto, foliis radicalibus longè petiolati« cor- datis ovatis acuminatis crenulatis integrisque costá subtüs tomentosá ; supre- mis amplexicaulibus, spicis elongatis acuminatis multifloris, bracteis ovatis acuminatis imbricatis margine scariosis, calyce petaloideo laciniis ovalibus obtusis, staminibus 8 exsertis. P. amplexicaule. Don prodr. fi. nep. 70. Meisner monogr. Polyg. 5l. in Wall. pl. as. rar. iii. 54. Babington in Linn. trans. xvii. 96. Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 117. . speciosum. Meisn. l.c. 53. Wall. cat. no. 1716.! . ambiguum. Jd. . oxyphyllum. Jd. Wall. cat. no. 1715. ! . petiolatum. Don. l. c. ae kas kas kas) This seems to be a common Nepalese plant, varying in appearance like all species very extensively dispersed, and consequently divided into several spurious species upon the supposed evidence of dried specimens. Mr. Babington has rightly reduced to their true value the P. oxyphyllum and ambiguum of Meisner, and I add without hesitation the P. speciosum of the same author, which does not merit dis- tinction even as a variety. The seeds from which this was raised were received by the Horticultural Society from Dr. Falconer, the superinten- dent of the Botanical Garden of Saharunpur, as has already been briefly stated in this work, (volume for 1838, no. 117 of the miscellaneous matter). No varieties were seen among the seedlings, and it is probable that the differences which have been remarked among the dried specimens were produced by local causes. The species is very pretty and graceful, from the abun- dance of crimson spikes which it produces ; but it is inferior in beauty to the P. vaccinüfolium from the Himalayan moun- tains, which is a trailing shrub, and would be an acquisition to our gardens. may be within reach of the water ; adapted for planting on the margins of lakes or ponds. It may be increased freely by dividing the old plant when eeds sown in the spring ; but perennial plants, will not flower 5 £ — ia S j 388 VE 47 * BAUHINÍA corymbosa. Corymb-flowering Bauhinia. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA, or DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA, or PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA, or MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA; or MONADELPHIA : MONANDRIA, TRIANDRIA, PENTANDRIA, or DECANDRIA. Nat. ord. FABACEX, or Lecuminos#, $ CASSIER. BAUHINIA, Linn. Botanical Register, vol. 14. t. 1133. § III. Svwrnvoropa, DC. B. corymbosa; ramis teretibus cirrhiferis, foliis cordatis subtüs in nervis petiolis ramulis calycibus rufo-pubescentibus, foliolis semiovalibus infra medium concretis 3-nerviis, staminibus 3 petala ovata undulata unguiculata sub- equantibus. B. corymbosa. Roxb. fl. ind. 2. 329. DeCand. prodr. 2. 515. A Chinese shrub, long since brought into this country, but resisting all attempts to flower it until September, 1838, when its beautiful clusters were produced abundantly in the greenhouse at Redleaf. Mr. Wells, in the note that accom- panied the specimens, tells me that he has had it ten or twelve years. In Chinese drawings, especially those be- longing to the Horticultural Society, this is represented loaded with flowers, and in such a condition it must be one of the handsomest objects in nature. As it has at length begun to fructify, its period of adolescence may be considered to have arrived, and therefore cuttings from Mr. Wells's plant will probably continue to yield blossoms regularly, and in more and more abundance every year. I have compared the plant with authentic specimens from the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and have thus assured myself of the identity of this and the plant of Dr. Roxburgh. 1 * So named by Linneeus after the two great Botanists John and Caspar Bauhin of Basle, who are typified by the twin leaves peculiar to this genus. September, 1839. s have, however, been obliged to correct the specific character given by M. DeCandolle, which is in some measure at va- riance with the plant. Dr. Roxburgh calls this “a very extensive delicate spe- cies ;” it has scarcely any thing, he says, that deserves the name of stem, but its ** many slender branchlets and branches climb and spread in every direction to an extent of many fathoms, running over high trees, ke.” It will succeed best in a house where the temperature is something below that of a common damp stove. The soil should be fresh and rich, composed of a mixture of peat, loam, and decayed manure. The best way to grow it is to give its roots plenty of room, by planting it out in a border; where this cannot be done, it should have as much pot-room as possible, It may be propagated either by layers or cuttings. The lover of the Linnean classification of plants and ad- mirer of its precision, will I am sure be delighted to see how well this genus Bauhinia accords with its divisions. Upon referring to the station assigned to it above, it will be seen that it suits equally well no fewer than eight of the Linnean classes or orders. Magi AR y f 48 * ODONTOGLOSSUM Rossii Ross's Odontoglossum. : GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACE®, $ VANDE&. ODONTOGLOSSUM, Kunth. Sepala lateralia patula libera, Labellum planum, unguiculatum, ascendens, limbo. reflexo diviso dentato apice angustato ; basi concavum cristá bilamellatá rard fimbriatá sepiús anticé bidentatá auctum. Columna elongata, apice auriculata aut aptera. Sertum Orchidaceum, t. 25. Odontoglossum Rossii; pseudobulbis ovatis ceespitosis ancipitibus monophyllis, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis scapo radicali subbifloro longioribus, bracteis mem- branaceis carinatis acuminatis, sepalis lineari-lanceolatis carinatis acuminatis patentibus, petalis oblongis obtusis revolutis, labello subrotundo-ovato emar- ginato undulato lamellis unguis confluentibus rotundatis denticulis 2 ante- rioribus obtusis, columná apterá pubescente. Sertum Orchid. t. 25. Pseudobulbi compressi, vaginis marcescentibus breviores. Folia erecta, bipollicaria, lanceolata, striata, vix coriacea, scapo longiora. Scapus erectus, radicalis, medio nudus aut squamá solitariá auctus, subbiflorus ; pedunculis medio vaginatis. Flores 2 uncias lati, erecti ; sepalis patentissimis, lanceo- latis, luteo-viridibus fusco maculatis ; petalis albis basi purpureo guttatis ; labello candido, purissimo, sub lente minutissime pubescente, ungue 3 lineas longo columná apterá velutiná paulo breviore. Lamelle labelli carnose, an- tice connate, fronte bidentate, lutea, intus sanguineo striate. Stigma pur- pureo-marginatum. A charming plant, sent to Mr. Barker from Mexico by his collector Mr. Ross, after whom it is named. The bright white lip, lying as it were in the centre of a rich green yellow and blue star of three points, produces a peculiarly beautiful and unusual appearance. Many of the species of this genus are however handsomer, and few less beautiful than this; let us therefore hope that Mr. Hartweg will sueceed in procuring them for the * From odove a tooth, and yhwoca a tongue, in allusion to the toothings of the labellum at the base. : Horticultural Society, now that he is engaged in exploring the rich neighbourhood of Oaxaca, the head-quarters of Mexican Orchidacee. Odontoglossum nebulosum has flowers nine inches in circumference, those of O. Cervantesii are much like O. Rossii, but larger and richer coloured, and both these are from the south-west of Mexico. It requires to be cultivated in a warm damp stove, where it may either be potted in the usual way, or, which is prefer- able, suspended from the roof upon a block of wood. Like other Orchidacee it may be multiplied by dividing its pseudo-bulbs. 49 CHOROZEMA varium. Various-leaved Chorozema. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. Ord. FAnacEA or Legumixosæ, $ PAPILIONACRA, CHOROZEMA. Botanical Register, vol, 12. fol. 986. pubescentibus, i in Bot. Reg. 1839. miscell. no. 63. Legumen j-pollicare, obovatum, inflatum, subpubescens, venis transver- sis approximatis elevatis in ventre evanescentibus, intus glabrum. Semina circiter 20, olivacea, ossea, laevigata, grani Milii magnitudine. Of the beautiful Flora of the Swan River Colony I pro- pose so soon to give an account in the forthcoming Appendix and Index to this work, that it is unnecessary to say more on this occasion than that this plant is one of its prettiest ornaments. It was introduced in the year 1837 by Mr. Smart, who e seeds As. y * Native "n the NE iety, in whose en it was speedily raised, ucing two i three varieties, one of which ve. the leaves almost entirely free from spiny toothings, but not different in any other respect. In its own mee! it must ep fore plant, for I do not find it in any of the collections dried specimens which I have examined, excepting in that sent home by Mr. Drummond in the course of the present season, and even there it only occurs in fragments, with the ripe pods adhering to them. With respect to its cultivation, Mr. Fortune, who raised it in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, and whose sub- sequent management of it was very successful, has glven me the following note. “In the autumn of 1837 the seed of this beautiful plant was sown in light soil, and placed in a frame nearly ex- hausted. It soon vegetated, and was potted in fresh light soil, composed of two-thirds peat and one-third loam and sand. It was soon after placed in a cool pit, and regularly shifted into a larger pot as it required it. Under this treat- ment it grew freely, and was covered with its beautiful flowers for several months in the early part of the present year. “The only particular thing in its cultivation is, that it must always have plenty of air and not too much water, otherwise it is very apt to damp off at its neck soon after flowering. * It is easily propagated from cuttings, treated in the usual way." A fine plant exhibited by Mr. Halley of Blackheath, at one of the meetings of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street, received the Society's Large Silver Medal, which is given on those occasions exclusively for new ornamental — of great beauty, never previously exhibited to the public. Fig. 1. isa calyx, with one of the segments turned back to shew the ovary and style; 2. is a longitudinal section of the ovary. 50 * FUNKIA Sieboldi. Siebold's Funkia. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LiLIACEX. FUNKIA, Spreng. Perigonium corolinum, tubulosum; tubo brevi, limbo sex-partito, subbilabiato, connivente v. patentiusculo. Stamina 6, basi limbi inserta, subfasciculatim declinata. Ovarium triloculare. Ovula plurima, biseriata, adscendentia, anatropa. Stylus filiformis, declinatus ; stigma subtrigo- num, leve. Capsula oblongo-prismatica, trilocularis, loculicido-trivalvis. Se- mina plurima, ascendentia, plano-compressa ; testá membranacea, nigra, laxa, in alam apice longiorem producta, raphe inter testam liberá, adscendente. Em- bryones plures, dimidio albumine longiores, inter communem cavitatem axilem paralleli, extremitatibus radicularibus incrassatis umbilico proximis. Herbz in China et Japonica obvie ; radice fibroso-fasciculatá, foliis radicalibus petio- latis, ovatis cordatisve, acuminatis, plicato-nervosis, caulinis nullis, v. sub- sessilibus, floribus racemosis candidis v. coeruleis. Endl. gen. pl no. 1100. F. Sieboldi ; foliis oblongis acuminatis multinerviis subtús glaucis, racemo denso secundo multifloro, floribus pendulis clavato-infundibularibus, pedicellis brac- teis erectis brevioribus. F. Sieboldiana. Bot. Mag. t. 3663. Hemerocallis Sieboldiana. Bot. Cab. t. 1869. Bractee unciales et ultra, ovate, acute, herbacee, punctis pellucidis sine ordine notate, pedicellis dupld longiores. Alabastrus apice ventricosus, ovalis, versus basin attenuatus teres. Stigma capitatum, obsolete trilobum, incurvum, ultra perianthium extensum, incurvatum. Ovula citó post peri- anthii delapsum alata. This very pretty herbaceous plant is one of Dr. v. Siebold's acquisitions in Japan, and has now become rather common in the collections near London. It differs from the old spe- cies of the gardens (Hemerocallis cerulea now Funkia ovata, and Hemerocallis japonica or alba now Funkia subcordata) * So named by Sprengel, after Henry Christian Funck, a German Crypto- gamic Botanist, who lived in the early part of the present century. n its much smaller and more numerous flowers, which are neither blue nor white, but of a pale lilac colour. It proves a hardy perennial, growing about a foot high in any rich garden soil, particularly if planted in a situation which is rather dry during the winter, but well supplied with moisture during the growing season, and rather shaded from the mid-day sun. | It flowers about the end of June, each flower lasting but for one day, but the others come out in succession for several days. The plant is increased freely by dividing the old roots, when in a dormant state, or by seeds (which it produces freely) sown in the spring. Seedling plants will not flower before the second season. Fig. 1. represents the stamens and pistil, the floral enve- lopes being removed ; 2. is a transverse section of the ovary ; 3. 1s a vertical section of the same part ; 4. is an ovule a little advanced towards the state of a seed. The accompanying figure was taken from specimens com- municated by Robert Mangles, Esq. of Sunning Hill. 51 GONGORA fulva. Tawny-flowered Gongora. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEZ, $ VANDERZ. GONGORA, Fl. Peruv. Botanical Register, vol. 19. fol. 1616. G. fulva ; hypochilii convexi cornubus lateralibus elongatis capitatis aristis seta- ceis, epichilio acuminato «quilongo, pedicellis columná tripló longioribus. The drawing of this plant has been lying in my portfolio since the month of July, 1836, when I received a specimen from Mr. Barker with the following memorandum. * The leaves of the plant are very similar in form to the Gongora maculata, but are somewhat larger, and perhaps a little finer or thinner. The bulbs are deeply ribbed, and a little longer than maculata. It is highly fragrant, scenting the whole house; the scent approaches nearer that of the violet than any thing I know." i Mr. Barker considered the plant a variety of Gongora maculata, already figured in this work at fol. 1616; and perhaps rightly. But at the same time, till we have a more certain knowledge of the value of the differences found in the flowers of Orchidaceous plants, it seems necessary to dis- tinguish it specifically. In addition to the peculiarities ad- verted to in the above memorandum, and the darker colour, the flowers of this are not more than half the size of G. ma- culata, and the raceme is far more contracted, in consequence of the shortness of the pedicels. I also find that the lateral horns of the hypochilium are terminated by a round dilated head; as is represented in the magnified flower of the ac- companying plate. September, 1839. T 92 52 * ZICHYA tricolor. Three-coloured Zichya. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Nat. ord. FABACEZ, or PAPILIONACER. ZICHYA (Hügel msc.) Calyx campanulatus bilabiatus, labio superiore bidentato, inferiore tripartito. Corolle vexillum unguiculatum, late orbiculatum, emarginatum, reflexum, basi biappendiculatum, alis longius. 4le oblongs, ca- rine ultra medium adheerentes. Carina incurva, obtusa, alis brevior v. subequi- longa. Stamina distincte diadelpha, filamento vexillari basi recto inarticulato. Anthere uniformes. Vagina disci nulla. Ovarium pluriovulatum. Stylus brevis, adscendens, superne in stigma subcapitatum, ssepius dilatatum v. breviter appendiculatum desinens. Legumen oblongo-lineare, compressum, coriaceum, sutura seminifera incrassata, intus isthmis cellulosis multiloculare. Semina stro- phiolata, Frutices volubiles. Folia pinnatim trifoliolata, foliolis stipel- latis. Pedunculi axillares, apice umbellatim multiflori. Bractew et stipulee parve, rarius foliacee. Calyces sepius pilis fuscis villosi. Corolla coccinea. Bentham in Hugel's Arch. t. 1. Z. tricolor ; foliolis ovato-oblongis obtusis utrinque preecipué subtüs sericeis, calycibus pilis appressis ferrugineis villosis, vexillo cuneato, alis carinà ob- tusissimá longioribus, stigmate minuto. Caules volubiles, pilis appressis rufescentibus sericei. Folia trifoliolata, utrinque sericea ; petiolo dense piloso ; stipulis triangularibus, subtüs villosis, supra glabris sulcatis ; foliolis exacté ovato-oblongis, obtusis, apiculatis, ne minimé quidem angulatis vel retusis, lateralibus petiolatis. Pedunculi azil- lares, foliis longiores, sericei, floribus umbellato-corymbosis. Calyx pilis ap- pressis ferrugineis hirsutus, unguis vexilli longitudine, labio superiore biden- tato, inferiore trifido. Vexillum cuneatum, retusum, angulis rotundatis, supra unguem bicallosum, amené lateritium, basi luteo biocellatum ; Ale rose, obtuse, patule, carin atropurpureá obtusissimá longiores. Stamina diadelpha, inter se equalia. Ovarium lineare, pubescens ; stylo crasso, com- presso, glaberrimo, sursúm incurvo et subulato ; stigmate minuto, capitato. The genus Zichya has been formed by Baron Hügel at the expense of the older genus Kennedya, by separating from it the species figured in this work under the name of Kennedya inophylla (fol. 1431), dilatata (fol. 1526), and glabrata (fol. 1838), together with the K. coccinea of Ventenat, and by adding to it a pretty new species, from Swan River, which he has named Z. Molly. The genus thus constituted forms a very natural group, and one which, from its graceful twining habit, is particularly well suited to ornament green- houses. * So named by Baron Hügel, in compliment to the Countess Molly Zichy- Ferraris, now Princess Metternich. The plant now figured was sent me by Mr. Young, nur- seryman, of Milford near Godalming ; it is nearly related to Z. dilatata, from which it differs in the following par- ticulars: the leaflets are not in the slightest degree angular, but exactly ovate oblong ; they are not retuse, but simply obtuse; and they are downy on the upper side: the flowers are in looser heads, and the calyx is closely covered with brown hairs, not shaggy with spreading black hairs; besides which the flowers are not of one uniform colour, except the basal spots of the vexillum, on the contrary the keel is deep purple, the wings are bright rose colour, and the vexillum is a bright brick red. To the six species now defined I have to add a seventh, for which I am indebted to Captain Mangles, who received the specimens from Swan River ; and which, from the nar- rowness of its leaves, may be called Z. angustifolia.* This plant may be increased by seeds, or by cuttings of the halfripened wood in spring, inserted in a pot of silver- sand, covered with a bell-glass, and placed on a moderate hot-bed. In potting off the cuttings when rooted none of the sand should be allowed to remain on the roots of the young plants, as it often causes them to canker and become unhealthy, or die. The young plants when first potted off should have rather a light sandy soil, but as they become stronger the soilin which they were potted should have a larger portion of loam in it; as this plant, like nearly all those belonging to Leguminose, prefers a strong soil and rather dry situation. n a cold pit or green- rees above freezing, but " Z.angustifolia ; foliolis oblongo-linearibus que presertim subtüs pilo corolla longioribus, vexill glabro dorso tantum pube > basi dilatatis supra nitidis utrin- sis, calycibus pilis appressis ferrugineis villosis unguibus o obcordato, alis cariná obtusissimá longioribus, ovario Scente, stigmate minutissimo. or M 53 DAUBENYA fülva. Tawny Daubenya. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LILIACER. DAUBENYA. Botanical Register, vol. xxi. fol. 1813. D. fulva; foliis petiolatis ovalibus basi convolutis, capitulo pedunculato, den- tibus labii posterioris distantibus, anteriore longé unguiculato. Perianthium tubulosum, ore valdé obliquo, bilabiato; labio peripherico longé unguiculato trilobo ; postico nano laciniá intermediá dentiformi. Stamina 6, basi laciniarum perianthii inserta; antheris erectis, introrsis, basi fixis. Ovarium uniloculare, cum stylo continuum, placentis tribus parietalibus, axin attingentibus, utrinque serie simplici polyspermis ; stigma simplex. Planta bulbosa, Africana, diphylla, Massonie facie; foliis ovalibus leviter striatis, basi cucullatis. Scapus centralis, foliis brevior, floribus subverticillatim capitatis, bracteis membranaceis, cucullatis ——. Bulbus omnino Hyacinthi orientalis facie, sed minor. Folia ovalia, obtusa, basi convoluta, limbo 4-5 pollices longo. Scapus centralis, 2-pollica- ris, teres, nudus ; racemo subverticillato, denso, capituliformi, multifloro. Bractee membranacee, oblonge, cucullate, tubo perianthii breviores. Pe- rianthii tubus flavus, 2 lineas longus, teres; limbus 13 pollicem longus, 6-lobus, quam mazimé irregularis; lobus posticus parvus, erectus, denti- Jormis ; 2 proximi paulo alterios in limbum, triangulares, acuti, patentes ; tum tres alteri, longo intervallo distantes et quasi unguiculati, labium capi- tuli peripheriam spectans efformant, 3-lobum, coccineum, laciniis obovatis concavis subequalibus. Stamina laciniis perianthii opposita, equalia ; an- theris linearibus, erectis, introrsis, utrinque bilobis. Ovarium 1-loculare, placentis 3 parietalibus 6-8-spermis, basi approximatis, sursúm distantibus effetis; in stylum cavum, cum ovarii cavitate continuum, ad stigma usque simplicissimum punctiforme protractum. For a knowledge of this most remarkable plant I am indebted to Robert Barchard, Esq. of East Hill, Wandsworth, in whose garden it was observed in flower by Professor Royle. It had been received from the Cape of Good Hope, with other bulbs, but was believed to have been collected some- where on the East Coast of Africa or in Madagascar. October, 1839. U It forms a new species of the very singular genus Dau- benya, the original of which was published in this work some years ago (Daubenya aurea, vol. xxi. fol. 1813) ; but it throws no new light upon the affinities of the genus, which must still be supposed to be with Massonia. .. The irregularity observable in the perianth of Daubenya aurea, is here carried still further, existing to as great an extent as in the most oblique forms of Babiana among Tridacee ; and it adds one to the many already known facts leading to the conclusion that irregularity in the floral enve- lopes cannot alone be taken as a sound mark of ordinal dis- tinction. Certainly Liliaceze has been hitherto regarded as one of the most regular-flowered of orders, and yet here is a case in which irregularity in the flower is carried almost as far as the suppression of a part of the floral segments. It will doubtless be found, whenever the limitation of natural orders is reduced to any principles, and ceases to be arbi- trary, that every large order contains irregular and regular flowered genera, and that the greatest value that can be assigned to such a circumstance is that of characterizing some division of the order: Among Exogens Ranunculaceae, Papaveracee, Violacee, Geranacee, Brassicacee, Apiacee, Asteracee, Campanulacee, Boraginacee, Caprifoliacee, Malpighiacee, and a great many others have both regular and irregular flowers; Scrophu- lariacee with irregular flowers therefore should not be divided from Solanacee, any more than among Amaryllidacee Hip- peastrum from Vallota. In the accompanying figure 1. represents a flower, mag- nified; 2. an ovary, style, and stigma; 3. a transverse section of the ovary. p yk i ; Iteca, Un cei tttm, FOG, . 7 t r. CC FA 54 LAELIA albida. White-flowered Lelia. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEZ, $ EPIDENDREZ. ' LALIA,. Botanical Register, vol. 21. fol. 1751. L. albida ; pseudo-bulbis ovalibus diphyllis, foliis linearibus acutis spicá mul- tiflorá 4-pló brevioribus, sepalis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis vel subacumi- natis petalisque latioribus acutis, omnibus apicibus reflexis fortiter mucro- nulatis; labelli alté trilobi tricostati lobis lateralibus erectis rotundatis intermedio duplo majore subrotundo obscure apiculato reflexo. Bateman in litt. Botanical Register, 1839, misc. no. 4. Pseudobulbi ovati, sulcati, diphylli. Folia angusté lanceolata, erecto- patula, scapo breviora. Racemus erectus, 3-5-florus. Bractew ovate, dure, obtuse, sessiles, nane. Sepala candida, apice rosea, oblongo-lanceolata, patula. Petala breviora, oblonga, obtusiora, revoluta, concolora. Labellum obovatum, trilobum, 3-lamellatum : laciniis lateralibus obtusis intermedio ob- tuso apiculato undulato rubescente multo brevioribus; lamelle labelli lutee, purpureo-punctate. Columna elongata, glabra. Oaxaca is the head-quarters of Orchidaces, in the king- dom of Mexico. It was there that Count Karwinski found the greater part of the species, of which specimens were brought home by him to Munich; it is there that the majo- rity of European collectors have obtained the best part of what they have sent home; and where, cn Mr. Hartweg has got together not fewer than 140 species for the Horticul- tural Society. Oaxaca is the native country of this lovely plant, a notice of which has already been inserted in the present work, and than which none is more worthy of a figure; for its flowers are as sweet as a bed of primroses, which in fact they much resemble in odour. Count Karwinski found it near St. Pedro, in cool places, according to the herbarium of Dr. Von Martius, in which wild specimens exist. It was originally sent me by Mr. Bateman ; and I have since had it from Thomas Harris, Esq. of Kingsbury, who bought it, along with numerous Cacti, from a French col- lector who visited London two years ago. The pseudo-bulbs were so much like those of Lelia autumnalis, that, when the latter reached London from Mr. Hartweg, it was thought to be the same species. It is the only Leelia as yet discovered with white flowers. * AGAVE saponaria. The Soap Aloe. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. AMARYLLIDACEZ, $ AGAVER. AGAVE. Botanical Register, vol. 14. fol. 1145. A. saponaria; acaulis, inermis, glaucescens, rhizomate crasso carnoso, foliis teneris lanceolatis acuminatis semiamplexicaulibus, spicá simplici, bracteis acuminatis ovario brevioribus (perianthii laciniis revolutis). Botanical Register for 1838, mise. no. 141. » A full description of this plant having been already given in the present work, it is needless to repeat it. Mr. Skinner is related to have found it used as a substi- tute for soap in Peru, where he saw it growing on a sandy plain; it seems however to be Mexican; and to be very nearly the same as the Polianthes mexicana of Zuccarini, which is described as having white flowers, and is probably an allied species. That it is an Agave admits I think of no doubt; but, unlike those gigantic species with which we are most familiar, it flowers readily and does not then perish, but continues to grow without suffering ; in fact it is a true perennial, while the others are analogous to annuals. If this species should furnish a fibre capable of being used by the manufacturer, it will then, like the Maguey, its near ally, both produce a material from which linen may be woven, and assist in washing it afterwards. Its cultivation is very simple. When it is in a growing state it should be placed in a temperature a little higher than * Ayavoc admirable, in allusion to the many useful purposes to which the genus is applicable. a common greenhouse. It never requires much water, and in the winter months may be kept nearly dry. The soil used in potting should be fresh loam mixed with a consider- able quantity of sand. When seeds are procured they should be sown in light soil, and placed in a little heat, where they will vegetate freely. 26 56 * LUPINUS Barkeri. Mr. Barker's Lupine. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Nat. Ord. FABACEAZ or LEGUMINOsE, $ PAPILIONACER, LUPINUS. Botanical Register, vol. 13. fol. 1096. L. Barkeri; annuus, pubescens, foliolis septenatis obovatis obtusis subtus pilo- siusculis, stipulis adnatis setaceis pilosis, racemis verticillatis multifloris, alabastris rostratis distantibus tomentosis bracteis subulatis deciduis pilosis paulo brevioribus, calyce bracteolato: labiis utrisque acuminatis superiore bidentato. — M MÀ — To the erowd of species of this most difficult genus a new one is added with some hesitation ; and, till the specific marks of the genus are better understood, it will be im- possible to feel quite sure that varieties are not introduced under the name of species. I must confess, however, that I can find no recorded plant to which the present can be referred, as a probable variety. It approaches nearest to L. elegans of this work, fol. 1581, and to Z. leptocarpus of Mr. Bentham, but it seems to differ from both those plants in the somewhat re- markable character of the flower-buds being separated from each other by a considerable distance even when quite young. From Z., Hartwegii, which is L. bilineatus of Mr. Bentham's " Plante Hartwegiane,” and which is I fear too near L. mericamus, the short deciduous bracts and freedom from villosity sufficiently separate this plant. _ It was obtained from Mexico by George Barker, Esq. of Birmingham, and is worthy of bearing his name, fog it is a very handsome species. It may be treated either as a half-hardy annual, or as a * See Botanical Register, fol. 1198. biennial ; and, like Zupinus Hartwegit, flowers from the end of June until destroyed by frost in the autumn. If treated as an annual the seeds should be sown as early as possible (February), so that the plants may have a long season before them ; but if managed as a biennial, the seeds should be sown the previous year, about the beginning of August; kept in pots protected from frost during winter, and planted out in the open borders about the middle of May. It makes large plants, growing nearly three feet high, and flowering profusely all the autumn. r2 Nt FM 4, b y : » IBY f ecc autet ly Oed 57 ONCIDIUM trulliferum. Trowel-lipped Oncidium. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEZ, S VANDEZ. ONCIDIUM. © Botanical Register, vol. 13. t. 1758. O. trulliferum ; pseudobulbis elongatis ovalibus com ressis 2-3-phyllis foliis ovalibus feré equalibus, scapo radicali rigido semel ramoso, sepalis laterali- bus distinctis superioribus petalisque obtusis concavis, labelli lobis lateralibus nanis rotundatis intermedio trulliformi serrulato, cristá verrucosá medio depressá levi antic? dente ascendente serrato apice appendiculato, columns alis integerrimis ovatis obtusis. This addition to the extensive genus Oncidium is a native of Brazil, whence it was imported by Messrs. Loddiges, with whom it flowered in September, 1838. The pseudo-bulbs are represented much diminished in the accompanying plate; they are in fact six inches long, and the leaves themselves are scarcely longer; they are pressed almost flat, so that although fourteen or fifteen lines broad, they are not more than three lines thick (fig. 2.). The scape is stiff, erect, and branched in a simply pin- nated manner, each branch being covered with flowers from the base to the apex. The figure of the lip (fig. 1.) is ve uncommon ; its middle lobe is produced into a segment muc like a bricklayer’s trowel, at the base of which there stands a strong tooth ascending, notched at the side, and terminated by a little notched appendage ; this tooth rests by its back upon a tumour covered with regular warts, and forming the centre of three such tumours, the lateral ones standing nearer the base of the labellum, with a smooth wartless hollow be- tween them. In cultivation it requires the da managed ; growing freely either in a October, 1839. x mp stove. It is eni pot with the usual soil, or suspended from the roof upon a block of wood. In either way, but particularly in the latter, it must be freely syringed during the growing season. It is propagated in the same way as other plants of this kind. E / MA od Ez LG , s : y dd v PETS edd LB halle, dell Dutlty 4 He dgapr 6 Piccadilly Dor E T0 fj. Barclay. se a 7 omg / y 58 * AMYGDALUS incana. Hoary-leaved Almond. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. Rosacez, $ AMYGDALEZ. AMYGDALUS. Botanical Register, vol. 14. t. 1160. A. incana ; foliis obovatis oblongisque serratis subtus incano-tomentosis, caly- cibus cylindraceis : laciniis oblongis herbaceis tomentosis, petalis emarginatis tubo calycis brevioribus. ; A.incana. Pall. fl. Ross. p. 13. t. 7. ` A. nana, var. incana. Loudon Arb. Brit. ii. 674. A rare and very pretty hardy shrub, inhabiting the range of Caucasus, or open plains near the foot of the promontory, near Teflis, among rocks. lt is readily known from A. nana, by its leaves covered thickly with hoariness beneath; never- theless it has been thought to be a variety of that species. This was the opinion of Guldenstadt who first discovered it; but it was not adopted by Pallas who first published it. M. DeCandolle has omitted the plant in his Prodromus, and Mr. Loudon in his Arboretum Britannicum, not having seen the species, and being perhaps influenced by Pallas's bad figure of A. nana, adopted the views of Guldenstädt. No two species can however be more truly distinct ; and the characters by which they are distinguished, namely, the obovate coarsely serrated leaves hoary beneath, long downy calyx, and short petals, of the one, and the finely serrated leaves smooth on both sides, short smooth calyx, and long petals, of the other, I find to be uniform in the wild plant. In my specimens from the Caucasus, sent me by the late M. De Klustine and Mr. Prescot, and in others from Iberia, which I owe to the liberality of the Imperial Museum of * See Botanical Register, fol. 1160. St. Petersburgh, all the features of the Garden plant are exactly preserved. For the possession of it the Horticultural Society is in- debted to Sir Oswald Moseley, Bart. in whose shrubbery at Rolleston Hall 1 first saw it growing in 1837. It is a hardy middle sized shrub, flowering about the beginning of May, and growing well in any rather strong rich soil, but not in a damp situation. It is increased by budding on the common plum stock about the middle or end of July. The plant in the Garden of the Society was not in the least injured by the severe winter of 1837-8. E ag T 59 FABIANA imbricata. Imbricated Fabiana. es PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. SOLANACER. FABIANA. Ruiz & Pavon. Calyx tubulosus semiquinquefidus. Co- rolla hypogyna, infundibularis, tubo sensim ampliato, limbo plicato leviter quin- quelobo. Stamina 5, imo corolle tubo inserta, inclusa, insequilonga, apice in- curva; antheris longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Discus bilobus carnosus. Ova- rium biloculare, placentis dissepimento adnatis, multiovulatis ; stylus simplex, apice incurvus : stigma obliquum. Capsula calyce persistente inclusa, bilocu- laris, septicido-bivalvis, valvis apice bifidis, placentas coadunatas nutantibus, Semina plurima, subglobosa. Embryo intra albumen carnosum subperiphericus, arcuatus. Suffrutices austro-americani, viscosi v. resinosi; foliis alternis sparsis v. imbricatis ; pedunculis sub-axillaribus v. extra-axillaribus, soli- tarüs, unifloris. Endlicher genera, no. 3838, paucis mutatis. F. imbricata ; foliis squamzeformibus imbricatis obtusis, floribus sessilibus. F. imbricata. Fl. Peruv. 11. p. 12. t. 122. This pretty little shrub was originally discovered in Chili by Dombey, from whose herbarium specimens are now before me. It was first published in the Flora Peruviana, having been found by the botanists attached to the Spanish survey of Western South America, in plains and on the sandy banks ofstreams in the same country. Recently it was met with plentifully by Mr. Cuming, of whose dried plants 1t 15 no. 140. It forms a small bright green shrub, with the habit of a Tamarisk, or rather of a Thuja, and when in flower is loaded with snow-white blossoms resembling those of some heath ; it may be in fact regarded as a genus of Solanacez with the habit of Ericacez. It is not easy to deny the justice of the views of Schykofsky and Schleiden regarding placentation in such plants as this November, 1839. — . Y is; for we find the placente distinctly separate from the carpellary leaves, and to all appearance constituting a forma- tion with a central origin. It can hardly indeed be doubted that the central placentation is of very common occurrence ; indeed I suspect we shall find upon more exact enquiry that the placentary matter is not always confined to the interior of the ovary, but that it occasionally finds its way to the outside, in which case it becomes the stigmatic tissue, and is surrounded by the apex of the style either in the form of a sort of toothing as in Impatiens, or like a rim as in Ericaceze, or as what botanists call the stigmatic indusium in Goode- niacez, Sc. Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co. of Exeter supplied me with a flowering specimen of this plant in May of the present year; and I have also had it from Messrs. Rollissons of Tooting. It is multiplied by cuttings or seed in the same manner as Cape heaths; and must be cultivated in the greenhouse or pit, sufficiently protected from frost in winter. The situa- tion in which it is placed should be near the glass, and where it can have plenty of air. In the summer months it should be turned out of doors, but not exposed to too bright sunshine. In other respects it may be treated as common greenhouse plants. The soil which suits it best is peat and sand. _Fig. 1. represents a magnified view of the entire flower ; 2. is a stamen; 3. is an ovary, with its double two-lobed crimson disk ; 4. represents the same part cut through trans- versely, and shews that one of the cells of the ovary is much smaller than the other. OO Sot S s y. *- a s Ly TACO: HAL. Fut tu v Sa. T 7, / AR > Lb q^ dgua YAÓY o renal A ope le UH ABI 60 * PATERSONÍA sapphirina. Sapphire Patersoma. MONADELPHIA TRIANDRIA. Nat. ord. 1RIDACEZ. PATERSONIA. Botanical Register, vol. 1. fol. 51. P. sapphirina ; foliis linearibus viridibus scapoque glabris junioribus tenuissimé ciliatis: striis sequalibus, scapo foliorum longitudine, spathis multifloris cariná interiorum tomentosá, stigmate erecto, antheris isoscelo-triangularibus. Folia bipedalia et ultra, 2 lineas lata; striis equalibus ; juniora pilis Minutis ciliata citó deciduis. Capsule oblonge, anguste, trigone, apice et angulis cum perianthii basi persistente tomentose ; loculicido-trivalves, po- lysperme. Semina atra, ascendentia, oblonga, mutud pressione angulata, tenuissime acustriata, angulo centrali loculorum adnata, sine ullo columna centralis vestigio; raphe tenuis; chalaza elevata subfungosa ; albumen cor- neum, amylo plenum, oleosum, revera album, sed luce teste violaceá trans- d quasi violaceum ; embryo minimus in cavitate hilo proximá obliquá INCLUSUS. A beautiful herbaceous plant, requiring the simplest greenhouse cultivation, and inhabiting the Swan River Colony, whence its seeds were obtained by Mr. Mangles. Unfortunately the brilliant sapphire flowers, to which colours fail to do justice, are of short duration: a large plant will however produce numerous flower-heads, and these, by the number of their blossoms, compensate for their ephemeral existence. ted differs from all mentioned The species now represen of Swan in Dr. Brown's Prodromus, and in the account * So named by Dr. Brown, as he tells us, in honour of his “ very dear friend, William Paterson, a celebrated traveller, lieutenant-governor of New South Wales, of which region he for many years investigated the Flora with great zeal. This was doubtless an excellent reason for naming some New Holland plant after Colonel Paterson, but none for doing so at the expense of M. Labillardiére, who first called this genus Genosiris. River plants described in the Appendix to the Botanical Register, now in course of publication, in its long narrow leaves and scape, which are quite destitute of hairiness, ex- cept when the former are very young, at which time they are fringed with delicate down. Besides these there exists at the Swan River a species, of which I have a specimen, that I presume to be new, but which I am unable to publish with confidence as such, which must be by far the handsomest of all; its scape is two feet high, and much longer than the leaves, which are glaucous, red-edged, smooth, and half an inch broad. Specimens were sent home by Mr. Drummond, from whom the seed might be readily obtained, if this de- scription, brief as it is, were transmitted to him. | The only description of the seed which I have seen is in Endlicher's Genera, no. 1234, where it is said to have an axile embryo shorter than the fleshy albumen. Such, however, is by no means the structure of this species, of which the ripe seeds have a very minute embryo lying in an oblique cavity of the albumen, in the region of the hilum. Da Ad X cla Ur. AC f Vise, 1599 PU ca LY, 4 gp ICG. Pe Y a. qua c j ; ^2, 7, "4 61 CLEMATIS lathyrifolia. Large-flowered erect Clematis. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Nat. ord. RANUNCULACEZ. CLEMATIS. Botanical Register, vol. 2. fol. 97. C. lathyrifolia ; herbacea, erecta, foliis pinnatis: foliolis ovato-lanceolatis in- tegerrimis 2-3-lobisve, corymbis paniculatis, sepalis 4-5 obovatis tomentosis, carpellis eum caudá villosis, C. lathyrifolia, Besser. sec. Reichenbach fl. excurs. germ. 2. 734. The two common hardy herbaceous plants, Clematis erecta and angustifolia, although placed at a great distance from each other in M. DeCandolle's distribution of the genus, are nevertheless so nearly related that there can be no doubt of their immediate affinity. In fact they cannot be distin- guished by the characters given them in the Prodromus, which are almost equally applicable to either. C. angusti- folia is said to have one flower only on a common stalk, which is never the case in the garden specimens, neither do I find it so in my wild specimens of the supposed variety C. lasiantha from Dahuria. The real distinction between them consists, as Reichenbach has well observed, in the narrow leaves and hairy carpels of one, as compared with the broad ovate leaves and smooth carpels of the other. But to which are we to refer the present plant ? Reichen- bach considers it a mere variety of C. erecta, which is 1m- possible, for it has the leaves and fruit of C. angustifolia ; but it will not arrange exactly with the latter plant, for its flowers are in a loose corymbose panicle, and are much larger, and its whole aspect is different ; in the size of its flowers 1t cor- responds with the above-mentioned C. lasiantha, which seems a good species, and not a mere variety of C. angustifolia. This may indeed be regarded as a variety of C. lasiantha ; but it wants the wool in which the flower-buds of that species are enveloped. What its native country may be I am unable to ascertain ; it is said by Reichenbach to have received its name from Professor Besser; but it is not noticed in that writer's Enu- meration of the plants of Podolia, Bessarabia, and other dismemberments of the ancient kingdom of Poland, nor do I find a trace of it in any book except Reichenbach’s Enume- ration, above quoted. I have only seen it in the garden of the Horticultural Society, where it was received from the late Mr. Fischer, of the Gottingen garden, under the name here adopted. It is a very showy hardy perennial, growing three or four feet high in any good garden soil, and flowering freely from June to August. It is increased freely by division of the old plant when in a dormant state, or by seeds, which should be sown in the spring; the seedlings will not flower before the second season. It is rather a straggling plant if left to nature; but if tied up regularly to a stake, it makes a beautiful object in a flower garden. : Sp 62 CYRTOCHILUM mystacinym. Whiskered Curvelip. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACER, $ VANDEA. CYRTOCHILUM. Botanical Register, vol. 19. fol. 1627. Cyrtochilum mystacinum ; pseudobulbis ovalibus compressis corrugatis mono- phyllis basi polyphyllis, foliis ligulatis acutis planiusculis carinatis scapo ramoso multó brevioribus, bracteis lanceolatis pedunculis dupló brevioribus, sepalis petalisque ovatis acuminatis, labello unguiculato cordato obovato-lan- ceolato subrepando plano apice reflexo medio pubescente basi obsoleté lamellato, columne alis multifidis. Bot. Register, 1838. misc. no. 38. Pseudobulbi ovales, corrugati, compressi, intra bases foliorum latentes vaginantium ; ipsi monophylli. Folia ensiformia, carinata, acuta, avenia, erecta, scapo composito-racemoso multà breviora. Bractese acuminate, spha- celate, fere naviculares, majores 6-7 lin. longe. Pedicelli bracteis majori- bus «quales, minoribus longiores. Ovarium pedicello suo multà brevius. Flores lutei, unicolores, distantes. Sepala linearia, acuminata ; lateralibus labello suppositis. Petala conformia, sed latiora. Labellum unguiculatum, cordatum, obovatum, acumine recurvo ; columná subparallelum eique basi adnatum ; ungue calloso obsolete lamellato apicé dentato. Columna cla- vata ; alis laceris, appendice ante stigma emarginato. A notice of this rare plant has already been given in the volume of the present work for 1838, among the miscellaneous matter, no. 38; where by a misprint the flowers are de- scribed as being “ bright yellow white-coloured,” instead of * bright yellow whole-coloured.” It is a native of Peru, whence it was obtained by Richard Harrison, Esq. of Aighburgh, with whom it produced its flowers in the latter end of 1837. It is a genuine species of the genus, having the base of the lip united to the face of the lower part of the column, a circumstance overlooked in the separate figure of the column in the accompanying figure, which is otherwise correct. This species will require to be cultivated in the moist stove, but will ¿probably succeed best when the temperature is rather lower than it commonly is in this kind of house. It should be potted in brown turfy peat well drained, and treated as other plants of this kind. It is multiplied by division. (X 2 2 A Neve 1I820, Garay, de Prato tuy Z Baig way IÓ) Pucca AA, NOKI TEI YG, YU Y M E 4 e PA » — - 63 SCILLA pratensis. Meadow Squill. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LILIACE®. SCILLA. Botanical Register, vol. 16. fol. 1355. S. pratensis ; foliis pluribus proteranthiis ensiformibus canaliculatis subundulatis scapo glabro longioribus, racemo elongato bracteolis minimis scariosis, pe- dunculis flore tripló longioribus, perianthii foliolis linearibus patulis stami- nibus longioribus. S. pratensis. Waldst. § Kitaib. plant. rar. Hung. vol. 2. p. 207. t. 189. Reichenb. fl. excurs. 1. 106. no. 721. For specimens of this rare Squill I am indebted to the Honourable W. F. Strangways, in whose garden at Abbots- berry it flowers in June. It is a beautiful little rock plant, quite hardy, and a welcome addition to our gardens from flowering after the spring bulbs are gone, and before the autumnal species appear. By those authors who have noticed the plant it has been compared with Sc. italica, but it is in reality much more closely allied to Sc. autumnalis, from which it differs in having evident bracts, a perfectly smooth not scabrous scape, and in its time of flowering. It is a native of Croatia, in fields and meadows by the side of the river Korenicza, and especially near the village of that name, flowering in the beginning of June. Like most plants with bulbous roots it requires a rich sandy soil to grow in, with plenty of moisture during the growing season, and to be either protected from wet during the time of rest or to be taken up after growing, but not before the leaves become yellow; as cutting the leaves off bulbous plants before the new bulbs are perfectly matured November, 1839. z is very injurious, although a common practice, in order to prevent the unsightly appearance of Crocuses, Hyacinths, Squills, Ornithogalums, and all such early flowering plants, because they become shabby during the early part of summer. 64 DENDROBIUM formosúm. Beautiful Tree-bloom. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. Ord. OrcHiDacez, $ MarAxiDEA. DENDROBIUM. Botanical Register, vol. 7. fol. 548. D. formosum ; caulibus teretibus pendulis pilosis, foliis distichis ovatis apice obliqué emarginatis obtusis, racemo brevi terminali 4-5-floro, bracteis bre- vibus ovatis, (floribus maximis), sepalis oblongis acutis: lateralibus. basi longè productis, petalis duplo latioribus acutis, labello obovato dilatato retuso cum basi columns in calcar obtusum connato. Lindley in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. p. 34. t. 39. D. formosum. Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 485. Wall. Cat. no. 1998. This magnificent species flowered at Chatsworth, in May 1838, and the drawing on the opposite page was then made from a specimen given me by his Grace the Duke of Devon- shire. As a white flowered epiphyte, it is almost unrivalled among Asiatic Orchidacee, the Phalenopsis amabilis being the only one that can enter into comparison with it. It has been already amply described by Drs. Roxburgh and Wallich ; the former tells us he found it on trees in the forests of Sylhet, and in the Garrow mountains, flowering in April and May. | 3 It was gathered by Dr. Wallich on the mountains of Nepal and Sylhet; also in the province of Martaban near Moulmein, and in Tavoy on the Tenasserim coast, flowering and fruiting in both the dry and rainy seasons. Mr. Grit- fith also met with it on trees in damp places in the neigh- bourhood of Moulmein ; so that its range is unusually ex- tensive for plants of this kind ; it does not however appear to belong to the Flora of the Indian Archipelago. Dr. Wallich says it grows generally in large tufts upon trees, or sometimes on rocks ; the flowers possessing a delightful though faint perfume. The best way to cultivate the plant, is to suspend it from the rafters of the stove. It should have plenty of good turfy peat to nourish its roots, and must be freely watered and syringed during its growing season. When that period is over, it should be kept dry and cool. This treatment will retain it in health and vigour, and make it flower freely. — 62 up ute RÀ ee La ee 2 LETS OO PAD 65 * GRAMMATOPHYLLUM multiflorum. Many-flowered Letter-leaf. GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. Nat. ord. ORCHIDACEA, $ VANDEAZ. GRAMMATOPHYLLUM Blume; Perianthium explanatum, patens, sepalis petalisque subeequalibus. Labellum cum columná articulatum, nanum, trilobum, cucullatum. Columna arcuata, erecta, semiteres, basi callosa. An- thera subbilocularis. Pollinia 2, globosa, basi sulcata, in extremitatibus glan- dulæ arcuatee sessilia. Herba epiphyta, caulescens. Caules simplices, incras- sati. Folia linearia, disticha, striata. ^ Pedunculi radicales, longissimi, (v. terminales ?) multiflori. Flores speciosissimi. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 173. G. multifforum ; racemo erecto longissimo multifloro, bracteis ovato-oblongis obtusis squamiformibus dorso convexis, sepalis oblongis obtusiusculis planis, petalis acutis subconformibus angustioribus, labelli trilobi pubescentis medio hirsuti lobo intermedio plano oblongo rotundato lateralibus erectis subfalcatis, jugo in medio carnoso elevato ad basin lobi intermedii interrupto in lamellas 4 simplices cis apicem evanescentes producto, columnee margine supra basin elevato flexuoso incurvo foveam altam obconicam circumdante. Botanical Register, 1835, misc. no. 80. For this noble Orchidaceous plant now figured we are indebted to the exertions of Mr. Hugh Cuming, who dis- covered it in Manilla, and sent it to his customers in England. I am not aware of its having flowered anywhere except with Mr. Bateman, who sent me in May, 1838, the specimen, of which the annexed plate represents the upper part; the Whole raceme was upwards of two feet long, and bore forty- eight flowers, each about an inch and half in diameter. . The plant has very much the aspect of a gigantic Cymbi- dium, with long coriaceous leaves, distichous at the base, and in fact there is not much to separate Grammatophyllum * From ypa ppa a letter, and guMo» a leaf, in allusion to the marking of the leaves of the flower. December, 1839. 2a from that genus; the principal mark of distinction yet re- marked consists in the gland of the pollen-masses, which in Cymbidium is triangular, and in the present genus is crescent-shaped, with one pollen-mass on each extremity of the crescent, 1 observe however that the base of the column is rolled up so as to form a fistular cavity, or cuniculus, near the base of the labellum; but I am uncertain whether to regard this as a generic character or not. It was hoped, when this plant was imported, that it would prove the famous Letter-plant of Amboyna, Java, and the neighbouring coast, so called because its flowers are marked with deep brown stains arranged upon a pale ground so as to resemble grotesque characters. In this however we have been disappointed, as, notwithstanding the noble ap- pearance of this, it is very inferior to the Letter-plant. Of that I have before me a single flower from Dr. Wallich’s Herbarium, gathered at Pulo Dinding, in Cochin China, by Mr. Finlayson, which must have been four inches from the tip of one sepal to that of the opposite petal, or a foot in cir- cumference ! As the species is in this natural order among the easiest to cultivate, it is well worth possession, even in a small col- lection, notwithstanding that the flowers want richness of colour : it is probable however that they will improve in this respect. 06 66 TULÍPA maleolens. Strong-smelling Tulip. , HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. LILIACEA; TULIPA, Botanical Register, Vol. 14. fol. 1143. T. maleolens; caule foliis breviore glabro, foliis lanceolatis canaliculatis margine undulatis ciliatis, petalis exterioribus longioribus ovatis v. ovato-oblongis acuminatis, interioribus oblongo-ellipticis obtusis; maculá baseos laté rhom- boideá emarginatà. Bertoloni in litt. et Reboul nonnull. sp. tulip. not. p. 9, et Appendix sec. Rómer et Schultes Syst. veg. vii. 376. For this rare tulip I am obliged to the Hon.W. F. Strang- ways, who communicated specimens from Abbotsbury, in May, 1838. According to Bertoloni the leaves are lanceolate, taper- pointed, regularly wavy and glaucous. The flower is red, deeper than in Oculus solis and precoz; in the inside crim- son red and shining, on the outside pale red. When in flower it exhales an unpleasant but weak smell. The spot at the bottom of the petals is short, truncated at the apex and emarginate, purplish with a yellow border, larger on the sepals than on the petals. The filaments are deep purple, and at the very tip light green. Mr. Strangways considers this plant to be **only a variety of T. Oculus solis; it is the smallest and most delicate; the bulb woolly as in the others. It is remarkable for its dark, rather than bright, cherry-coloured petals, with a pale straw- coloured border surrounding the dark eye which that tribe of Tulips has; this eye is of a dark greyish purple, and its pale edge is broader and generally more defined than in the other cognate Tulips. 1t approaches more nearly to the Tulip of the Euphrates (which I cultivate near it) than any other Italian Tulip does. A double variety is said to be in the Florentine gardens. “It is found near Florence in the fields and vineyards under S. Miniato; and at a greater distance and in quantity at S. Margherita. It is the latest flowering Tulip of its class. * The leaves are glaucous, more or less waved, sometimes much so. Its bad scent is not always present.” Mr. Strangways adds, that “ the Aleppo Tulip is distinct from that of the Euphrates; and proves to be precisely the Italian Oculus solis v. Raddiana, which seems the most gene- rally dispersed type of O. solis.” $ Vi A Z, a TIPS RI RIAS A PA r A 67 * ARBUTUS laurifolia.. Laurel-leaved Strawberry tree. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. Ord. ERICACEZ. ARBUTUS. Botanical Register, vol. ii. fol. 113. A. laurifolia ; foliis petiolatis oblongis obtusis glabris serrulatis, racemis compo- sitis pilosis, bracteis infimis squameformibus imbricatis, pedicellis glabrius- culis, corolla medio constrict dimidià inferiore corrugatá membranacea. A. laurifolia, Linn. Suppl. 238, fide Dom. Lambert. This plant was introduced from Mexico by the last Lord Napier, and given to Mr. Lambert, who is of opinion that it is the true A. laurifolia of Linneus' Supplement, a very obscure plant, said to inbabit North America, concerning which no one seems to have much information. Pursh sup- posed that it was from the North-west Coast, if so it must be the A. Menziesii of that Botanist, and the A. procera of this work, fol. 1753. Sir William Hooker concurs in the opinion that it was from the West Coast, because no true Arbutus has been seen on the east side of the Rocky moun- tains; but he distinguishes it from A. Menziesi. For my own part it seems more likely that Linneus should have seen some Mexican specimen, than that any north-west American should have come under his inspection, and if so, this is probably the plant he intended. Be this as it may, the present species is certainly LI distinct from A. Andrachne, although it also has a bark which peels off when old; the much less coriaceous and smaller leaves, and the very peculiar form of the corolla affording abundant marks of discrimination ; the contraction * See folio 1753. round the middle of the corolla is so distinctly marked, that in some positions it looks as if the upper greenish firm conical end, were a separate organ from the white shrivelled base. From A. Menziesii itself, it is so much less different, that I had at one time thought they must be the same. It ap- pears however, upon a more exact comparison, that while the whole raceme of A. Menziesii is covered with a fine delicate down which extends all over the pedicels, the latter in this species are nearly glabrous, and the remainder of the raceme coarsely downy. The lower bracts of A. Menziesii are spreading and foliaceous, of A. laurifolia scale-like, im- bricated, and closely pressed to the branch. The leaves too of the former are much smaller and thinner than those of the latter. 68 PENTLANDIA miniata, var. 2. Sulivanica. Red-lead-coloured Pentlandia, Commodore Sulivaws variety. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Nat. ord. AMARYLLIDACEA, $ OPORANTHIFORMES, scapo solido, tubo non coronato, seminibus testaceis. PENTLANDIA. Herbert. Perianthium cernuum tubo infra subeylindrico ` tenui curvatulo superne ventricosé ovali limbo brevi reflexé semipatenté regulari, filamenta recta subeequalia filiformia tubi regionis ventricos medio inseparabiliter inserta, stylus rectus tenuis stigmate incrassato, antheree medio affixee versatiles. Plante Andine bulbo ovato superne. angustato, foliis hysteranthiis margine in oriundo reflexe compresso seriüs explicato lanceolate angusto-ovalibus petiolo crasso, germine curvatulo trigone oblongo utrinque attenuato fronte declivi. P. miniata ; umbellà 4-6-florá, folio attenuaté subacuto (unico ?), scapo tereti subpedali glaucescente, spathá bivalvi acutá ebracteatá, pedunculis 4-6 in- sequalibus subsesquiuncialibus, perianthio subbiunciali miniato: tubi tertiá parte tenui sordida, sepalis ovatis, petalis basi angustatis (pedunculato-cor- datis) limbum circiter $ uncie longum staminibus semunciam stylo $ unc. superantibus, polline aureo. Var. 1. Lacunosa; tubo 6-costato angustiore mediá parte constricto, lacunis seepe externis intüs gibbosis subrotundis in spatiis interstamineis, foliis H uncie latis. Ex Quispicanchá prope urbem Cusco Peruvie. Fig. 1, 2, 3, W. H. Var. Sulivanica ; tubo latiore non constricto neque lacunoso ; (colore satura- tiore?) Ex Americe meridionalis regione Occidentali loco incerto. W.H. ** The first variety of this bright-coloured plant was found at Quispicancha, near Cusco in Peru, and sent to Spofforth under the name of Red Narcissus by J. B. Pentland, Esq. H. B. M.'s consul-general, together with several other bulbs, (some of which are apparently of the same genus) and seeds, amongst which were those of the splendid Erythrina, called Pisonai by the natives. , The genus Pentlandia is named in compliment to his exertions to introduce the vegetable pro- ductions of Peru into this country. Figs. 1, 2, 3, W. H. re- present a flower, the internal view of the same, and the leaf of an offset of var. 1; the full grown leaf, usually, if not always, solitary, would have been too long for the plate; its width is 11-16ths of an inch. It is distinguished from v. 2. by a slenderer tube, constricted towards the lower extremity of the ventricose part, and by remarkable round pits, which appear in the inside like knobs, mostly two to each flower in the spaces between the insertion of the filaments. V. 2. was sketched and described by Mr. Booth, the intelligent gardener of Sir C. Lemon, from a specimen sent to him by Mrs. Sulivan from Flushing, near Falmouth, with another from Miss Warren of the same place, as the produce of bulbs procured by Commodore Sulivan during his command on the W. coast of S. America in 1837. Both varieties flowered in August, 1839; v. 2. with four, v. 1. with six flowers, not long after the decay of the leaf. A second bulb of v. 1. shewed flower towards the end of September. The scape was about a foot high ; the circumference of the tube of v. 2. measured an inch and half. The anthers are oblong, and attached near the middle. The narrow part of the tube is of a dirty colour, between green and red; the rest of the flower of v. 1. is precisely of the colour of red lead, of v. 2. according to Mr. Booth's drawing, darker. When the sketch of Stenomesson croceum, Bot. Mag. 3615, was shewn to me, I was asked whether it was not Pancratium coccineum of Ruiz, and I answered that its form agreed better with Dom- bey's croceum, understanding from the question that the flower had been ascertained to have the cup of Pancratiform plants, and thinking that I saw a six-toothed cup iu the figure. Since the discovery of an allied genus without cup, on examining the figure, I believe the artist did not mean to represent any cup, but merely six ribs to the limb with oblique margins, and I suspect that the plant was P. miniata, if so, very incorrectly sketched. The section with solid scape, shelly seeds, and tube without a cup, slides into the cup-bearing Pancratiform section by the affinity of Pentlandia to Urceolina and Stenomesson, and of Oporanthus to Chli- danthus and Clinanthus, (a name for which I propose to sub- stitute Clitanthes) the three latter with linear, the three former with petiolated leaves, marginally compressed backwards* * The leaves of Griffinia are compressed forwards. nilan (ea ALA Y A ^ "d vA aa NN F [^ E g YA AA RA E A S b NA xe S SN v b ^ Qu 69 * DIPLOPELTIS Hugelii. Baron Hugel's Diplopeltis. POLYGAMIA MON(ECIA. Nat. ord. SAPINDACEX. DIPLOPELTIS. Flores polygamo-moneci. Sepala 5, estivatione im- bricata. Petala 4, versus latus superius floris flexa, «eestivatione imbricata. Discus dimidiatus, posticus, carnosus, truncatus, denticulatus, declivis. Stamina seepius 8, hypogyna, ascendentia, in floribus foemineis sterilia nana. Ovarium superum, 2-3-loculare, inflatum; ovula cuique loculo duo, funiculis propriis elongatis ascendentia; stylus tortilis, simplex. (Capsula 3-locularis, 3-parti- bilis, loculis monospermis; semina e funiculo longiusculo in arillum minimum expanso erecta. Embryo exalbuminosus, curvatus: cotyledones spiraliter convo- lutze, Endl.) D. Hugelii ; cinerea, pilosa, ramis teretibus, foliis cuneatis obtusis grossé den- tatis basi nunc pinnatifidis, paniculá terminali glandulosá, capsulá obcor- datà cinereà glandulosá apterá. A short notice of this very pretty plant has already been given at No. 70 of the miscellaneous matter of the present volume. For its introduction we are indebted to Mr. An- drew Toward, gardener to H. R. H. the Duchess of Glou- cester ; who obtained its seeds from the Swan River, where, according to Baron Hugel, it is found about the town of Freemantle; it had been previously raised at Vienna in that noble traveller's garden. It proves to be a hardy greenhouse shrub, growing about 3 feet high, and flowering in April and May. It requires the same treatment as such Cape plants as Hebenstreitias, striking freely from cuttings of the young wood, and will bear to be planted out in the open border in summer. What gives this plant a very great interest, quite inde- pendent of its pretty appearance, is the difficulty of deter- mining in a satisfactory manner its natural affinities. It is one of those anomalous forms which stand intermediate as it * From d¿erdoc double, and zeArn a buckler; but the application of the name does not occur to me. were between more distinctly marked forms of structure, connecting them with each other, but not very obviously corresponding with any. It was originally supposed to be a Rutaceous plant, and the twisted style, the definite numbers among the several floral envelopes, and the few seeded ovary favoured this sup- position ; but when it was more exactly examined, the inde- hiscent fruit, unsymmetrical flowers, curved embryo, great hypogynous disk at the back of the stamens, and undotted leaves, were opposed to the opinion of its forming part of that order. Upon the publication of his Enumeration of Baron Hugel’s plants, Dr. Endlicher stationed the genus among Sapindacee, led to that conclusion it is to be presumed, by its unsym- metrical polygamous flowers, large disk, frequently 3-celled ovary, as also by the structure of the embryo, and the trace of an arillus found upon the seed. Its habits, however, correspond so ill with Sa e e that nothing but a very exact examination of characters would have led to its being stationed in that order. In the place above quoted, I suggested that it would prove to be an anomalous form of Capparidacez ; my reasons for which were, that it has altogether the habit of a Cleome, that its stipitate ovary, glandular hairs, declinate stamens, and especially its large dimidiate disk, are all in accordance with that order, with which the seeds do not materiall y disagree in structure. The objections however, to a reference of Diplopeltis to Capparidacee, namely, the discrepancy between the number of the sepals and petals, and the pluri- locular ovary are great; the latter in particular, in our present ignorance of the true value of characters, forms an obstacle to which the mere habit of a plant and circumstances of external structure are not equivalent. Upon the whole then I would agree to referring Diplo- peltis to Sapindacew, because it is more like that order than any thing else, but being stationed there it must be regarded as an outlying genus, tending to connect the order very closely with Capparidacez. Fig. 1 isa male flower, deprived of its petals; 2 is a female in the same state ; 3. is a vertical section of the ovary. before their full developement. Pentlandia has no connect- ing membrane, and the filaments, when pulled, snap off at the point of insertion. Urceolina hasa membrane adhering to the tube, but partible, and its edge discernible between the filaments; Stenomesson a free and dentate cup. Pent- landia and Stenomesson in habit and foliage are closely akin ; Urceolina flowers from between the leaves. Oporanthus (of which I have a two-flowered scape with two ripe capsules) has a naked tube, Chlidanthus a connecting irregularly den- tate membrane adhering to the tube, but partible ; Clitanthes a cup as perfect as that of Stenomesson. Urceolina and Chli- danthus, in which the cup is not manifest, but adhesive and imperfect or rather rudimentary, are therefore points from which the two sections diverge. The only known genera of this section are Pentlandia, Oporanthus, Sternebergia, and Gethyllis. Carpodetes has no immediate connexion with Stenomesson, with which Mr. Ker wished tounite it, but if it could merge in any other genus, that would be Coburghia, which in that case, having the priority, it would rather supersede.” For the whole of this article I have to express my obli- gations to the Honourable and Rev. William Herbert. December, 1839. 28 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. *.* The Botanical memoranda published in the last volume of this work under the above title, have enabled me to bring before the public no fewer than 183 plants, the greater part of which are new, in addition to the 68 of which figures were published; so that no fewer than 251 plants have been the subject of illustration during a single year. I have reason to believe that this arrangement has proved advantageous to the purchasers of the Botanical Register, since it has been the means of informing them what the real character is of the new plants whose names are found in sale catalogues, and of enabling them to judge how far they may be deserving of being purchased. The experiment having thus far succeeded, it is now proposed to commence what I hope will be found an im- provement upon the plan, by adding to the notices of plants a short account of such new books or new discoveries, &c. in Horticulture and Botany, as are of sufficient importance or interest to deserve to be recorded. In order to gain space for this addition, a little alteration in the typographical arrangements has been found necessary. 1, PLEUROTHALLIS pectinata ; folio oblongo acuto cochleato glauco caule ancipiti breviore, spicá simplici distichá in folium proná eoque breviore, bracteis membranaceis cucullatis ovarii longitudine, sepalis pubescentibus elongatis intermedio lineari lateralibus latioribus basi ventricosis approxi- matis omnino liberis, petalis lineari-lanceolatis, labello unguiculato oblongo basi pectinato apice truncato denticulato. A curious species, resembling P. prolifera in habit. It was obtained from Rio Janeiro by Messrs. Loddiges. The flowers are sea green, with a few deep purple spots at the base of the labellum. The leaf is so firm, and so much hollowed out, that it is capable of holding water, as if it were made of metal. A. January, 1839. a $ 2. MAXILLARIA foveata ; foliis lanceolatis undulatis plicatis racemo triplò longioribus, bracteis linearibus sphacelatis ovario longioribus, sepalis peta- lisque lineari-oblongis obtusiusculis, labello postico oblongo apice trilobo : laciniá mediá rotundatá carnosá excavatá, disco ter aut quinquies sulcato. A new species from Demerara, for which I am obliged to Messrs. Loddiges. It is very near M. squalens, but has a different lip, and its flowers are of a pale uniform dull straw colour. They have a faint, and not unpleasant, smell. 3. PLEUROTHALLIS strupifolia ; folio longissimo coriaceo obtuso lorato plano, racemis brevibus fasciculatis pendulis, floribus hiantibus pubescenti- bus, sepalo intermedio oblongo apice carnoso revoluto lateralibus semicon- natis majoribus porrectis intús maculis pilosis (!) notatis, petalis rhombeo- linearibus acutis, labello oblongo obtuso concavo nudo. This is the most remarkable species of the genus I have yetseen. Its leaves are like leather thongs, and full eighteen inches long. The flowers are dull purple and white, with patches of short deep purple hairs on the inside of the lower sepals. It was imported from Rio by Messrs. Loddiges. 4. LALIA albida 3 pseudo-bulbis ovalibus diphyllis, foliis linearibus acutis spicá multiflora 4-pld brevioribus, sepalis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis vel sub- acuminatis petalisque latioribus acutis, omnibus apicibus reflexis fortiter mucronulatis ; labelli alte trilobi, tricostati lobis lateralibus erectis rotundatis intermedio duplo majore subrotundo obscure apiculato reflexo. Bateman in litt. * A native of the environs of Oaxaca, whence it was sent to me this spring by the Messrs. Sadler of that place. Its colour is quite a novelty in the genus, all the other species bearing rose-coloured or lilac flowers. [t has the graceful appearance of L. autumnalis, from which it can scarcely be distinguished in habit. [ts flowers are ver different in their form (as well as colour) from all the other species; they are about two inches across, sweet-scented, and excepting a bright yellow streak down the centre of the lip, and a few crimson dots at its base, are of a uniform semi- transparent white. It appears to be of easy cultivation, and the most free flowering individual of the genus." The fore- going memorandum has been communicated to me by Mr. Bateman. I have also received the plant from Mr. Harris. It will be figured hereafter in this work. "TM 3 5. BOLBOPHYLLUM fuscum; pseudobulbis oblongis obtusé tetragonis diphyllis, foliis lineari-oblongis patentibus emarginatis, spicá pedunculatá distichá ancipiti glabrá pendulá, bracteis ovatis cucullatis acutis coloratis distantibus florum longitudine sepalis triangularibus acutis, labello trilobo carnoso laciniá intermedia convexá rotundatá lateralibus brevioribus magis . membranaceis acutis serrulatis. Nearly related to B. tetragonum, like which species it is a native of Sierra Leone. The flowers are a deep dull chocolate colour, and are chiefly remarkable for the beauty of their anatomical structure. Like Liparis pendula they are studded with large transparent cells, containing raphides in cubical parcels, and they are moreover filled with short spiral vessels, so closely filled with air that it is difficult to drive it out even with the aid of theair-pump. Imported by Messrs. Loddiges. 6. QUEKETTIA microscopica. A very singular little plant, with the habit of a Pleurothallis, and the pollen- masses of a Vandeous Orchidacea; more nearly allied to Rodriguezia than to any thing else, but quite different in habit, and essentially distinguished by its cylindrical peri- anth, and labellum not only parallel with the auriculate column throughout its whole length, but excavated at the base, and furnished there with two callosities like those of Spiranthes. Its leaves are terete, subulate, about three inches long, and beautifully mottled with light green, deep green, and purple. : Although this little plant is only a few inches high, and has no attractions for the vulgar eye, it is in some respects one of the most interesting 1 know, if examined microsco- pically. Nothing can be more beautiful than the fabric of the leaves below the epidermis, and it undoubtedly deserves more examination in this respect than 1 am at present able to give it. The flowers abound in raphides, clustered in cells larger than those which surround them, and of a diffe- rent colour, so that the flower, when examined with low powers of the microscope, looks as if it were dotted. I have observed this already in Liparis pendula (Bot. Reg. 1838, misc. no. 128.), and in Bolbophyllum fuscum, and it will probably be found a common structure in the sepals and petals of Orchidacee, as we already know it is in their leaves and stems. "The caudicula is excellently adapted to shew 4 the cellular nature of that part, and to explain upon what plan it is formed in other cases. QurkrTTiA ($ Vandem). Perianthium cylindraceum, sepalis linearibus «quali- bus basi gibbosis lateralibus connatis, petalis linearibus xquilongis. Label- lum oblongum, integrum, muticum, cum labello parallelum, basi excavatum bicallosum. Columna semiteres, erecta, apice utrinque auriculata. Anthera unilocularis. ^ Pollinia 2, posticé excavata; caudiculà lineari, glandulá minutá. Folia teretia maculosa. Panicula capillaris, 3-pollicaris. Flores parvi, flavi. Sepala linearia obtusa et labellum oblongum acutum cellula- rum majorum lutearum in medio raphidophorarum copiá repleta. Columna linearis, petalorum feré longitudine, auriculis acutis inflexis. It gives me great pleasure to name this curious plant after Edwin J. Quekett, Esq. F.L.S. an excellent Botanical Observer, and one of our most skilful vegetable anatomists. I am already indebted to that gentleman for some valuable facts concerning raphides; a plant, therefore, in which these crystals form a conspicuous part of the structure, may not be inappropriately selected to bear his name. 7. CYCLOSÍA maculata, (Klotzsch in Allgem. Gartenzeitung, no. 39. 1838.) a supposed new Mexican Orchidaceous plant, appears to be Mormodes pardina. Bateman in Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 176. GRUNDZÜGE, &c.—4 new theory of Vegetable Fertilization, by Stephen Endlicher. A pamphlet, Vienna, 1838. In consequence of the great resemblance between the pollen of perfect plants, and the spores (or seeds) of crypto- gamic plants, an opinion has arisen in Germany that the pollen does not possess any specific fertilizing influence, as has hitherto been believed, but that it is the seed of a plant in its youngest condition, and that it strikes into the stigma its roots, the tips of which eventually reach the ovule, and there complete their evolution. Schleiden and Wydler have already published their ideas upon this subject, and Mr. Endlicher declares himself an advocate of the same views. In the papers of the former physiologists, the supposed fertilizing influence of the pollen was disposed of ; but no attempt was made to shew in what the said influence resides, if not in the pollen. Mr. Endlicher supplies this omission by assigning that function to the papille of the stigma. : x DEENA e == 5 A Flora of North America ; arranged according to the Natural System, by John Torrey and Asa Gray. Vol. 1. part 1. New York, July 1838. The poor compilation by Pursh, and the meagre Flora Boreali-Americana of Michaux, are the only general works yet published upon the Flora of that vast part of the North American continent which lies north of Mexico; and neither of these works was written by an American. Most extensive materials for giving a good account of those varied regions have been accumulating for many years ; several excellent local Floras have been published in the United States, Sir Wm. Hooker's valuable work, the Flora Boreali-Americana, is a mine of information concerning the species inhabiting the British possessions, and the journeys of Douglas, Drum- mond, Nuttall, Coulter, and others, have produced a very considerable amount of information, of which little is yet published, concerning the Southern and once Spanish terri- tories. It is the purpose of Drs. Torrey and Gray to consoli- date these materials into three closely-printed octavo volumes, of about 550 pages each; and, to judge from the previous writings of these eminent Botanists, and from the present work, the task could not have been undertaken by more able men. I have as yet seen the first part only, which ex- tends from Ranunculacee to Caryophyllacee in De Can- dolle’s arrangement. It is written wholly in English, and is full of valuable original observations upon species, genera, and natural orders. The following is an interesting fact :— Nelumbium luteum. ‘‘ The tubers resemble those of the sweet potatoe, when boiled are as farinaceous and agreeable as the potatoe, and are employed for food by the Osage and other Western Indians.”” It is to be hoped that future numbers will contain more such remarks upon the useful qualities of plants, a subject which systematical Botanists have too often the bad habit of neglecting. People in this country will be surprised to find that our American friends suppose Berberis repens to be a variety of B. aquifolium ! House of Representatives, 25th Congress, 2nd Session, Rep. no. 564. Dr. Henry Perrine. Tropical Plants. This is an 8vo. pamphlet of 99 pages, containing various letters, reports, &c. connected with a memorial to the House of Representatives of the United States by Dr. Henry Perrine, consul of the United States at Campeachy, praying that the House will grant him a tract of land in Florida, ‘‘ for the 6 encouragement of the growth of new and important agricul- tural products, exotic vegetables, and tropical plants.” Such a document as this affords the best evidence of the care with which the American government attends to whatever may increase its resources, or contribute to the welfare of its people. It is noticed here partly for the intrinsic value of the information it contains, and partly because it may serve to shew to other governments that Botany leads to something of more practical importance than collecting dried speci- mens, or writing technical descriptions of species; both very useful things in their way, but not the most likely to inte- rest those who have the charge of public affairs. It appears that while Dr. Perrine was consul at Cam- peachy and Tabasco, he was officially instructed, by a circular from the United States Treasury, to aid the desire of the general government to introduce into the United States all such foreign trees and plants, of whatever nature, as might give promise, under proper cultivation, of flourishing and becoming useful. In obedience to these instructions, Dr. Perrine devoted his time and funds to enquiring into the resources of the provinces where he was stationed, and thus was led to acquire a knowledge of many very valuable facts, notwithstanding the extreme reluctance of the inhabitants to give Europeans any information concerning the natural pro- ductions of their country. Many useful plants and seeds were sent home from time to time; and, upon his return, the memorialist applied for the grant of a township in East Florida, south of 26° N. L. in which his experiments could be conducted ; and Congress acceded to his prayer. The Americans are therefore about to commence a grand experi- ment upon improving their almost uninhabited and worthless southern territories, of which they have between eighteen and twenty millions of acres ; and from the energy and good sense of Dr. Perrine, it could hardly have been intrusted to more able hands. In one part of his memorial there is the following passage, which deserves attention from those who are interested in tropical improvements. ‘ Many valuable vegetables of the tropics do actually propagate themselves in the worst soils and situations, in the sun and in the shade, where they arrive either by accident or design ; and for other profitable plants of the tropics, which require human skill and care, moisture is the equivalent to manure. Tropical — 7 cultivation essentially consists in appropriate irrigation, which goes far to counterbalance the sterility of the soil.” The following are extracts selected from among Dr. Perrine's reports :— ** The Agave Americana is still called by travellers the American aloe; and Doctor Mease, with them, has been misled to suppose that this plant produces the Sisal hemp, and the Pita a much finer material: but the Agave Ameri- cana is dedicated to a very different production—the cele- brated drink called * Pu/que, derived from the sap of its stem ; and hence Maguey de Pulque is its common name in Mexico. A direct tax on the consumption of this beverage forms an important item in the revenue of that country. ‘The entry duties paid in the three cities of Mexico, Tolusa, and Puebla, amounted, in 1793, to the sum of 817,739 piastres.’ Humboldt was correct in affirming of the Maguey de Pulque, ‘ that its cultivation has real advantages over the cultivation of maize, grain, and potatoes; that it is neither affected by drought nor hail, nor the excessive cold which prevails in winter on the higher cordilleras of Mexico; that it grows in the most arid grounds, and frequently on banks of rocks hardly covered with vegetable earth ; and that it is one of the most useful of all the productions with which nature has supplied the mountaineers of equinoctial America.’ But it is not true that the same plant produces the very fine, very strong, and very long fibres, known by the name of Pita, from which the most beautiful sewing thread is made; nor does it furnish those coarser fibres for twine and cordage,, resembling Manilla, but denominated Sisal hemp. If tropical hemp be an admissible term for the latter, the former may be honoured with the distinction of tropical flax. The Iztla, whose thin leaves afford the pita, grows wild in the shade of the fertile forests of Tabasco. The Sosquil 6 Henequin, whose thick leaves yield the Sisal hemp, is cultivated in the sun of the sterile plains of Yucatan. The stem of neither supplies the drink which constitutes the principal value of the Agave Americana ; nevertheless, a variety of the Maguey de Pulque does grow on the tropical shores of the Gulf of Mexico, from which the highland soldiers have occasionally extracted their favourite beverage. Some of the cultivated Magueys brought from a plantation on the mountains to the garden of a gentleman in Campeachy, are there flourishing, notwith- 8 standing the difference in climate, and have produced shoots, which were by me transmitted to New Orleans. Humboldt says that this plant has become wild since the sixteenth cen- tury throughout all the South of Europe, the Canary Islands, and the Coast of Africa; and this fact supports my decided opinion that all the valuable species of the same genus may be successfully cultivated in our Southern States. “ Two varieties of that species, which I take the liberty to christen Agave Sisalana, have long been cultivated in the vicinity of Merida, on an extensive scale. Different quantities and qualities of fibres are obtained from several kinds of *sos- quil which grow spontaneously through the whole peninsula of Yucatan; but the planters give the preference to the Sacqui and Yazqui of the natives, or the whitish and greenish * Hene- quen? The young plants are placed about twelve Spanish feet apart, and during the first two years some labour is em- ployed to destroy the weeds between them. In the third year, the cutting of the lower rows of leaves is commenced, and every four months the operation is repeated. Each robust plant will thus give about seventy-five leaves annually, from which are extracted about seven pounds and a half of fibres, and will continue yielding these crops from five to ten years in succession ; it is, however, generally cut down as soon as one of the shoots from its roots has grown sufficiently to supply its place: its other offspring are previously re- moved to form new plantations. The hardiness of the shoots may be inferred from the fact that they are exposed to the sun fifteen or twenty days “to cicatrize their wounds,’ as a necessary preparation for replanting. The simplicity of their cultivation may be conceived from the statement that there is not a hoe, nor a spade, nor a harrow, nor a plough, em- ployed in the agriculture of all Yucatan. The facility of extracting the fibres from their leaves is shewn by the rude- ness of the instruments which are used by natives for that purpose : a triangular stick of hard wood, with sharp edges, from 24 to 27 inches long, and from one to two inches thick, is with them an equivalent to the shaving-knife of the curriers, by which they scrape away from each side of the leaf, on a board resting against the breast, the cuticle and pulpy substance that covers the fibres. Another mode of accomplishing the same object is, by pressing the sharp semilunar extremity of a long flat stick against any fixed sur- 9 face upon a narrow longitudinal strip of the leaf, which is’ then drawn through by the unemployed hand. The length, weight, strength, and other qualities of the fibres, as well as the labour of separating them, vary with the magnitude, age, and position of the leaves; but, when extracted, a few hours' exposure to the sun completes the preparation of the. Sisal hemp for manufactures and commerce. ** The above brief sketch will shew that the bales of ex- ported Sisal hemp may contain materials of very different qualities; and that hence the opinions of its merits expressed by our merchants, our manufacturers, and our scientific men, must vary with the parcels that fall into their hands. The fibres of a single cultivated variety of the Agave Sisalana might be assorted like cotton for the foreign market, with denominations and prices corresponding to their relative value ; but the collectors for exportation, unconscious of the true interests of themselves or their country, not merely mingle the whole products of both the Sacqui and the Yaxqui, but add inferior qualities, obtained from wild varieties of the same, and even of different species ; and injure still further the reputation of this sample abroad, by including the worst proceeds of its imperfect dressings. . ' The peninsula of Yucatan embraces the worst soils of any province of Mexico. It is principally composed of arid, cavernous limestone, and has not a river, brook, or spring within several hundred miles of the coast, beginning at Campeachy and running thence north to Sisal, east to Cape Catoche, and south down to Bacalar. Nature has, however, compensated the aridity of both soil and air by bestowing upon the indolent inhabitants very valuable plants, princi- pally composed of large succulent leaves, or long fleshy and fibrous leaves, which propagate themselves both on the stony surfaces of the interior and the sandy shores of the coast. Those species and varieties whose living leaves yield supe- rior substitutes for hemp, are the most remarkable, and the plants themselves are embraced by the natives under the generic name of vod im As the Spanish j has the sound of our h, the white or Spanish Mexicans epe: write the common name thus, Jenequen for Henequen. The coarse foliaceous fibres obtained from the green leaves of all the species are called by the generic name of Sosquil. The equivalent to this Mexican term for coarse foliaceous fibres A. January, 1839. b 10 is generally Grass-hemp in the mouth of an American. There are two varieties of cultivated Henequen, called Yash- qui and Sacqui by the natives; or the Greenish Henequen and the Whitish Henequen in the translation of the Spaniards. Both these are embraced by me under the denomination of Agave Sisalana. Taking the Yashqui for the type, its generic characters are as follows : corol bell-form ; segments converging and longer than the tube. Filaments very long, awl-shaped, and inserted into the base of the segments at or near the top of the tube. Style not half as long as the stamens, and is even very little elevated above the segments of the corol when its three-lobed stigma receives the pollen from the bursting anthers. The corol, stamens, and style continue all permanent on the germ; and the germ itself becomes a cylindrical capsule, which, opening at the top in three divisions, even splits the dried tube of the corol. Its specific character is sufficiently denoted by the smoothness of the edges of the leaves of the Yashqui. Indeed, when very young, it greatly resembles our indigenous Petre, or Yucca gloriosa of the Southern States. The leaves will average three feet long, yet they are frequently five feet long, with a thorn at the point. I once took the exact dimensions of a leaf five feet long. At fifteen inches from the point it was four inches wide and one-eighth of an inch thick ; at thirty inches it was five inches wide and two-eighths of an inch thick ; at forty-five inches again only four inches wide, but three-eighths of an inch thick; and at radical end merely three inches wide yet four-eighths of an inch thick. It will grow in any arid soil or situation, and propagate itself without cultivation. When the young plants are placed at six feet apart, the mature plants, after the second or third year, will produce, at the very least, 1200 pounds of Sisal hemp per acre. If it be the Sacqui, it will produce double that quantity. Two or three files of the lowest leaves may be cut two or three times yearly from the same plant, at any season, for several years, and for ever from the shoots which supply its place. From the letter of Don Santiago Mendez, ice-Governor of Yucatan, sufficient data can be obtained to caleulate the profit of a plantation of Sisal hemp. The paper of the Henequen Plant Company of Yucatan calculates the expense and profits of 36,000 plants as follows : total expense at the end of three years, 4541 dollars; total produce of the third year, 9015 dollars; divisible gains, 4479 dollars. > 11 ** Pita de Guataca.— This plant grows wild in the greatest abundance, in the vicinity of the village of Guataca, in the province of Carthagena, where its leaves attain a length of nine to twelve feet, and a thickness of three to four inches. These leaves are linear-lanceolate, with recurved spines along the margins. The fruit is a triangular one-celled capsule, with few seeds. The leaves exceed in length those of the Bromelia Penguin, and of the Bromelia Karatas, both com- mon plants in the West Indies ; but in length and strength of foliaceous fibres, the Pita de Guataca excels both. It was introduced into Jamaica in 1831, with the view of pro- pagating it in the dry sandy savannahs of that island, which are at present uncultivated and unproductive. This fibrous substitute for hemp is preferred to common hemp, on account of its superiority in lightness, strength, and Wiss especially under the influence of water or moisture. In point of offal, compared with common hemp, the advantage is enormous in favour of the Pita hemp. * It has been calculated that three tons of Pita will make as much cordage, sail, or other cloth, as fifteen tons of undressed hemp. In 1834 the quantity of hemp and flax, from Russia into England alone, was estimated at 25,000 tons; by substituting Pita, at least 74,000 acres of the actual wastes of the West India colonies would be put under lucrative culture. As to the difference in weight, between equal bulks of Pita and common hemp, Dr. Hamilton has ascertained it to be one-sixth in favour of the Pita ; and hence, taking the weight of the standing and running rig- ging of a man-of-war made of hemp at twelve tons, a reduc- tion of two tons in the top weight would be effected by the substitution of Pita. Under the operation of the emanci- pating laws in the British West Indies, the white planters will be forced to propagate fibrous-leaved plants on their poorest soils, especially because in their preparation for market, horse power can be substituted more profitably and certainly for human power. Doctor Hamilton supposes this Pita de Guataca to belong to a genus between Guzmannia and Pourrettia. He speaks also of another plant, called Pita de Sola, which grows in large quantities at Sola, is probably a species of Agave, and yields coarser, browner, or inferior fibres.” B. February, 1839. d 12 FROZEN POTATOES. In a memoir laid some months ago before the Institute of France, M. Payen, the celebrated chemist, made some valuable observations upon the subject of frozen Potatoes, which are usually considered useless, and are consequently thrown away. As it appears from his investigations that Potatoes are in no material degree injured by frost, but that they are as nutritious after being frozen as before, and in some respects more useful as food, I translate literally the report made to the Institute by Messrs. Turpin and Dutrochet upon a subject of such vast importance to mankind ; pre- mising only that it is the starch of the Potatoe which gives it its nutritive qualities. r Frozen potatoes are usually, after being thawed, thrown away as altogether unfit for food, even for cattle; they are found to have acquired an acrid taste, and the makers of starch know by experience that they do not yield more than 3 or 4 per cent. of starch instead of 16 or 17 per cent. which they furnish in their uninjured state. M. Payen endeavoured to ascertain the cause of this difference. It might be supposed that the effect of a thaw would be to alter the amylaceous matter, in consequence of which it might become soluble. But M. Payen satisfied himself, by exact and positive experiments, that thawed potatoes and those in the natural state each contain exactly the same proportion of soluble and insoluble matter. This being so, there ought to be as much starch in a potatoe after being frozen as before ; and consequently M. Payen suspected that the loss of starch experienced by the starch-maker in frozen potatoes was owing to some mechanical obstacle which opposes the ex- traction and separation of this substance. This idea was confirmed by a microscopical examination of the tissue of the potatoe, thawed and rasped down. We know that the starch is contained in the cells or vesicles of parenchyma, of which the potatoe is composed ; the rasp, by tearing open the cells, sets the starch at liberty. It is obvious that if the rasp produces such an effect, the cells must be fixed firmly in the tissue ; otherwise they would be only torn asunder by the teeth of the rasp, and the starch which they contain could not get out of the cells. Now M. Payen discovered that this actually happens when a potatoe is successively a. e be +-— uc MMNMREDLUL LT 13 frozen and thawed ; the cells forming the tissue are separated from each other and lose their cohesion, instead of being firmly agglutinated together as in their sound state ; and consequently the rasp is unable to tear the cells in pieces, but separates them from each other whole, without allowing the starch they contain to escape. A small number only of the cells are lacerated, and it is they which yield what starch the manufacturer obtains from them, a quantity which scarcely amounts to 3 per cent. The principal part of the starch remains locked up in the pulp which is thrown away. M. Payen was led incidentally to notice the different proportions of starch lodged in the different parts of a potatoe; and he found that the smallest quantity exists in the centre, which is separated by a circular row of fibres from the outer part, which is the true bark of the tuber. The latter, or cortical part, which abounds in starch, is divided from the epidermis by a thinner tissue, in which is almost exclusively deposited the acrid and venomous matter of the plant, and which is entirely without starch. This observation explained to M. Payen the cause of frozen potatoes being acrid and strong tasted. In their sound state the acrid matter contained in the rind of the potatoe is not mixed with the other fluids of the parenchyma of the tuber; but when frost has separated the cells of the paren- chyma, the fluid then extravasated flows into their interstices, and the acrid and venomous matter dissolved by them par- takes of the general diffusion; it is the physical effect of the tendency which fluids placed in contact have to mix with each other. Proceeding from these observations M. Payen has ex- amined in what manner frozen potatoes can be turned to some useful purpose. As they have not lost any part of their starch, they ought to preserve, after being thawed, all their alimentary qualities, if they are quickly dried after having been properly prepared. M. D'Orbigny states, that in Peru this mode of preserving potatoes for food is commonly em- ployed. The Peruvians cause the tubers to be frozen on their mountains, and then bring them down into their valleys, where the heat rapidly dries them; and in this state of desic- cation they preserve tlteir nutritive property for an indefinite time. It would therefore appear not only that potatoes when 14 frozen may be advantageously employed for food if rapidly dried ; but the still more important consequence is to be de- duced from the observations of M. Payen, that by killing potatoes by exposure to frost, and then rapidly drying them, the superabundance of a good potatoe harvest may be pre- served to meet the wants of a deficient crop in future years. 8. OBERONÍA recurva ; acaulis, foliis brevibus acutis, racemo recurvo mul- tifloro, bracteis ovatis integris, petalis obovatis subdentatis, labello subro- tundo quadrilobo denticulato mucrone interjecto. Bombay has produced this curious little plant, which was sent overland to Messrs. Loddiges. It has a pendulous ra- ceme, scarcely more than an inch long, consisting of minute densely imbricated green flowers. Its nearest affinity seems to be with O. Wightiana, m. an unpublished species from Madras, of which tlie following is the character. 9. OBERONIA Wightiana ; acaulis, foliis ensiformibus, racemo erecto multi- floro, bracteis ovatis integris, petalis linearibus, labelli quadrilobi lobis late- ralibus rotundatis integris intermediis elongatis truncatis apice denticulatis. 10. MEGACLINÍUM oxypterum ; pseudobulbis monophyllis acutissimé 4-5- gonis oblongis, folio oblongo coriaceo caulis sine rachi longitudine, rachi ensiformi arcuatá crispatá apice tetragoná pyramidali, bracteis reflexis, sepalis lateralibus ovatis intermedio lineari acuminatissimo, petalis nanis linearibus falcatis, labello crasso linguiformi apice recurvo margine pone basin fimbriato. A fine species of this very curious genus, obtained from Sierra Leone by Messrs. Loddiges. It is most nearly related to M. maximum, from which its sharp-angled pseudo-bulbs at once distinguish it. Pi PLEUROTHALLÍS bicarinata; folio oblongo coriaceo planiusculo levi- ter carinato basi subcordato petiolo acuté canaliculato univaginato breviore, sepalis linearibus squalibus lateralibus carinatis ad apicem feré connatis, sepalis lineari-obovatis minuté serratis glabris, labello obovato carnoso medio exarato denticulo inflexo utrinque prope basin. A native of Brazil, and imported by Messrs. Loddiges. The leaf is five inches long, the petiole six, with a large withered sheath in the middle. The flowers are dull greenish yellow, not unlike those of P. saurocephala. 12. SCHOMBURGKÍÁ marginata. . _ This most beautiful Orchidaceous plant, of which there i$ a figure in the Sertum Orchidaceum, t. 13, and of which — — T d 15 so many plants were brought to England in 1834 by Mr. Lance, has at length flowered in this country, with Thomas Brocklehurst, Esq. of the Fence near Macclesfield, who re- cently imported it from Surinam. The flowers were much paler in their colours than those of the plant in its native country, but this was doubtless owing to the dark season of the year. 13. EPIDENDRUM (HORMIDIUM) uniflorum ; rhizomate moniliformi, floribus solitariis, sepalis petalisque linearibus acuminatis incurvis, labello trilobo columne adnato laciniis lateralibus rotundatis erectis intermedia tri- angulari acuminatá, sepalis lateralibus labello suppositis eique adnatis. A Mexican plant of no beauty, with yellowish green flowers, imported by George Barker, Esq. of Birmingham. The genus Epidendrum 1 once thought very natural ; but it is now becoming so very extensive, that it comprehends plants with extremely different habits, and it is daily be- coming more desirable for it to be divided. But great as is the diversity of appearance among the species, there is a singular uniformity in the structure of their flowers, and it is not a little remarkable that such differences as exist can scarcely he said to be connected with corresponding diffe- rences in the organs of vegetation ; so that, as far as I am at present able to discover, if Epidendrum is broken up, by means of characters taken from such modifications as are employed for the definition of other genera, the new groups are scarcely more natural than the old one. For this reason I have suppressed the genera Auliza and Amphiglottis of Salisbury, and the Encyclia of Sir William Hooker, as genera depending upon mere differences of habit and not of fructification. For instance, Encyclia has the labellum sepa- rate from the column; and if this were always connected with the pseudo-bulbous stem and panicled inflorescence of many of the species, it would be an excellent character ; but Æ. equitans, smaragdinum, and others, have the disunited lip with an entirely different mode of growth; this is espe- cially the case with the beautiful Æ. bicornutum.. So with Auliza of Salisbury, the type of which is E. ciliare ; this supposed genus was distinguished by there being a long fistular cavity proceeding from the base of the lip down the ovary, or, in other words, by its labellum being calcarate, and the calcar consolidated with the ovary, as happens in 16 Pelargonium ; but the same character exists in £. vesicatum, which has no resemblance to E. ciliare. With regard to the Mexican plant recently published by Messrs. Knowles and Westcott under the name of Prosthecia or Epithecia glauca, I fear it must be united with Epidendrum, for it does not differ from the greater part of the Encyclia division in any essential circumstance; the columna is by no means “nana” in the sense in which that word is employed by Botanists, and the process at the back of the apex of the column is common in numerous species of Epidendrum, (rigidum for instance); and is what, when thinned away, forms a hard or petaloid scale at the back of the column in such plants as E. ciliare, clavatum, nocturnum, cucullatum, and many others. It is for reasons of this kind that I hesitate actually to separate the curious little-plant which has given rise to these remarks. Its necklace-shaped pseudo-bulbs placed upon a creeping rhizoma give it a peculiar habit, and have suggested its name, (ópuos, a necklace); and it is capable of being defined with apparent precision by the union of the anterior sepals with the base of the labellum, to which I know of no parallel in the genus Epidendrum, except in the case of Epidendrum pygmeum and E. cespitosum, plants with a similar habit, and no doubt belonging to the same section, subgenus, or genus, whichever Hormidium may eventually become. 14. BRASAVOLA grandiflora ; folio (plano ?) angusté lanceolato rigido la- bello maximo subrotundo-quadrato acuminato ungue longiore, sepalis peta- lisque linearibus acuminatissimis. Flowers of this, which is much the finest species of Drasavola yet known, have been lately received from Hon- duras by the Hon. W. F. Strangways. The limb of the labellum, which is white, is considerably larger than a half- crown, and the sepals and petals are nearly three inches long. Those who have commercial relations with Belize should make a point of obtaining this beautiful plant from their correspondents. It resembles a gigantic specimen of Br. nodosa. 17 15. PONERA graminifolia, (Nemaconia graminifolia, Knowles and Westcott, Floral Cabinet, p. 127); folis lineari-lanceolatis planis, labello oblongo acuto apice recurvo. : In the Genera and Species of' Orchidaceous plants, p. 113, a genus was established under the name of Ponera, (from rrovnpos, miserable, vile, alluding to the wretched appearance of the species) from a Mexican plant in the herbarium of Mr. Lambert. As I had originally no opportunity of criti- cally examining the structure of the plant, further than was afforded by the dissection of a single dried flower, its cha- racter was not very complete; and I presume the trifling differences which exist between this species and the descrip- tion in the above work, are owing to imperfect observations in the latter case. They have however led Messrs. Knowles and Westcott to suppose that this plant forms a new genus, an error which | hasten to correct. Having received flowers of it from Mr. Barker, I find that it agrees in every essential particular with the structure of P. juncifolia; so nearly indeed that, if the leaves of the two were not very different, some doubt might be entertained of their being specifically different. P. graminifolia is a plant of no beauty, and ;1s chiefly remarkable for having the scabrous stems, which are so conspicuous in the elegant Arpophyllum spicatum from the same country. 16. ARPOPHYLLUM spicatum, La Llave. One of the most graceful and beautiful of the Mexican Orchidaceze; it has recently reached England in a living state. The stem is slender, and a foot or foot and half high, with the sheaths as rough as shagreen leather ; it is terminated by one long curved leaf, from the axil of which there curves, in an opposite direction, a dense spike of pink or palo papie flowers. It is a species of great rarity even in Mexico, where it has hitherto been only seen at Sultepec and near Arimbaro, growing upon trees. The genus belongs to Epi- dendrez, near Ponera, and not to Vandez. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GARDEN. All who are interested in the cultivation of exotic plants, will be glad to learn that the Horticultural Society of London are about to erect a most extensive conservatory in their garden at Chiswick. The range will be nearly 500 feet 18 long, running east and west, with a front both to the north and south; the roof will be constructed entirely of iron, glazed with patent sheet glass, and will have the form of a Gothic arch. The west wing, rather more than 180 feet long and 27 feet high, has been contracted for by Messrs. D. and E. Baileys of Holborn, and will probably be com- pleted by the middle of May. The whole range, when executed, will be one of the most extensive in the world. No association of individuals has ever introduced so large a quantity of beautiful and useful plants into this country, as have been procured by the funds of the Horticultural Society of London; but those plants have necessarily been confined very much to hardy species, in consequence of the want of extensive glass-houses. It is now to be expected that green- house and stove plants, especially the former, will become a great object of attention with the Society ; the effect of which will doubtless be to improve the ornamental character of tender plants in the same degree as that of hardy collections. Few persons know how many objects are within their reach, the beauty of which is far beyond any thing now in our gardens, and that only require space in which to grow them. The following account of the Pisonai, which it is to be hoped will be one of the first novelties established in the Society’s new conservatory, will serve to illustrate this assertion. ** The Pisonai Tree.—This is one of the most magnificent trees, both in foliage and flower, perhaps that exists. It appears to have been introduced during the Inca dynasty into the vallies of Cusco, where, in a climate the mean tem- perature of which is 60° Fahr., it attains such a size as I have never witnessed in the largest of our European forest trees. It was generally planted about villages; in that of Yucay, the country residence of the latter Incas, eight leagues from Cusco, there exist specimens of it five fathoms in cir- cumference, and nearly seventy feet high; the foliage, of a deep green, is thick and spreading, the leaf in shape some- thing like the Cinchonas; it flowers in December, and is then one mass of carnation colour. I think it might be naturalized in the south of Europe, and in our greenhouses; the elevation of the places where I have seen it grow to the greatest size, above the sea, are respectively 9500 and 9680 feet." — Extract of a letter from J. B. Pentland, Esq. to the Hon. W. F. Strangways. | E 19 17. HUNTLEYA violacea. Sertum Orchid. t. 26. ined. Of this superb plant a specimen has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, which will be figured in the Sertum in the course of a few months. The flowers are a deep rich violet, darker than the darkest part of Zyzopetalum Mackaü; they are between two and three inches in diameter, and are tipped with greenish yellow, melting downwards into white, which soon confounds itself with the general tint of rich violet. 18. JUNIPERUS squamosa (Wallich). This fine species of Indian Juniper has been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society. It has remarkably rigid leaves, curved inwards at the point; is described by Dr. Royle as extremely common on such mountains as Choor and Kedarkanta, at the height of 11,000 feet, and elsewhere; and is no doubt quite hardy. 19. HOVEA crispa ; ramis gracilibus pilosis, foliis ovato-oblongis mucronatis margine crispis utrinque pilosis, pedunculis subternis petiolorum longitu- dine, bracteolis sub calyce setaceis, calyce villoso, ovario pedicellato glabro 4-spermo. A native of the Swan River Colony, raised two years ago in the garden of R. Mangles, Esq. at Sunning Hill; it forms a bush two feet high, with small purple flowers, usually growing in threes, and producing a pretty effect. It flowers in February. I do not find it among the dried collections from this colony. 20. CHEIROSTYLIS parvifolia ; foliis ultra vaginam petiolatis ovatis acutis undulatis, labelli apice subrotundo 4-dentato callis baseos bipartitis, columná minima processibus rectis liberis ipsi zqualibus. Herba tenera, zeylanica, 3-pollicaris; caule stricto, tereti, retrorsum piloso apice nudo bracteato. Folia 4, distantia, superné sensim minora; vaginata, glabra, ultra vaginam petiolata ; limbo ovato, undulato, acuto, rubro-viridi, 4 lineas longo. Flores 3, terminales, minuti, albi, pedicellati, corymbosi ; bracteis linearibus acuminatis rufis, pedicellis longioribus. Ovarium ob- pyramidale, piloso-glandulosum. Sepala clausa ultra medium connata, glabra, basi paulo ventricosa, obtusiuscula, apice virentia. Petala retror- sum falcata, retusa, sepalo supremo agglutinata. Labellum sepalis parum longius, liberum, canaliculatum, versus apicem constrictum, apice subro- tundum, concavum, trilobum : lobis lateralibus emarginatis; callis baseos incurvis, lucidis, subvirentibus, bipartitis. Ante columnam processus duo, liberi, erecti, carnosi, stigmatis longitudine, eique omninó paralleli. Columna minima, libera, basi labelli fere abdita, stigmate bipartito. Pollinia 4, pul- verea, glandule lineari acute inter brachia stigmatis prominenti, agglutinata, C. March, 1839. d 20 This very interesting, but inconspicuous plant was ob- tained by Messrs. Loddiges from Ceylon. It is a new species of the genus Cheirostylis, of which one only had been before described by Dr. Blume, and of that I have never been so fortunate as to see specimens. In general aspect it is like a minute Goodyera, G. querceticola for instance; but it differs from that genus, firstly, in having the sepals united into a tube enclosing the petals and labellum; secondly, in the ab- sence of a pouch from the lip, and, as far as has yet been observed, from all other genera of Neottiew in having a pair of fleshy processes, analogous to what we find in Habenaria, standing freely in front of the column. This fact is the more interesting to those who occupy themselves with organo- graphy, because it proves that the calli found so constantly at the base of the lip of Spiranthes are not analogous to those processes as might be suspected : for in this Cheirostylis the calli and processes are both present. 21. SCAPHYGLOTTIS reflexa ; foliis semiteretibus supra planis sulcatis apice integerrimis, sepalis lateralibus ovato-triangularibus reflexis, petalis linearibus obtusis, labello oblongo-emarginato obtusissimo undulato medio refracto. A branching, straggling plant, with slender leaves, and solitary, pale, dull-yellow flowers, with a crimson stain along the middle of the lip. Like the rest of the genus it is a species quite destitute of beauty. It was obtained by Messrs. Loddiges from Demerara. 22. MACRADENIA mutica ; foliis coriaceis lineari-lanceolatis dorso convexis, racemo prostrato trifloro bracteis oblongis obtusis cucullatis pedicellis equa- libus, labello cordato-ovato acuto basi cucullato medio transverse calloso, clinandrio serrato, rostello mutico. Folia solitaria, lineari-lanceoláta, coriacea, avenia, dorso convexa, caulibus bre- vibus compressis teretibus insidentia. Racemus radicalis, 3-florus, debilis; bracteis brevibus, cucullatis, striatis, sphacelatis. Flores sordidé albi, rubro levissime tincte. Sepala et petala «equalia, linearia, acuta, expla- nato-patentia. Labellum cum columná parallelum, nec articulatum, cordato- ovatum, acutum, basi cucullatum ; callo elevato canaliculato transverso. Co- lumna semiteres, labello dupló brevior; clinandrio cucullato denticulato. Anthera parva, in fundo cuculli, 2-locularis, cristata. Pollinia 2, cau- dicula brevilineari. Rostellum nullo modo elongatum. A small plant, with dingy white flowers, which flowered with Mr. Knight, of the King's Road, in: August 1835. It is said to be a native of Trinidad. It is chiefly remarkable for being destitute of the attenuated rostellum and conse- —À t Ó— Ce 21 quent prolongation of the anther point, from which the name of the genus was formed by Dr. Brown. 23. PINUS docarpa. Schiede. As cones of this species of Pinus have lately been re- ceived by the Horticultural Society from Mexico, and distri- buted among the Fellows, I extract the following particulars concerning it from the account given of the species by Professor Schlechtendahl. It was found by Schiede in abundance between Ario and - the volcano of Jorullo, not merely in the usual pine region, but also in warm districts, in company with the Fan Palm. It forms a tree from 30 to 40 feet high. The leaves are from eight to eleven inches long; the cones grow singly, and the species is nearly related to Pinus Montezume. It is to be presumed that it will prove one of the less hardy species. 24. PINUS Llaveana. Schiede. This species, now for some time in England, and which resisted the winter so well in 1837-8, although it looks more like a shrub than a tree in our gardens, is stated by the same author to form a tree 30 feet high, Schiede found whole woods of it between Zimapan and Real del Oro, and also cultivated occasionally in gardens. The seeds are sold in the markets of Mexico as pignons, and are said to be excel- lent. Professor Schlechtendahl states that the cone figured in Mr. Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, as belonging to this species, is probably that of Pinus patula. The true cone is given in the Pinetum Woburnense. ORCHIDACEZ OF BRAZIL. The following is a free translation of M. Descourtilz's MSS. account of the Orchidacez of Brazil, and I am sure it will be read with interest by every one occupied, in however slight a degree, in the cultivation of this singular and beau- tiful race of plants. It is in the bosom of the vast solitudes of America that these, the most diversified of plants, spring up, flower, and perish. The entire life of a man, though devoted to their 22 special study, would never finish their examination, so prodi- gious is the variety of their species, many of which are only seen after the fall of the protector upon which they lived. There is no part of Brazil, no latitude, no elevation above the sea, where are not to be found Orchidacee as different from each other as the conditions under which they grow. Some bask in the heat of the plains, others luxuriate in the agreeable freshness of a stream of water, attaching them- selves to the branches of the trees which cover the waves with a verdant grotto; and others, real children of the mist, delight in a drizzling atmosphere, and support with ease the violence of stormy winds, and the often icy coldness of the Serras, whether stationed within a few feet of the earth, or swinging in the air from the boughs of the ancient patriarchs of the forest. Some grow in deep recesses and gloomy arcades, where there is a perpetual circulation of a damp and heated atmosphere; others, on the contrary, prefer the open glades, or Rocas, where some fallen trees, whose own foliage has perished, supply them with a scanty but sufficient nourishment. 7 It is impossible to form an idea of a tropical forest by the woods of Europe, where the ivy is the only parasite which finds a permanent support.. The Sertoes, or virgin woods, - which cover a part of America, present the traveller with scenery incomparable for its majestic character, and rich variety.. Who is there that would not be astonished at find- ing himself amidst a vegetation, of which each individual struggles with its neighbour for existence, darting up, eagerly searching for. the light of a cloudless sun and a purer air, only to be found at a prodigious elevation, and leaving dark- ness and water at their feet. It is here that trees of patri- archal age perish in the embrace of enormous climbers which overwhelm and bear them down, and which are some- times carried overhead like cables, in other cases interlaced like the meshes of a net, and not unfrequently stand like lofty leaf-capped columns of spiral open-work, after the trees about which they have writhed themselves have fallen to decay within their grasp. Amidst this forest of ropes of sylvan rigging, grow in- numerable Ferns, which hang down in plumes, or festoons, or the gayest lacework, vast quantities of Araceous plants, and especially Tillandsias, forming broad patches of. verdure 23 upon a sombre ground. In the midst of airy garlands of Aristolochias, Bignonias, Convolvuluses, and Passion-flowers live the Orchidacez, each particular species of which seems to haunt its own peculiar plant. Thus the Epidendrum of the Cinchona refuses to live in the branches of the Lecythis and Couratari, notwithstanding that the seeds of these epiphytes are scattered indiscriminately by the wind. Other tribes again are always from free Orchidacex, as the huge trunks of Malvaceous trees, Isoras, Carolineas, Plantains, and Palms. It is chiefly at the time of flowering that Orchidacee become remarkable in their native haunts, and then less for the diversity of their forms, or the gaudiness of their colours, than for the exquisite perfume which most of them exhale. It is thus that I have often been led to the disco- very of charming species, lurking amidst the foliage, and which my eye would never have detected. Changes of seasons are announced with the greatest regu- larity by the Orchidaceous epiphytes, many of which expand their blossoms amidst hurricanes and torrents of rain which deluge the earth at certain seasons; but seem struck with torpor when the sky recovers its serenity. HORSE CHESNUTS POISONOUS. It is not often that facts in natural history can be gleaned from novels; the following note however, furnished by Dr. Bird, upon the /Esculus Ohiotensis figured in this work, plate 51, for the year 1838, is so remarkable that it deserves to be brought under the notice of naturalists ; the more espe- cially because it affords an additional reason for recombining the natural order ZEsculacex with the often poisonous Sapin- dacez. | : * The Buck-eye, or American Horse Chesnut, seems to be universally considered in the West a mortal poison; both fruit and leaves. Cattle affected by it, are said to play many remarkable anties, as if intoxicated, turning, twisting, and rolling about and around, until death closes their agonies."— Nick of the Wood, vol. 1. p. 225. Engl. ed. Pinetum Woburnense, or a Catalogue of the Coniferous Plants in the col- lection of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, systematically arranged. 1839. Under the modest title of ** Catalogue" this work, of which only 100 copies have been printed for private distri- 24 bution, contains a detailed account of all the species of Conifer known to cultivators. It forms an imperial 8vo. volume of 226 pages, and is illustrated by 67 coloured plates, exclusive of a frontispiece representing a fine old specimen of the Silver Fir, in the park at Woburn, lithographed after a charming drawing by Lady Charles Russell. This new proof of the generous spirit with which the Duke of Bedford promotes his favourite science, is the more acceptable at the present time, ¡when so many persons are cultivating those majestic forms of vegetation in which the Coniferous order abounds, and when so much attention has been excited by their exceeding beauty as objects of forest scenery, indepen- dently of their value to the landholder as a source of wealth, not second even to that of the Oak. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Proceedings of the Committee of Commerce and Agriculture. 1831. This is a most important and interesting document. In the year 1837, or thereabouts, some active members of this Society began to call the attention of the Council to the great importance of ascertaining the best method of develop- ing the commercial resources of India; and in pursuance of | their recommendations money was subscribed, and a Com- mittee was appointed to conduct the enquiry. It is sufficient to say that Sir Charles Forbes was Chairman, and Mr. Holt Mackenzie, Professor Royle, General Briggs, Col. Sykes, &c. Members of this Committee, to shew the importance that was attached to the subject, and the excellent materials of which the sub-association consisted. Subsequently Mr. Holt Macken- zie became Chairman, and Professor Royle, Secretary; the organization of the Committee was completed, Mr. Edward Solly, Jun. an excellent chemist, was appointed assistant, and business was entered upon in earnest. The proceedings of the year 1838 form the subject of the pamphlet at the head of this article, and he must be blind indeed who does not see that there was urgent necessity for its formation. India is the most extensive of all our foreign possessions, its soil and climate the most varied, and its resources at least as ample as those of the whole continent of North America. And yet the natural powers of the country have been brought so little into action, that a person ignorant of facts might well con- elude that her resources were nothing. Whether we look to those productions of the soil which require a temperate EN a. ce SPEM pu -gi im: t p 25 climate, or to such as demand the heat and rains of the tropics, all have been alike neglected with the exception of Sugar and Indigo. For Tea we have continued to trust to the Chinese, although vast regions in our own possession are suitable to its production, and we probably would have still remained supine had not the Chinese monopoly been wisely broken through. The raw Cotton of Bengal has, with a few exceptions, been the most worthless in the market; in 1833 that of Surat was sold in the Liverpool market as low as 43d. a pound, while the worst Carthagena Cotton was worth 7d. a lb.; and in 1832 little more than 18,000,000 lbs. of East India Cotton was consumed in England and Scotland, while the consumption of American Cotton amounted at the same time to above 212 millions of pounds. And so of Tobacco; while in the year 1834 nearly 21 millions of pounds paid duty in the United Kingdom, the importation from the East Indies was so small that there was in the market no price for Indian samples. (Macculloch.) And yet there cannot be the slightest doubt that India alone might have furnished the whole British consumption of these articles, if their cultiva- tion had been properly directed. ; The subjects which have hitherto received the attention of the Committee are in the first place Caoutchouc. This valuable substance has as yet been obtained chiefly from Para; and when in the year 1828 samples of it were sent from Assam to one of the principal agency houses at Calcutta, no opinion could be given of its value, although it was at that time selling in London at two shillings a pound. But in Sylhet, one of the poorest and most unproductive of our Indian provinces, there are forests of trees yielding this sub- stance, as was long since stated by Dr. Roxburgh; and now that attention has béen called to its value, it appears that *' several individuals are engaged in collecting it, and that enough will be doubtless procured to meet all the demands of this country.” One person alone is reported to have col- lected 80,000 lbs. weight in a single year, in Lower Assam. Other subjects of enquiry have been the vegetable secre- tions yielding tannin, in which India is known to abound, the production of cotton, silk, salt fish, medicinal plants, timber, lime juice; oil seeds, dyeing substances, &c. and it would appear that in all these branches of trade India possesses ample re- sources well adapted to commercial purposes. 26 lt is to be hoped that such an enquiry as this will be amply supported, for it is when applied to such purposes as are comprehended in the investigations of this Committee, that science really becomes of value to mankind. If the Committee continue their exertions with energy and discre- tion for only a few years, they will have done more to render India happy and wealthy than all the other devices of state policy put together. Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere. By J. F. Royle, M.D. Part X. 4to. The preceding remarks were written when a copy of this work reached me. The part now published is the last but one, and the last is promised in a very short time. Dr. Royle is the Secretary of the Indian Committee above mentioned, and it is already well known that the important results arrived at are mainly owing to his energy and perseverance, combined with an extensive knowledge of India itself. That the latter is of no common kind is amply shewn by the work in question, which unquestionably contains a greater amount of valuable practical information upon useful matters, than any work yet written upon the foreign possessions of any other European power. The following are extracts interesting to horticul- turists. Walnut. The common Walnut, J. regia, extends from Greece and Asia Minor over Lebanon and Persia, probably all along the Hindookoosh to the Himalayas. It is abundant in Cashmere, Sirmore, Kemaon, and Nepal. The Persian name of the Walnut fruit is chuhar-mughz (four brains). Quercus semecarpifolia, the Khursoo of the hill people, is found in the Himalayas as high as the limits of forests. It is a beautiful species, and would be quite hardy in England. Betula Bhojputtra, and other noble species of Birch, oc- cupy the loftiest situations on mountains. They also would be hardy. : Poplars. P. ciliata and P. pyriformis are two fine new species. It is stated that what we call the Lombardy Poplar is a native of the East; it is said in Persian works to be found in Dailim and Tinkaboom, near the south shore of the Caspian. Dr. Royle found it common in India in gardens to the north of the Jumna, whither it had been introduced from the Punjab, and he thinks there is little doubt that, n. Dn im w 27 instead of being a hybrid, as some, or of American origin, as other writers have supposed, it was brought to Europe from some Eastern country, in former times, when the com- munication by the East, and interchange of commodities was greater than in recent times. Conifere. Of these the following Pines are enumerated ; 1. P. longifolia, called cheer, sullah, and thansa, occupies the lowest elevations of the Himalaya; this accounts for its being too tender for England. 2. Surul, either a distinct variety of the last, or a new species. 3. Cheer, a fir found by Mr. Shore near Almorah, which is also possibly different from P. longifolia. 4. P. nepalensis, a supposed variety of Pinaster, lately found by the collector of His Grace the Duke of Devon- shire. 5. P. excelsa, kuel of the natives of Sirmore and Gurwhal, now common and hardy in England. 6. A va- riety or species related to this, found at Bunipa and Toka in Nepal. 7. P. Smithiana, a doubtful species, the authority for which is a figure in Dr. Wallich's plante Asiatice rariores. 8. P. Khutrow or Morinda, now common in our collections. 9. P. Brunoniana, a species related to the Hemlock Spruce ; a rare plant, found in Nepal, on the northern descent of Sheopore, on Gossainthan, and on the southern borders of the Bhotea pergunnah of Kemaon, where it is called tan-shing. 10. P. Gerardiana, the neoza of the natives, entirely con- fined to the northern and drier face of the Himalaya, to the south of 32° of latitude; but more to the north, found also on the southern face of the mountains. For this species seed of P. longifolia has been hitherto received in England, where it is extremely rare, existing only, as far as I know, at Rolles- ton in Staffordshire, the seat of Sir Oswald Moseley. 11. The chilgoza, of Kunawur, beyond Rampore, along the banks of the Sutlej, from 5000 to 10,000 feet of elevation ; supposed by some to be the same as the neoza, because both have edible seeds, but upon insufficient testimony. 12. The deodar, the most valuable of all the Indian species, and the largest known, being the deiudar of Avicenna; it is found at elevations of from 7000 to 12,000. feet, in Nepal, Kemaon, and as far as Cashmere. 13. Abies Webbiana, now so well known in this country, called chilrow, gobrea, sallur, and oonum, a species which grows to a great size, and forms one of the principal ornaments of the forests at con- siderable elevations. 14. Abies Pindrow, a magnificent D. April, 1889. e 28 species even to the limits of forest, at present unknown in England, and employed in the hills, along with the Deodar, for building purposes. I have been particular in quoting the native names of these valuable plants, in order to enable persons resident in England, the more readily to ask their correspondents for them. Roscoea alpina. A curious and very pretty little plant, with bright blue flowers, found at the height of 9000 feet and more, where, like the snow-drop in European countries in early spring, it pushes up immediately after the rains, in places where the snow has just melted. This most interesting species would doubtless be hardy in England; it is a most curious deviation in its habits from the usual tenderness of Scitaminez. Of Iris several species are found in the Himalayas, some of which are very pretty. DERIVATION OF THE WORD MYRTLE. At Gilan in Persia there is a spring surrounded by myrtle bushes, and held in great veneration. The sacred character of the myrtle (márt as it is called in Persia, from which was borrowed the Greek pupros) I believe to have originated in the East. Its connexion with the worship of Venus is well known, and it is a curious relic of ancient observances, that, at the present day, wherever the myrtle bush is found among the Kurdish mountains (and it is very rare) a sort of mystic reverence is attached to the spot, which the people are altogether unable to explain.— Major Rawlin- son's March from Zohab to Khuzistan, in Journal of Geog. Soc. ix. 43. Recherches sur l'analyse et la Composition chimiques de la Betterave à sucre, par Eugene Péligot; et sur l'organization anatomique de cette racine, par J. Decaisne. Paris, 1839. 8vo. The cultivation of Beet root has not much importance in this country, where colonial sugar, for political reasons, enjoys a monopoly of consumption; but to those who in other countries occupy themselves with the manufacture of Beet root sugar, this pamphlet will be read with great inte- rest, It is full of curious and valuable research. The best variety for cultivation appears on the whole to be the ** White Silesian.” The principal obstacle to the manufac- mM Y a —— "t jd ES d £ 29 ture of the sugar arises from the presence of great quantities of raphides, that is internal microscopical crystals, (not of oxalate of lime) ; it appears that such crystals are found ex- clusively in the parenchyma of the ascending part of the plant; that is to say, in the above-ground part of the root, and in the stems and leaves. The quantity of such crystals is affected essentially by the soil in which the plants are cultivated ; in highly manured, rich soil, frequently watered, they are found to exist to the amount of 12 per cent., which was rather more than the quantity of sugar contained in the leaves examined. The sugar was found by M. Decaisne to be secreted exclusively in the parenchyma, and in a limpid state. Illustrations of Indian Botany, by Robert Wight, M.D. 4to. Madras, 1838 $ published in numbers, each containing 8 coloured plates, with appropriate letter-press. Of this work six numbers have reached me. It is executed on the plan of Royle's Illustrations, and is intended to bring the Botany of India before the people of India in a cheap and interesting shape, an object which there can be no doubt that it will accomplish. The price is so moderate that it is secure of a remunerating sale, and there is there- fore no room to doubt that Dr. Wight will complete his undertaking. The plates are executed in lithography, and are characteristic of the plants; if they want the neatness and finish of European works, they fully answer the purpose for which they are destined. It is impossible not to regard this work as one of the many means which are now silently, but surely, working in harmony towards the great national end of improving the resources of the British possessions in India. One of the great obstacles to this important object, so far as the vegetable kingdom is concerned, has been the difficulty of ascertaining to what plants the native names of useful products really apply. Like all vernacular names, those of India are uncertain and unstable; the same name being given to one plant in one province, and to another in some other province. One of the results of Dr. Wight's work will be to enable residents in India to give plants their scien- tific names, and thus to render certain and precise what must otherwise be most uncertain and deceptive. Among the more curious plants illustrated in the first six numbers, are species of the genera Acrotrema, Schuma- cheria, Hydnocarpus, Xanthophyllum, Hugonia, Hopea, 30 Opilia, and Hebradendron. Among the useful plants are Berberis tinctoria of the Neelgherry Hills, which is stated, upon the authority of Vauquelin, to be inferior to few woods : for dyeing yellow ; on the plate representing this species are three squares coloured to imitate the cloths dyed with the plant in India; one is pale clear yellow, a second pale green, the third light greenish blue. FRANKINCENSE OF SIERRA LEONE. The ** Bungo,” or Frankincense tree, is an evergreen, and one of the most graceful in an African forest ; it grows in great abundance in the colony and in the neighbourhood, and is generally found in rather elevated situations ; its foliage is a very dark green, the leaf smooth and pointed, and not large; the trunk, which is rather smooth at first, is then curiously marked with white patches, which make the tree very remarkable at a distance. The lower stem is almost invariably perfectly straight, and at the height of 20 or 25 feet usually branches off; the range of height of the trees I have seen may be from 40 to 60 feet; when aged the bark becomes rugged, very thick, and the white patches dis- appear; the flower is very simple, white and small. I do not recollect ever seeing any seed ; the natives have a notion that the tree cannot be propagated except by nature (un- assisted). I made some attempts, but did not succeed. The tree (and especially the branches) is subject to the ravages of an insect, which must be of considerable size, from the holes it bores in every direction being commonly about half an inch in diameter; the operations of this insect occasion the production of the ** Bungo” in very consider- able quantities ; sometimes no doubt the gum drops pure from the tree, but the chief supply is mixed up with woody particles resembling sawdust, and is forced from the holes by the insect, and gathered from the grass and ground by the natives. When fresh the gum is of a light reddish colour, translucent and very fragrant, soft and adhesive. The native Timmanee women use the gum, powdered and mixed with palm oil, as a kind of perfume, and it is commonly sold in the market of Freetown (without any pre- vious preparation) for this purpose. The gum, when burnt on a red hot plate of iron, gives forth a very grateful and highly aromatic odour; by some it po 174 TNI" 3l is supposed to be the true ** Thus.” I do not consider myself qualified to offer any opinion in that respect. The wood makes excellent fuel ; the perfume it diffuses whilst burning is extremely agreeable to most persons. I do not know that it is applied to any other purpose.— Eztract of a letter from M. SS. Melville, Esq. of Stirling, to James Bandinel, Esq. ; dated March 9nd, 1839. 25. CCELÓGYNE ocellata. (Gen. et Sp. Orch. 40.) This beautiful plant has just flowered imperfectly with Messrs. Loddidges, who imported it from India. The sepals and petals are pure white; the lip is also white, but it has two very bright orange yellow spots on each lateral lobe, and two others smaller, and of the same colour at the base of the middle lobe, besides which there are some lateral streaks of brown. The column is bordered with brilliant orange yellow. The crests of the lip are three, which converge towards the base of the middle lobe, and there the lateral ones diverge again over a pair of convexities, beyond which they disappear ; on each side of them, at the base of the said con- vexities, and on the outside, is an additional short curled crest. The flowers grow in erect racemes about six inches long, and are themselves an inch or more long. 26. DENDROBIUM lingueforme. (Swartz.) I have formerly received this curious plant in flower from various collections, but never in such perfection as from the garden of Richard Harrison, Esq. of Aighburgh, who cul- tivates it upon the decayed branch of a tree. It inhabits the country near Sydney, in New South Wales, where it was found by the earliest Botanists who visited that colony. It has hard, thick tongue-shaped leaves, lying flat upon the rhizoma which creeps upon the rock or tree it grows on; they have the texture of an Aloe, and probably indicate that the species does not inhabit damp shaded places, but rather such hot dry situations as Mr. Cunningham assigns to Dendrobium aemulum and undulatum; see Bot. Register, fol. 1699, for observations upon the culture of these plants. The flowers are greenish white, with long slender sepals and petals, and appear from the young ends of the rhizomata. They have no smell, nor any feature of beauty. 32 27. SARCOCHILUS olivaceus ; foliis oblongis membranaceis falcatis apice acutis integris, racemo flexuoso angulato 4-5-floro nutante, sepalis lineari- obovatis obtusis : intermediolatiore petalisque conformibus minoribus columnz dorso adnatis, labelli cum columná productà articulati lobo medio minimo transverso rotundato lateralibus acuminatis ; disco callis variis crassis rotun- datis tuberculato. A New Holland epiphyte ofno beauty, imported by Messrs. Loddiges. It is very nearly the same as S. parviflorus, from which it principally differs in its leaves being broader and not emarginate at the point. The flowers are small and yellowish orange green. 28. HOVÉA pungens. (Hiigel enum. p. 36. Botanisch. Archiv. t, ?.) For specimens of this beautiful plant I am indebted to Robert Mangles, Esq. who raised it from Swan River seeds. A figure of it has already been given in Baron Hugel's Bo- tanisches Archiv. It forms a small bush, with narrow leaves resembling those of Rosemary, but terminated by a slender pungent spine. The flowers grow singly in the axils of the upper leaves, and are of the most intense cobalt blue. I find upon comparing the garden plant with wild specimens given me by Captain James Mangles, that, as is usual with Swan River plants, the cultivated specimens are much finer than the wild ones. 29. DENDROBIUM teretifolium. (R. Brown prodr. nov. holl. 189.) This curious plant, which is.well defined by Dr. Brown, has lately flowered with Messrs. Loddiges. It is a small creeping species, with deep green fleshy taper leaves, between two and three inches long, and solitary flowers of a dull yellow, streaked and spotted with dull purple; the labellum is white. It is a plant of no beauty. . As the importation of New Holland Orchidaceous epiphytes has taken place to some extent, it is desirable that there should now be made known an account of several species first discovered by Mr. Allan Cunningham, and of which notes were given me by my indefatigable friend in June 1834. The eredit of his discoveries will thus be secured to their author, those who may import the plants will be able to determine their names, and to ascertain whether they are new or not, and there will be the additional advantage of proving that no species of striking beauty are to be expected from this part of the world, as none of those found by Mr. Cun- ningham can be considered more than Botanical curiosities. E S dle 33 NOTES or ORCHIDACEOUS EPIPHYTES or NEW SOUTH WALES. By Allan Cunningham, Esq. 30. DENDROBIUM tetragonum ; caulibus gracilibus erectis elongatis quadran- gularibus apice clavatis 2-3-phyllis, foliis ovato-lanceolatis acutis undulatis striatis s, nervosis glabris racemo terminali 2-4-floro longioribus, foliolis pe- rianthii elongato-linearibus patentibus, labello vittato: disco tricarinato, lobo medio dilatato subcordato acuto. An epiphyte, hanging loosely from the stems of small trees, in dry shaded woods, Moreton Bay. June 1828. 31. DENDROBIUM tortile. (Perhaps a Polystachya.) ? On the upper branches of the loftiest trees of Flindersia australis, 100 feet high ; in shaded woods, Brisbane River, Moreton Bay. Oct. 1824. June 1828. 32. DENDROBIUM? pygmaum. (D. Caleyi, Cunn. in Bot, Mag. Com- pan. II. 377.) On rocks in the Illawarra district. Flowers not known. 33. DENDROBIUM elongatum ; caulibus artieulatis teretibus- sulcatis »elon- gatis erectis 4-5-phyllis, foliis ovato-lanceolatis acutiusculis apice obliquis emarginatis, racemo terminali 3-10-floro, foliolis perianthii ovatis obtusius- culis, labelli disco 3-carinato lobo intermedio lato cordiformi. On trees in shaded dark woods, on the banks of the Brisbane River. Sept. 1828. 34. DENDROBIUM pugioniforme; caulibus repentibus nodoso-articulatis radicalibus setoso-stipulatis, foliis elliptico-lanceolatis apice attenuatis acutis carnosis infra fere convexis carinatis leevibus nitentibus, floribus (resupina- tis) subsolitariis axillaribus, perianthii foliolis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis pa- tentibus, labello longitudinaliter tricarinato, lobo intermedio dilatato undulato- crispato apice acuto recurvato, A beautiful epiphyte, hanging loosely from the stems of trees, so as to swing freely to the wind that sweeps through the forests on the summit of the belt of mountain bounding the coast district of Illawarra, on the west (lat. 343 S.) and flowering in August. 1818. Obs. This species approaches so near D. rigidum Br. prodr. (not of Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 86. n. 51) that 1 have often viewed it as the same plant which was described by Mr. Brown, from a figure in the Banksian collection. It now appears to me distinct. 35. DENDROBIUM? crassulefolium. Of this I have no specimens or description. It is a plant growing on trees in ravines of the Blue Mountains. Never seen in flower. The pseudobulbs are oval and one-leafed ; the leaf is small and oval. 34 36. DENDROBIUM ? complanatum. An epiphyte growing in tufts. It has a flattened base, and cultriform distichous leaves: the whole plant, although healthy, is of a yellow green colour. On dead trees, in shaded woods, at Moreton Bay. 1828. Flowers not seen. 37. CYMBIDIUM ridifolium ; foliis elongato-linearibus, racemis multifloris bracteatis, perianthii foliolis patentibus (exterioribus tribus ellipticis obtusis) labello 3-lobato: lobo intermedio linguiformi disco ecarinato glanduloso- punctato nitido. On decayed trunks of treesin large masses, damp shaded woods on the Brisbane River. July 1828. This plant was alive at Kew. 38, CYMBIDIUM ? ; caule radicante scandente, foliis alternis lanceolatis acutis subcarnosis, racemis axillaribus laxis, fol. perianthii conniventibus labello carnoso 3-lobato, basi cavo. A Vanda looking plant, in habit very much like V. tereti- folia. Lindl. Coll. bot. t. 6. Can it be Epidendrum. triste, Forst. which that Botanist discovered in New Caledonia ? My plant, of which I only detected a single specimen, was hang- ing to the thin laminated bark of the trunk of Callistemon rigidum, in small open savannahs, subject to inundation ; near the banks of the Brisbane River. Sept. 1829. 39. CALANTHE veratrifolia. R. Br. In August 1822, whilst on an excursion to the Illawarra, a coast district on the south of Port Jackson, I met with a plant in dark shaded woods, which I introduced to Kew, in the following year, considering it a Bletia. It soon after- wards flowered in that collection, and was then ascertained to differ in no one respect from the Java plant. They have repeatedly been in flower together since that period, and on a close critical examination of the two plants, no difference could be discovered, excepting that the Australian plant is not so purely white in the flower as the Java one; their identity is therefore clearly determined. Illawarra district, near Port Jackson, (lat. 342. S.) is therefore another locality. 40. PHAJUS grandifolius. Loureiro. ; This plant I discovered in Sept. 1824, growing in exten- sive swamps at the back of the beach, on the shores of More-. ton Bay, in lat. 273, from whence I sent a large tub of the plant to Kew, where, on flowering, it proved to be identical with the old Limodorum Tankervillie ; and of its flower M. Bauer made a drawing. Moreton Bay therefore is ano- ther locality. — FERT CN 3 PO 35 41. DENDROBIUM Heyneanum. Gen. & Sp. Orch. p. 90. This very pretty species has flowered imperfectly with Messrs. Loddiges, who received it from Bombay by the over- land conveyance. Its exact locality was not before known, the specimens in Heyne’s herbarium, where I found the ' species, affording no information upon that point. In a healthy state the plant forms a tuft of slender clavate stems, from four to six inches high, loosely covered with the withered sheaths of leaves that have fallen off. From all sides there appear in the flowering season slender spreading racemes about three inches long, having each from five to nine smallish white flowers, with a greenish-yellow lip beau- tifully streaked with violet; they have no smell. 42. LALIA majalis. Lindl. mss. (Cattleya Grahami. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 116.) This plant, the Flor de Mayo of the natives of San Bartolo, and the adjoining parts of Mexico, has lately been received by the Horticultural Society of London from Mr. Hartweg, who found it on the mountains near Leon, growing upon oak trees, at the height of 8000 feet, where it some- times freezes. I possess specimens (No. 3.) given me by Prof. Schlechtendahl, gathered by Dr. Schiede in the same Situations. It is one of the most beautiful of the whole order ; a dried flower now before me, of a bright violet colour, mea- sures nearly five inches from the tip of one petal to that of another, and when fresh I have no doubt the expansion of the flower was as much as six inches. The labellum is still nearly two inches and a half long. AT plants of this mag- nificent species have been given away by the Horticultural Society ; but it proves exceedingly difficult of cultivation. 43. OCTOMERIA fidintata; folio ovali-lanceolato crassissimo acuto, floribus fasciculatis, labello oblongo basi angustato apice tridentato auriculá utrinque _ rotundatá inflexá : lamellis obsoletis. A Demerara plant of no beauty. The flowers are bright yellow ; the leaves are remarkably thick and hard. 44. POLYSTÁCHYÁ affinis. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 73. This has lately flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, who im- ported it from Sierra Leone. It proves extremely different from P. puberula, of which I once thought it might be a E. May, 1839. y 36 variety, and has larger flowers than any of the racemose species of the genus. Sir W. Hooker has observed a gland and caudicula in my Polystachya macrantha (Bot. Mag. t. 3707.), which is probably the Dendrobium galeatum of Swartz; I had previously noted the same thing in P. ramu- losa (Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 144.), and 1 find a similar structure in the present species; it is therefore probable that the genus Polystachya should be placed in Vandew, among the genera belonging to which subdivision a better station may be found for it than next to Dendrobium. 45. ISOCHILUS vidum : pseudobulbis fusiformibus attenuatis squamis pal- lidis membranaceis arcté vestitis, foliis solitariis linearibus apice obscuré 2-3-dentatis, racemo capillari secundo nutante subtrifloro folio multó bre- viore, sepalis petalisque ovatis concavis patulis, labello cordato revoluto apice foveato basi mellifero. A small dingy-flowered plant, imported from Mexico by George Barker, Esq. of Birmingham. Its livid semitrans- parent flowers, and slender pedicels, are accompanied by spindle-shaped pseudobulbs, tightly covered with sheaths, resembling in colour the external skin of the onion which gardeners call ‘ the silver-skinned.” 46. DENDROBIUM macrophyllum; folis ovato-oblongis obtusis nervosis basi subcordatis, sepalis lanceolatis lateralibus parúm productis, petalis ob- longis acutis, labello pubescente convoluto denticulato subunguiculato ovato callo baseos elevato transverso obsoleté trilobo. This, the handsomest of the Dendrobia, has been received by Messrs. Loddiges from Manilla, where it was found by Mr. Cuming. The flowers are nine inches in circumference, aud will probably be still larger when the plant becomes more healthy. The sepals and petals are a clear and bright rose-colour, the lip is downy and deeply stained with two large broad blood-red blotches at its base.” 47. CATTLEYA superba; foliis ovato-oblongis obtusis coriaceis marginatis caule clavato brevioribus, sepalis oblongis acutiusculis, petalis lanceolatis aeutis membranaceis dupló latioribus, labelli trilobi cucullati lobis lateralibus acutis : intermedio transverso plano denticulato emarginato subunguiculato basi venis elevatis rugoso; callis duobus pone basin. Sertum Orchida- ceum, t. 22. . This magnificent sweet-scented Cattleya has been. found in British Guayana by Mr. Schomburgk, who sent a live plant of it to Messrs. Loddiges, and a drawing to the Linnean EX 2 $ wr pa >i 37 Society, by permission of which a figure has been published in the Sertum Orchidaceum. The flowers, if not so large as those of Cattleya Mossi, are, from the richness of their colours, inferior to none in beauty. According to Mr. Schomburgk, the plant appears peculiar to the 3rd or 4th degree of N. Lat. ; it is not to be met with in the Essequibo north of the mouth of the Rnpununy ; from thence it is found southwards on trees which skirt the banks of the brooks and rivers which meander through the savannahs. He discovered only a few solitary specimens in the Essequibo south of the Cayuwini, and none at the equator. The Caribees call it Oponopodoli, or Ducksmouth, the Macoosees Masame. It is very fragrant; the odour in the morning is said to become too powerful in a confined place; the splendid flowers last from three to four weeks. Although only now brought into notice, the species was many years since discovered by Dr. Von Martius, who found it near Taruma on the banks of the Rio Negro, in woods at the Barra de Rio Negro, and in forests near Para. It is readily distinguished from all previously described species by its three-lobed lip with acute lateral segments, the middle lobe being flat, toothletted and emarginate, and by the cluster of elevated veins at the junction of the epichilium and hypochilium. 48. SALVIA patens. Tab. 23. of this volume. The first importer of this valuable plant was inadver- tently stated to be Mr. Rogers of Southampton instead of Mr. W. B. Page of the same Pe In the account of this species in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society the fact is given correctly, and I now hasten to correct an acci- dental error which, if unaltered, would deprive Mr. Page of the credit which he deserves for having first introduced this great ornament to our gardens. 49. DEUTZÍA corymbosa (Wall. cat. no. 3652); foliis ovato-oblongis acu- minatis serratis sparsé stellatim pilosis, floribus cymosis. 4-5-gynis, dente intermedio staminum lateralibus equali, fructibus pisiformibus lepidotis. A new hardy Himalayan shrub, flowers of which were produced in the garden of the Horticultural Society in March last, in the greenhouse. They are white, about. half the size of those of D. scabra, lemon-scented, and arranged in copious cymes, which appear, from the dried wild specimens 38 before me, to form in great abundance when the plant is vigorous. Upon one branch 18 inches long I count seven clusters, each of which has on an average forty blossoms. It was received under the name of D. canescens. 50. EPIDENDRUM glumaceum ; pseudobulbis ovatis apice angustatis di- phyllis, foliis angusté oblongis patentibus, racemo terminali cylindraceo e squamis glumaceis acuminatissimis pedunculo longioribus erumpente, sepa- lis linearibus petalisque lineari-lanceolatis acuminatissimis, labello obovato acuminato convexo integerrimo basi unicalloso. A Brazilian plant very near E. fragrans, from which it differs in the form of the lip, and in the colour of the flowers, which are white delicately striped with pink. It is a pretty species, with a raceme about five inches long. 51. GOVENIA Gardneri (Hooker in Bot. Mag. t. 3660) ; scapo obtusé tetra- gono medio vaginato, racemo elongato floribus post anthesin refractis, brac- teis oblongis herbaceis ovarii dimidio longitudine, sepalis petalisque ovatis obtusiusculis, labello ovato acuto nudo apice maculis 5 marginalibus notato lineis duabus convexis convergentibus in medio, anthera cornu brevi inflexo. The figure of this plant in the Botanical Magazine seems to have been taken from a specimen out of health, for the colour of the flowers and their markings are by no means such as I find them in a specimen now before me, for which l have to thank my friend John Miers, Esq. F.L.S. of 14, Hans Place, Chelsea. The flowers are pure white; the petals are delicately spotted with violet dots inside; the lip is downy at the base, and yellowish-green, except at the point, where it is white, with five small equidistant spots, of which the three in the middle are bright orange colour, and the two side ones, which are much more indistinct, dull purple. Mr. Miers tells me that he found it flowering in the month of February on the Organ Mountains, at two distant intervals from 3000 to 3500 feet above the level of the sea ; at the lower one in an exposed situation on a bank, at the higher, in a wood upon a quantity of rich mould in the hollow of a decaying tree. 52. SACCOLABIUM micranthum (Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 220.) This curious little plant has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges. Its flowers are pale violet, with the limb of the labellum much darker. It should rather be referred to the genus Cleisostoma. » s — A gr LA 39 53. ABUTILON striatum (Dickson in Botanist ined.); foliis trilobis serratis glabriusculis basi subcordatis : lobis acuminatis, pedunculis capillaribus lon- gissimis, floribus campanulatis petalis retusis, stylis 8. This south Brazilian species has found its way into many gardens in England, having been received from the Glasgow collection. It is a greenhouse shrub of the easiest culture, and of great beauty, being covered all the year long with a profusion of bell-shaped orange flowers, strongly veined with crimson, and dependent from long slender stalks. The finest specimens I have seen have been those belonging to John Sheepshanks, Esq. of Blackheath. It appears nearly related . to A. elegans of Auguste de St. Hiliare. 54. CYRTOCHILUM stellatum ; pseudobulbis diphyllis ovalibus compressis striatis inter squamas lanceolatas carinatas axillaribus, foliis ligulatis obtusis aveniis scapo multó brevioribus, scapo tereti erecto basi vaginato, racemo disticho multifloro, bracteis carinatis convolutis acuminatis glumaceis ovario longioribus, sepalis petalisque lineari-obovatis acutis stellatis, labello oblongo undulato acuto basi canaliculato striato, alis columns acinaciformibus inte- gerrimis, Sertum Orchidaceum, plate 7. This noble species, nearly related to C. flavescens of the Botanical Register, t. 1627, but differing in its much larger flowers, the sepals of which are by no means acuminated, but only drawn to a sharp point; in the greater breadth of the pseudo-bulbs; in its stature being four tinfes as great; and in the labellum being white instead of yellow, has lately flowered in the Nursery of Mr. J. Youell, Nurseryman, of Great Yarmouth. ad m M. Descourtilz found it dispersed through the districts of Macahé and Bananal. - It flowers in September and remains in that state till the end of January. It diffuses but a weak perfume, but the beautiful spikes, which seen at a distance make it resemble a mass of verdure strewed with large stars, render it a most remarkable object. 55. EYSENHARDTIA amorphoides. Humb. Bonpl. et Kunth nov. gen. et sp. pl. vi. 489. t. 592. Seeds of this beautiful shrub having been distributed by the Horticulturàl Society, and a few plants raised from seeds obtained from Mexico by Geo. Frederick Dickson, Esq. in 1837, having proved perfectly hardy, it is desirable to givea short account of it. It inhabits the mountains of Mexico, where it forms a small tree, with small pinnated leaves, like 40 those of an Acacia, but distinctly marked with glandular dot- ting; a very unusual case among Leguminous plants. The twigs are short, and so closely set upon the branches as to form a dense mass of foliage ; each is terminated by an erect compact spike, from two to three inches long, of white or pale ade flowers, which although not larger than those of a pirea, nevertheless from their abundance must produce a beautiful appearance. Genera Plantarum secundum Ordines naturales disposita ; auctore Stephano Endlicher. Vindobonz, 4to. There has been no Genera Plantarum published since that of Jussieu in 1789, with the exception of reprints, and the worthless compilation by Sprengel ; and during the long interval that has since elapsed, the science of Botany has grown from a dwarf of almost Lilliputian dimensions to the stature of an Anak. The number of genera recognized by Jussieu was something less than 2000; the list of genera at the end of the 2nd edition of my Natural System of Botany in 1836, was 7840, and many more have to be added. The publication of a new digest of the genera of plants, with their characters as limited by the best authorities, or defined by original observation, had therefore become a work of the greatest necessity to all persons occupied with the study of the science; but it was at the same time so difficult, that no person could be found with energy enough to attempt its ex- ecution, till Dr. Endlicher, of Vienna, a learned man and an excellent Botanist, with the Imperial libraries and collections of that capital to assist him, seriously set himself to accom- plish-this great purpose. In August, 1836, the first part of the work made its ap- pearance, written in Latin, and arranged according to a system peculiar to the author. It contained the characters of the classes, sub-classes, and natural orders and genera, written with an elegance of language too seldom found in the works of modern Botanists. It was accompanied by a ** Con- spectus diagnosticus,” or short abstract of the distinctive characters of the classes, orders, &c. and a copious Index ; and subsequently a “ Conspectus dispositionis," or arranged Catalogue of the names of the classes, orders, &c. has been commenced. The work has now reached the tenth part, and the last genus is numbered 4583. How many more parts E Eu c "^5 j 41 are to be expected is not known; but supposing the whole number of genera known to Dr. Endlicher to be 8000, it may be supposed that the work will be brought to a close in seven or eight more parts, or in about a year and a half. The period of its completion will form an era in the history of systematical Botany. Independently of its great importance on account of the singular skill and care with which it is written, it possesses an additional value in consequence of the numerous references to books in which descriptions and figures of the genera may be found. Simultaneously with this great work the same indefati- gable author is publishing an Zconographia Generum plan- tarum, or illustrations of the genera described by him. It appears in 4to. or folio parts, with uncoloured figures exe- cuted in outline by artists of the highest eminence. Seven parts have now appeared, and the number of the last plate is 84. Independently of the other important materials of which Dr. Endlicher is able to avail himself for this work, he has access to the beautiful series of drawings of New Holland plants, executed by Mr. Ferdinand Bauer during Flinders’s expedition, and bought by the Austrian government upon his death. The originals are somewhere in this country, but where deposited I am not at present able to state. It is well known that in 1813 an attempt was made by Mr. Bauer to publish them in this country, but no effectual support was afforded him by either the men of science or the government of the day ; and although the plates were engraved with his own hand, and with exquisite skill, the publication never proceeded beyond three numbers. It is impossible not to feel it a national disgrace that such valuable materials, col- lected at the cost of the English government, should onl make their appearance nearly thirty years after their acqui- sition, and then by the energy and zeal of a learned foreigner. A Flora of North America, &c. $c. by John Torrey and Asa Gray, vol. i. part ii. See page 5 of this volume. The second part of this valuable work has reached Eng- land. It proceeds from Caryophyllee to the middle of Leguminose, in the order of DeCandolle’s arrangement, and like its predecessor, exhibits equal care and talent in the determination and definition of the genera and species. It is rich in new species from California and Oregon, collected 42 by Mr. Nuttall, and among other interesting matter, includes the following new genera. STYPHONIA, an Anacardiaceous tree from California. OrzopniLa, a Celastraceous plant, named Llex myrsinites by Pursh, and Myginda myrtifolia by Nuttall, DeCandolle, and others. ASTROPHIA, a Leguminous plant from the Oregon, related to Lathyrus and Orobus. HomazoBus, a Leguminous genus, composed of several herbaceous species, with the habit of Phaca and nearly the legumes of Vicia ; to this are referred the Phaca nigrescens of Hooker, and Orobus dispar of Nuttall. KENTROPHYTA, consisting of two Leguminous plants, from the hills of the Platte, allied to the last. CHAPMANNIA, another Leguminous plant, related to Stylo- santhes on the one hand, and to Arachis on the other, found at Tampa bay in East Florida. Among other things relating to species, it appears that the Ceanothus azureus of our gardens, is not the plant so named by Desfontaines, which came from Mexico, but the C. thyrsiflorus of Eschscholtz, a Californian species. CLIMATE OF BRAZILIAN ORCHIDACE FE. Although this is the summer season, the thermometer has never been higher than 84° in the shade at noon,—it ranges from 68 to 75° and is seldom higher: but after a few days continued rain, I have observed it as low as 62%, In the winter season it sometimes descends to 32° during the night. All the European vegetables grow pretty well, as also several fruits, such as the apple, the fig, the grape, the olive, and peach. The tea plant thrives well, but it is too cold for the orange and the coffee; the plants themselves grow luxuri- antly, but their fruits do not come to perfection.” —Eztract of a letter to George Wailes, Esq. of Newcastle, from Mr. Gardner, dated January, 1837, and written amongst the Organ Mountains, at an elevation of 3100 feet. * HABITS OF BRAZILIAN PARASITES. The destruction of a tree in these woods does not lessen the abundance of vegetable life. On every blasted stem which had lost its own bark and leaves, a crop of para- sites had succeeded, and covered the naked wood with their = + & SSE EN 5. 43 no less luxuriant leaves and flowers. Of these the different species of air-plants and Tillandsias were most remarkable.— The first were no less singular than beautiful; they attach themselves to the dryest and most sapless surface, and bloom as if issuing from the richest soils. A specimen of one of these, which I thought curious, I threw into my portmanteau, where it was forgotten ; and some months after, in unfolding some linen, I was astonished to find a rich scarlet flower, of the gynandrous class, in full blow; it had not only lived, but vegetated and blossomed, though so long secluded from air, light, and humidity. Every withered tree here was covered with them, bearing flowers of all hues, from the brightest yellow to the deepest scarlet. They are easily propagated by transplanting; and my good friend, Col. Cunningham, had all the trees in his garden at Boto Fogo covered with them. The Tillandsia is not less extraordinary.—It also grows on sapless trees, and never on the ground. lts seeds are fur- nished, on the crown, with a long filmy fibre, like the thread of a gossamer. As they ripen, they are detached, and driven with the wind, having the long thread streaming behind them. When they meet with the obstruction of a withered branch, the thread is caught, and revolving round, the seed at length comes into fixed contact with the surface, where it soon vegetates, and supplies the naked arm with a new fo- liage. Here it grows, like the common plant of a pine apple, and shoots from its centre a long spike of bright scarlet blos- soms. In some species (Tillandsia utriculata, and lingulata) the leaves are protuberant below, and form vessels like pitchers, which catch and retain the rain water, furnishing cool and limpid draughts to the heated traveller, in elevations where no water is to be found. The quantity of fluid con- tained in these reservoirs is sometimes very considerable ; and in attempting to reach the flower stem, I have been often drenched by upsetting the plant."— Walsh’s Notices of Brazil, 2nd vol. page 306. 56. DENDROBIUM Paztoni; caulibus teretibus sulcatis, foliis ovato-lan- ceolatis acuminatis apice hinc obsoleté emarginatis, pedunculis bifloris, sepa- fis oblongis acutis lateralibus basi parüm productis, petalis. latioribus obo- vatis acutis serrulatis, labello unguieulato ovato concavo indiviso villoso margine multifido fimbriato. This beautiful new Dendrobium has orange-yellow F. June, 1839. 9 44 flowers, with a deep brown spot in the middle of the lip. It is related to D. chrysanthum, from which it differs in having the petals serrated, and in the surface and margin of the labellum. It was found at Pundua, at the foot of the Khoseea hills of India, by Mr. John Gibson, at that time employed as collector to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, and at whose request it was named after Mr. Paxton. It was sent me from Chatsworth in April last. 57. PHOLIDOTA articulata ; Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 38. This plant has been introduced to Chatsworth by Mr. Gibson. It is of no beauty; its flowers are small and dirty white, with a little yellow. It is different in habit from the common Pholidota imbricata, the stem being jointed like an Otochilus, and not pseudo-bulbous. 58. PHAIUS Wallichii. Lindl. in Wall. pl. as. rar. t. 158. Another addition to the Chatsworth collection, made by Mr. Gibson during his stay in India. The specimen sent me was a good deal damaged, but it appeared to be as stately and beautiful a plant as the common P. grandifolius. 59. TRIGONIDIUM tenue (Lodd. cat. no. 582.); pseudobulbis ovalibus compressis monophyllis, folio ensiformi acutissimo scapo erecto tenui lon- giore, sepalis reflexis acutissimis, labello oblongo obtuso trilobo glabro apice reflexo medio appendice plano obovato emarginato adnato acuto. A brownish purple species with a slender habit, intro- duced from Demerara by Messrs. Loddiges, with whom it flowered in May. 60. SCAPHYGLOTTIS stellata ; (Loddiges in litt.) pseudobulbis fusiformi- bus, foliis linearibus canaliculatis obtusis emarginatis, fasciculis sessilibus terminalibus, sepalis linearibus secundis patentibus petalis conformibus an- gustioribus, labello cuneato trilobo lobis lateralibus rotundatis intermedio acutiusculo. This species nearly resembles Scaphyglottis violacea, (Bot. Reg. t. 1901) from which it differs in having larger flowers with spreading segments, and the lateral lobes of the lip as large as the middle lobe. It is a native of Demerara, ‘whence it was obtained by Messrs. Loddiges. 61. ISOTROPIS striata. (Bentham in Angel’s Enum. pl. p. 28.) This is a very pretty little greenhouse shrub. The stem is soft, and slightly downy, the leaves oval, apiculate, convex 45 with a revolute edge, the flowers papilionaceous, clear orange yellow, with rich deep crimson forked veins, even more dis- tinctly marked than those of Abutilon striatum. It is a native of Swan River, and was communicated by Robert Mangles, Esq. of Sunning Hill. 62. GOMPHOLOBIUM versicolor; caule erecto, folis breviter petiolatis 3-foliolatis, foliolis linearibus mucronatis glabris margine revolutis, racemo laxo paucifloro, calycis laciniis oblongo-linearibus cuspidatis extüs glabris intüs pubescentibus, cariná glabrá. A smooth, neat-looking, climbing shrub, obtained by R. Mangles, Esq. from Swan River, where it appears to be common. The stems are round, erect, and smooth; the leaves have a firm texture; and the flowers are large, red- dish-yellow changing to a deep chocolate red. 63. CHOROZEMA varium (Bentham mss.) ; foliis subsessilibus subrotundo- cordatis undulatis spinoso-dentatis integrisque pubescentibus, racemis erectis multifloris foliis paulo longioribus, calycibus basi obtusis pilosis tubo denti- busque subequalibus. This is perhaps the handsomest shrub yet obtained from Swan River, whence seeds have been received both by the Horticultural Society and private individuals. Its foliage is compact, neat, and of a pleasant greenish grey colour ; the flowers are gaily painted with orange and crimson. Itis a greenhouse shrub of the easiest culture, and will make an admirable conservatory plant. It flowers from March through the summer months. 64. ACACIA cyanophy lla ; phyllodiis lineari-lanceolatis vel elongato-oblongis undulatis obtusis glaucis basi valdé angustatis supra basin glandulosis, capi- tulis racemosis axillaribus phyllodio multd brevioribus, ovario glabro. A fine new species of Acacia from Swan River, with long glaucous leaves, and a profusion of axillary racemes of yellow flowers. It was raised by the Horticultural Society from seeds presented by Mr. Smart, to whom we are also indebted for the introduction of the beautiful Chorozema varium. None of the long-leaved Australasian Acacias have such glaucous wavy leaves as this. 65. AGANISÍA pulchella. A very pretty new genus of Vandeous Orchidacez, sent by Mr. Brotherton from Demerara to Messrs. Loddiges. It 46 has a creeping rhizoma, with distant slender pseudo-bulbs, each tipped by a single leaf, and cream-coloured delicate flowers, resembling those of some Maxillarias in form. The genus is distinguished from Maxillaria by the brown sepals not being oblique at the base, and by the nature of the pollen-masses ; from Encnemis it differs in the form of the flowers, and in their regularity. It may be thus defined. AGANISIA. Perianthium patens, equale ; sepalis lateralibus haud basi pro- ductis. Labellum liberum, mobile, indivisum, concavum, hypochilio parvo concavo, ab epichilio cristá transversá glandulosa diviso. Columna erecta, semiteres, marginata, apice utrinque brachio acuto patulo aucta. Anthera ecristata. Rostellum elongatum. Pollinia 4, collateralia, per paria con- nata (oo oo) caudiculá lineari, glandulá parvá ovali. Rhizoma repens, pseudobulbosa. ^ Pseudobulbi monophylh. ^ Racemus erectus, radicalis, 3-4-florus, foliis multó brevior. 1. Aganisia pulchella. Pseudobulbi attenuati. Folia oblongo-lanceolata, acuta, plicata. Sepala et petala ob- longa, acuta, ochroleuca. Labellum oblongum, obtusum, concavum, cristá luted. Brachia columne obliqué bidentata, acuta. 66. GOVENIA lagenophora ; pseudobulbo ovato vagina lagenzformi utricu- latá incluso, petiolis tetragonis, racemo longissimo multifloro, labello ovato obtuso omnino glabro, sepalis petalisque obtusis. For this very distinct and curious species of Govenia 1 am indebted to John Rogers, Esq. Jun. who imported it from Mexico, and has obligingly furnished me with the following note concerning it. * Root a solitary tuber; the old not perishing until the new one is nearly full grown, but then dying away com- pletely; about the size of a duck's egg, forming above- ground, and of a bright green, marked with the scars of three or four sheaths. The innermost sheath which sur- mounts the tuber is entire, and resembles a Florence flask in shape ; it is about eight inches high, two to three in diameter at the base, and three-quarters at its throat; translucent, or semi-transparent, containing about one-third of a pint of water. ; ** Leaves two, opposite, lanceolate ovate, eighteen inches long by four to five broad; articulated with their petioles, just at the top of the pitcher. "The petioles are acutely four- angled, sheathing, so that their transverse section is an equilateral rhomboid, with concave sides. The flower-stem rises from the bulb, within the pitcher, and opposite to the midrib of the outer leaf; about three feet high, bearing from forty to fifty flowers, which expand rapidly, and con- Mw. 47 tinue long in perfection, exhaling in the forenoon the odour of Habenaria bifolia. ** The pitcher is generally full of water, all the rain and dew which falls on the leaves being conducted into it; and it is apparently absorbed by the plant, as, if not replenished, A disappears more rapidly than evaporation would account for. * The fibres are simple, proceeding from the base of the tuber, and have a tendency to rise and run on the surface of the ground. The plant evidently delights in water when growing, and is apparently a native of bogs or swamps,” Upon comparing this with Swartz's account of his Cymbi- dium utriculatum, no doubt can remain of that plant being another species of Govenia, differing from the present chiefly in having a pubescent scape, and succulent white flowers ; it will therefore have to be added to this genus under the name of Govenia utriculata. 67. BRASAVOLA glauca; foliis coriaceis oblongis obtusis planiusculis glaucis, spathá uniflora, sepalis petalisque lineari-lanceolatis obtusis her- baceis, labello subsessili subrotundo acuto margine lobato, clinandrio den- tato denti dorsali apice glanduloso. A most curious Orchidaceous plant, obtained near Vera Cruz for the Horticultural Society by Mr. Hartweg. Its habit is so much that of a Cattleya that till it flowered it was expected to belong to that genus. It however proves to be a Brasavola, with very large flowers. A figure of it is in preparation for Mr. Bateman's noble work on the plants of this order from Mexico and Guatemala. 68. ONCIDIUM sanguineum; ebulbosum, foliis oblongis coriaceis dorso cari- natis, scapo longissimo paniculato, sepalis subrotundis unguiculatis laterali- bus basi connatis petalisque crispis sublobatis, labelli trilobi suberispi verni- cati lobis subequalibus intermedio retuso cuneato, cristá ovatá convexá corru- gata, columnz alis rotundatis sublobatis antherá puberulá, A noble species of this showy genus, with the habit of Oncidium carthaginense, but with straw-coloured flowers stained with crimson blotches. It was imported from La Guayra by Messrs. Loddiges. 69. CYMBIDIUM bicolor. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 164. This has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, who imported it from Ceylon. It proves to be a handsome species, with 48 flowers like those of C. alorifolium, only streaked and stained with very deep crimson. The species is readily distinguished by having a sac at the base of the lip. 70. DIPLOPELTIS Hugelii. Endl. enum. p. 13. For a living specimen of this beautiful and most curious herbaceous plant I am indebted to Mr. Toward, Gardener to H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester at Bagshot. It is in its present state a foot and half high, with corymbose panicles of pink flowers, resembling those of a Cleome. It will be speedily figured in this work, when I shall endeavour to shew that it is an anomalous form of Capparidacee rather than of Sapindacee, to which order the learned Dr. Endlicher has referred it. 5 CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IN PLANTS. Some years ago, Professor Schultz, of Berlin, called the attention of Botanists to the existence in plants of motion in a particular fluid, called by him latex, analogous to the blood of animals, through a system of vessels previously un- examined. Ata later period he brought the subject before the Academy of Sciences of Paris, and his memoir upon the subject received the Montyon prize. Notwithstanding the exact manner in which Professor Schultz described this new circulating system, and the great importance of the facts he narrated, the question has attracted but little attention till lately, the common opinion among vegetable physiologists in this country having been, that there was some mistake in observations which had been made. There can, however, be no doubt upon the. subject, now that the circulation has been seen by so many persons in England, and the interest belonging to the inquiry is so great as to induce me to give the following abstract of a paper recently published upon this subject by Professor Schultz in the Annales des Sciences, vol. 10. p. 327, new series. After adverting to the advanced state of the engravings with which the Academy of Sciences intend to accompany the original memoir, the printing of which was about to commence in September last, the author observes, that some persons have confounded the motion of cyclosis in the vessels dispersed through the cellular tissue. beyond the focus of bil 49 ‘circulation, with the movement of rotation in the lower plants. In his Memoir he had made known two sorts of circulation quite distinct from each other; the one existing in homorganic plants, that is, in plants composed exclusively ofa homogeneous cellular tissue, of which each cell represents and contains the whole vital actions of the plant: a circulation which, on account of the separate gyrating motion in each cell, he had called rotatim ; the other peculiar to heterorganic plants, namely, to those provided with a double system of vessels united by a cellular system, in which reside exclu- sively the functions of formation : this last circulation is that to which he had confined the name cyclosis, because of the currents of fluid enclosed in vessels ramifying in a reticu- lated manner, so: as to form circles linked to each other and cohering by anastomoses. Both Brown and Amici, without attending to cyclosis, have published some interesting observations upon the motion of the juice in the cellular hairs of several heterorganic plants, (provided with laticiferous vessels) ; and Slack, in repeating the observations of Brown upon the hairs of Tradescantia virginica, established for the first time, in a positive manner, a comparison between this circulation in the hairs and the rotation in homorganic plants. Mr. Slack correctly observed that these hairs are not cellules composed of a simple mem- brane, but that they consist of a double tissue, the one exte- rior, the other interior, and that the circulation takes place between their two membranes. He also noticed that this motion in hairs does not merely consist of two currents re- turning upon themselves, but rather of numerous canals united by reticulating anastomoses. Mr. Slack therefore described a case of true cyclosis, but he was unacquainted with the nature and the different degrees of developement of the laticiferous system. More recently these observations have been repeated by Meyen, but although one should have expected that an ob- server acquainted with the real nature of cyclosis, would, at the first glance, have distinguished that kind of circulation from rotation; Meyen, on the contrary, adopts the idea of Slack, and even pushes his false us coge still further, by attempting to refute tlie unquestionable accuracy of the ob- servations made by the latter Botanist, when he stated that the circulation does not take place in the interior of a cell, 50 but in the space between a double tissue. Most assuredly this refutation is altogether hypothetical. M. Meyen justly observed that it is impossible for a true rotation to occur in cavities enclosed within a double tissue; but instead of ad- mitting the reticulated currents between such tissue to be referable to cyclosis, he preferred asserting that the observa- tions of Brown and Slack are erroneous, although nothing can be more correct that their observations, their conclusions alone being false. If we adopt the opinion of M. Meyen, we must allow that heterorganic plants, provided with a laticiferous system, have two sorts of circulation in the same individual, viz. cyclosis and rotation ; without understanding what relation or con- nection there can be, either between the two circulations themselves, or between the two circulations and the system of spiral vessels. Such contradictions are inexplicable except upon the supposition that M. Meyen is unacquainted with the different forms, situation, extent, and the degrees of de- velopement of laticiferous tissue ; especially that of the capil- lary form, the sides of which are often not discernible in the midst of the cellular tissue, on account of their extreme tenuity and glassy transparency ; and it is this circumstance that has so often prevented observers admitting, in a general manner, the existence of vessels for the conveyance of latex. The author then proceeded to offer some observations upon two cases of cyclosis, of which drawings accompanied his paper. The first was Commelina celestis; of this a live stem was, represented cut through the middle of a vascular bundle longitudinally. By the side of the spiral vessels a focus of cyclosis was indicated; this focus consisted of a bundle of laticiferous vessels, very delicate and filamentous, united together compactly in the form of a network with very long meshes, in which were seen currents of latex ascending and descending. Moreover, at the side of the focus, in the midst of the cellular tissue, the eyclosis was shewn in distinct currents, and the same thing was visible between the cells of a hair. The currents of latex, separated either in the cellular tissue of the stem, or in the hairs, were not separated in each cell, nor isolated in the cellular. mass, but connected with the focus of circulation at certain points, so that all the latex circulating in the cellular tissue and hairs took its origin in the focus of cyclosis. "s ey 51 The second case was that of Campanula rapunculoides, the latex of which being milky, is better suited for observa- tion. In the hair of this plant was shewn the same reticu- lated connection of the currents of latex as is observable in the interior of the plant, whether near the focus of cyclosis or in the cellular tissue. This circulation of a milky fluid was in all respects the same as that observed in Commelina, Tradescantia, and other plants whose latex is not milky. Thus all these acts of circulation take place in a system of vessels in the form of a very fine network surrounding the cells, and even traversing their interior in various directions; and this allows us at once to distinguish cyclosis from the rotation of homorganic plants. The former is never isolated in a cell, but always forms a part of a reticulated system be- longing to several cells. is ; With regard to anastomoses in the laticiferous tissue, M. Schultz referred to his numerous drawings for abundant proof of their universal existence where cyclosis occurs. The knowledge of this plexus throws great light upon the direc- tion of thecurrents of cyclosis in the interior of the parenchyma of living plants, where the sides of the vessels cannot be distinguished any more than in animals, in which doubts have been often entertained as to the existence of vessels in the system of the surface. It may be as impossible in plants as in animals to separate the vessels in every part, but there is no reason why we should not take a part for the whole in the one case as well as the other. In conclusion, the author expressed his belief that a general law in the organization of plants, as in animals, con- stitutes two great divisions in the vegetable kingdom—the homorganic and the heterorganic—and that it is chiefly from variations in the system of circulation that those internal changes of organization takes place, the results of which are the different grades of developement in the natural divisions of the vegetable kingdom ; while in the animal kingdom it is principally on the nervous system that the general types of natural divisions are founded. G. July, 1839. 52 VEGETATION OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND VAN DIEMEN’S LAND. Extract from a letter written by a Lady at Hobart Town in January, 1839. “ How I thought of you at the Cape, that Paradise of flowers ! though the first bloom was over on our arrival, yet enough was left to shew what had been, nor without seeing can you imagine the profusion ; there are actually no weeds. Our favourite little blue Lobelia is the chickweed of the place, the ditches and all damp places are filled with Cape Lilies, Heaths of all colours, the Erica, 1 believe coccinea, growing very high, Diosmas, Crassulas, &c. &c. I saw a great deal of the Cape, we were above a fortnight there, and travelled above a hundred and eighty miles into the interior. With the general appearance of the country I was disappointed, there are no trees. The silver tree, a Protea, is the highest indigenous plant that I saw. There are oaks in and about Cape Town, Constantia, Wyneberg, &c. and in- deed wherever a house is built, a few trees are planted for shade, but the country for miles has nothing higher than heath, and for the greater part of the year is sterile looking. But in the season the whole face is covered with flowers; and such a face! fancy acres of heaths, of all colours, interspersed with Gladioles, [xias, Watsonias, Babianas, Lachenalias, &c. without end, all growing and flourishing in their native luxuriance. Some bunches of Mesembryanthemums near Sir Lowry Cole's pass were actually too bright to look at, I lived in one constant whirl of delight, that extacy in which we behold perfection. I could not see fast enough. Most of the Ixias were out of bloom, but their remains were like patches of a hay-field in seed, only the stems closer together. ` Myrtle hedges were eight and ten feet high; the one I saw at Sir John Herschell’s must have been more, and as close and substantial as our best holly hedges. We visited Villette’s, and Baron Ludwig’s garden, but where the whole country is a garden, these were of less interest, The Melia Azedarach, with its sweet lilac blossoms, is a beautiful and ornamental tree which I did not see wild. We visited the Constantias ; Great Constantia is beautiful, the soil is white, and looks like lime and sand intimately mixed. I thought of our gardener’s recommendation of lime rubbish for vines. To the Cape, Van Diemen’s Land is a direct contrast. a a i £l - 53 This is a country of hills, fringed to the very top, and per- haps about the thickest vegetation in the world. All is ever- green, and one dense mass of gloom. At first sight it is sombre enough, but like a dark beauty it has its charms. The wood is chiefly “ gum” (Eucalyptus), growing to an immense height, and throwing its long white arms about in a wild Salvator style. The young “gums” are beautiful, and their new shoots of reddish brown lightening into a paler hue, and deepening into myrtle green, with the light new shoots of the ‘ wattle” (Acacia), give a rich beauty of co- louring, delightful to the eye of a painter. Nature here must be painted to the life, there is nothing to soften. ** There is a harshness and dryness in the texture of vegetation here that is very peculiar; even their kangaroo grass (Anthistiria australis), which is considered so nourish- ing, is hard and hairy, or rather wiry. The flowering shrubs are extremely pretty, but the flowers are very small. The Epacris impressa is in great quantities every where; but Heaths have not as yet been successfully cultivated here, and there are none native. The soil is very dry. But cultiva- tion of any kind is only creeping in; a Horticultural Society has this last year been formed at Launceston, and it is to be hoped knowledge and emulation may thus be excited ; hitherto sheep, sheep, from one end of the country to the other, with little more cultivation than each farm requires, land cheap, and labour dear, have caused this state of things: but the minimum price of land is now raised, and most of it is so bad that its value is far below that. Settlers must now rent from the great landholders, and the resources of the country must be made available. With science and judgment every thing and any thing may be done here : wherever English trees are planted there they flourish, but they are few and far between. The Sweetbriar is now seen in the woods, and grows to an immense size. The quantity of flowers and fruit, such as they are, is beyond belief, but there are none of the best kinds. Think of grafts here bearing the first year: an earnest of what might be. I succeeded in bringing here alive, but in bad health, the Lilies of the. Valley which you gave me; four leaves are green, the only morsel in the Southern hemisphere.” 54 71. DICHAA ochracea; foliis linearibus acutis carinatis, pedunculis foliorum feré longitudine, bracteá cucullata ovarii longitudine, sepalis petalisque ob- longis acutis, labello subrotundo rhomboideo sessili, columná pilosá, clinan- drio membranaceo-marginato, antherá bigibbosá. A small Demerara plant, with narrow leaves, and pale yellow-ochre-coloured flowers. It is next D. graminoides, which differs in having smaller flowers with very short peduncles, and both shorter and flatter leaves. Messrs. Loddiges obtained it from Demerara. 72. GREVILLEA Thelemaniana; foliis trifido-pinnatifidis, laciniis linearibus subtus bisulcatis submucronatis junioribus appressé subpubescentibus, racemo denso. Hugel in litt. ^ A beautiful New Holland shrub, with numerous racemes of crimson flowers, and narrow pinnatifid leaves. It has recently been raised at Vienna by Baron Hugel, to whom I am indebted for a knowledge of this and several other rare species now existing in his very valuable collection. It belongs to Brown's section of Grevillea proper. 73. CONOSTYLIS juncea ; perigonio intus glabro, scapis indivisis capitulo vix longioribus, foliis teretiusculis laevibus. Hugel in litt. A rigid herbaceous plant, with leaves from six inches to a foot long, at the base of which grow heads of campa- nulate erect flowers. The tube of the perianth is yellowish green, covered with harsh hairs; the limb is divided into six, equal, acuminate segments, deep yellow at the base, whitish at the point, the stamens are six, and inserted equally into the throat of the perianth. It is a pretty greenhouse herbaceous plant, found on the south coast of New Holland by Baron Hugel, and raised at Vienna, where it has flowered. 74. ACACIA cuneata. Benth. in Hugel’s enumeratio, p. 42. This plant, from the Swan River, has been raised at Vienna by Baron Hugel. It appears, from a drawing that has been sent me, to have glaucous wedge-shaped truncated phyllodia, and solitary yellow capitula, whose peduncle is nearly half the length of the leaf. It does not entirely agree with the definition given by Mr. Bentham, in the work above quoted, both the angles of the phyllodia being tipped with a spine, the midrib forking above the middle, each of its arms being directed towards an angle, and the peduncles being 59 much longer than the stipules, as well as much shorter than the phyllodia. 75. THYSANOTUS isantherus. R. Brown Prodr. 139. This fine species has lately flowered at Vienna with Baron Hugel. It is a greenhouse herbaceous plant, with very short leaves, rushy stems, 1-13 foot high, and large purple- fringed flowers. It is one of the handsomest of the genus. 76. ONCIDIUM unicorne; pseudobulbis ovalibus compressis diphyllis, foliis oblongo-linearibus recurvis, racemo composito ramis divaricatis rectiusculis, sepalis lateralibus in unum concavum emarginatum connatis, petalis obovatis undulatis, labelli lobis lateralibus nanis intermedioque emarginato rotundatis, disco basi transversé elevato anticé cornu ascendente compresso subfalcato acuto, alis columne angustis obsoletis. This is a pretty little species, with a compound straggling raceme of pale yellow flowers. The singular horn on the lip, to which it owes its name of the ** Unicorn," at once dis- tinguishes it from all species previously described. Messrs. Rollissons imported it from Rio, and flowered it three weeks since. 77. EPIDENDRUM Candollei; pseudobulbis sphericis, scapo paniculato, sepalis petalisque obovato-oblongis, labelli liberi trilobi cucullati lobo medio crispo acuminato, disco elevato calloso sulcato pubescente. The first knowledge 1 had of this plant was from M. Alphonse DeCandolle, who shewed me a drawing of a very imperfect specimen that had flowered at Geneva, and which I took for a variety of Ep. asperum. Subsequently the same species has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, and | find that it is distinct. The flowers are dull brown, with a dull yellow lip, striped with the same colour. It is a Mexican plant. 78. GLAUCIUM rubrum. DC. prodr. 1. 122. This plant, a native of Asia Minor, and of Rhodes, is now a common biennial, under the name of G. elegans. It has handsome poppy-red flowers, not so large, but much richer than those of the common horned poppies. 79. ERYSIMUM Perofskianum. Fischer & Meyer Ind. iv. p. 36. This very pretty hardy annual plant, with bright orange sweet-scented flowers, has been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society, from seeds collected in the north of 56 India by Dr. Falconer. It was originally obtained from Caubul by some of the Russian emissaries in that kingdom, and sent from the St. Petersburgh garden to England. 80. PAPAVER amenum ; caule simplici glaberrimo, foliis glaucis oblongis sessilibus pinnatifidis serratis, capsulá obovatá stipitatá glabrá, stigmate 7-radiato. A beautiful annual poppy, raised by the Horticultural Society from seed sent from the north of India by Dr. Falconer. Its leaves are smooth and glaucous ; its petals a most brilliant vermilion pink with a whitish base. 81. PIMELEA prostrata. Vahl. enum. 1. 306. This is a little shrub, with small decussating glaucous smooth leaves, hairy branches, and little lateral heads of white flowers, called in the gardens P. nove zelandie. It is said to be a native of arid mountains in New Zealand. Its appearance is neat and pretty, but by no means showy. 82. MALVA mauritiana. Linn. sp. pl. 970. This beautiful hardy annual, a native of Algiers, has lately been recovered by the French, who have dispersed it under the name of the Zebra Mallow. It has pale blush flowers, deeply stained with rich purple veins. The plant usually sold in the seed-shops under the name of M. mau- ritiana is only a large state of M. sylvestris; and this, beautiful as it is, seems to be nothing more than a variety of that species. 83. SAPONARIA perfoliata. Roxb. hort. beng. 34. An annual, with small pink flowers of very little beauty. It has been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society from seeds collected in the north of India by Dr. Falconer. 84. CENTAUREA pulcra. DC. prodr, vii. 578. This most beautiful annual has been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society from seeds collected in the north of India by Dr. Falconer. The leaves are narrow and hoary. The scales of the involucre are green, bordered with a silvery pectinated margin; the flowers are the deepest blue in the cireumference and violet in the centre. No plant can be more worthy of cultivation as a hardy annual. Pa E — > E 57 85. VERONICA formosa. R. Br. prodr. 290. This pretty small-leafed shrub, white-flowered, evergreen and hardy, inhabiting the highest mountains of Van Diemen’s Land, has lately flowered in the garden of the Horticultural Society. Its power of existing in water only is quite extra- ordinary ; I have a specimen now before me, of which a twig placed in a vial of water has lived six weeks, ripened its seeds, and is now as fresh and healthy as it was at first. Genera et Species Gentianearum, adjectis observationibus quibusdam phyto- geographicis; auctore A. H. R. Grisebach, M.D. 8vo. Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1839, pp. 364. The extensive order of Gentianaceous plants, notwith- standing the difficulty or even impossibility of cultivating many of the species, is very interesting to the Botanist, both on account of the beauty and variety of a large proportion of the genera, and because of the difficulty of determining their limits and of reconciling the discordant opinions of systematical writers upon that subject. When, therefore, Dr. Grisebach undertook the elabora- tion of the order, the result of which is now before us, his task was one of no common kind, and had he addressed himself to it with less patience, or fewer materials, or a less clear perception of the true principles of generic limitation, his work might have been a useful compilation for other Botanists, but could not have taken the high station among philosophical systematical writings, to which this has un- questionably a claim. ! The materials at the author's disposal have been the rich herbaria of Chamisso, Kunth and other Berlin botanists, the miscellaneous collections of Sir Wm. Hooker and other strangers, the Indian species of Wight and Arnott, the Cape herbarium of Ecklon, and other collections of considerable importance. The natural character of the order, as regards the organs of both vegetation and reproduction, is given at considerable length, and is followed by some interesting morphological observations. These relate to the anatomy of the nodes of the stem, the inflorescence, and the organization of the flower. The author distinguishes two kinds of nodes in. 58 dicotyledonous plants, one the nodus integer, from all parts of which the fibrovascular tissue proceeds into the leaf; the other the nodus partialis, where the fibrovascular tissue passes into the leaf at one point only. The nodus integer is universal in the order, and Dr. Grisebach considers that by this character Gentianacee are certainly known from Cinchonacee, Spigeliacez, and others. The organization of the flower of Swertia perennis and Gentiana lutea, is traced from the earliest period when it is distinctly visible up to the state of maturity. He finds the petals originally distinct, although eventually consolidated into a monopetalous corolla; the stamens distinct from the corolla, and exactly like nascent leaves, although eventually adherent to the petals; and the carpels also distinct; the con- solidation of all these parts takes place subsequently, and when the flower bud is about a line long. The placentation of Gentiana lutea is from the beginning marginal to a car- pel, and consequently at variance with the modern views of Schleiden and Schykofsky, who deny the truth of the theory that the origin of ovules is from the margin of carpellary leaves, and refer all placentation to the growing point. The author next considers the limits, principles of division, and affinities of the order; he admits the small natural order Columelliacez, and proposes a new order (Bolivariacee ) to include Bolivaria and Menodora. The geographical dis- tribution of the order is considered at length, and at the same time several general questions of interest in Botanical geography are discussed at considerable length. It is found that in all 343 Gentianaceous plants are known, and that the only parts of the world in which some one or other does not occur, are some islands in the Pacific, the tropical parts of New Holland, Timor, Sumatra, and some other parts of the Polynesian Flora, the deserts of Africa, the littoral of Vene- zuela ; and that they have scarcely been found on the moun- tains of Southern Europe. Of the species, 210 are tropical and 133 are extratropical. The order is divided into 40 genera, distributed through seven tribes; the detailed account of which is preceded by an excellent analytical table of the genera, tribes and species. Of Exacum 13 species are enumerated, of the beautiful genus Sabbatia 11, of Erythrea 17, of Lisianthus 33, and of Gen- tiana, to which are reduced most of the genera separated by d aal. 59 Professor Don and some other modern Botanists, there are 125 species. Professor Don's genera Ophelia and Agathotes are combined, and 15 species of the two are described. Finally, our wild Villarsia nymphoides is referred, with some others, to the genus Limnanthemum of Gmelin, distinguished from the true Villarsias by its indehiscent fruit. 85. DENDROBIUM bicameratum ; caulibus fusiformibus, foliis lineari-lan- ceolatis apice obliqué bidentatis, pedunculis lateralibus squamatis 4-floris, floribus concavis subcarnosis, sepalis petalisque subrotundo-ovatis acutis, labelli trilobi laciniá intermedia rotundatá apiculatá carnosá lateralibus trian- gularibus acutis breviore, column facie excavatá semibiloculari. A native of the north of India, whence it was brought by Mr. Gibson for the Duke of Devonshire. I am indebted to George Barker, Esq. of Birmingham, for a specimen. The stems appear to grow nearly upright, and are rather short, fusiform and furrowed when old. The flowers are a little smaller than those of Maxillaria stapelioides, and like them in form; their colour is dull po spotted and streaked with purple. In the specimen 1 examined the flowers grew in fours, on a very short peduncle, closely covered with ovate concave bracts, speckled with purple. The excavation of the face of the column, and its division into two cells are remarkable. 86. GONGORA nigrita ; hypochilii convexi cornubus lateralibus ascendentibus abbreviatis aristis setaceis, epichilio acuminato apice uncinato breviore. This is much the darkest of the Gongoras, the appear- ance of the flowers being like that of the deepest puce- coloured velvet. It is very nearly the same as G. atropur- — but the lower half of the lip is convex not concave, onger than the upper half not shorter, and the horns at its sides are very short. It was imported from Demerara by S. Rucker, Esq. Jun. who informs me that the smell is quite different from that of G. atropurpurea. 87. SPIREA cuneifolia. Wallich cat. no. 699. (S. canescens. Don prodr. fl. nep. 227. DeCand. prodr. 2. 544. This is a pretty and very hardy shrub, found in the cold parts of India, and recently introduced by the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company, by whom seeds were given to the Horticultural Society. It forms H. August, 1839. i 60 at present an erect bush, with downy angular arching stems, from which proceed numerous short, stiff branches, terminated by close corymbose panicles of downy white flowers. The petals are round, entire, and nearly flat. The leaves are small, thick, downy, wedge-shaped, and either crenated near the point or undivided; they are bright green on the upper side, and glaucous beneath, with nothing of a canescent appearance, which is only visible when they are dried ; wherefore, independently of all other reasons, Dr. Wallich’s name is to be preferred to that of Professor Don. 88. SPIRAEA vacciniifolia. Don prodr. 227. DC. prodr. 2. 546. This has also been obtained from the same quarter as the last; and is equally hardy. It forms a small shrub, with small brown, nearly smooth branches, leaves ovate, serrated, sometimes unequally, light green above, glaucous beneath, and small compact corymbose downy panicles of white flowers, with flat roundish petals. 89. SPIRZEA laxiflora ; fruticosa, ramis debilibus teretibus velutinis, foliis glabris ovatis crenatis longé petiolatis subtús glaucis, paniculis laxis villosis, petalis reflexis. With the two last was received this third species, which has hitherto been undescribed. It resembles S. vacciniifolia in the form of the leaves, and the colour of their underside, but they are long-stalked and rather glaucous above, and the flowers are arranged in large, loose, shaggy panicles; the petals are moreover reflexed. The species differs from S. fastigiata, Wall. in the leaves having much longer stalks, being more ovate, with crenatures rather than taper-pointed serratures, and in the panicles being much more lax. 90. MEDICAGO clypeata; foliolis rhombeis obovatis apiculatis versus apicem denticulatis, stipulis pinnatifidis, pedunculis subtrifloris, leguminibus depres- sis biconvexis pentacyclis venosis margine tenuibus levibus. Quite a new form of Medicago, allied to M. rugosa, im- ported from the north of India by the East India Company. It has no beauty, but it is curious on account of the singular form of the fruit, which approaches in appearance those species called ‘‘ Snails” in the seed-shops. Cat- 61 91. PHAIUS bicolor. Lindl. g. et sp. orch. p. 128. Sertum Orchida- ceum, t.25. This, which is one of the handsomest species in the fine genus to which it belongs, has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, who imported it from Ceylon. Its sepals and petals are, in that island, a very bright deep red, and the lip is yellow; but owing to unhealthiness or some other cause the colours of Messrs. Loddiges’ plant were by no means of their native brilliancy : for it is certain that they are fully as bright and rich as in the figure in the Sertum Orchidaceum. 92. GOODYERA rubicunda (Neottia rubicunda. Blume Bijdr. p. 408). This plant has flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, who re- ceived it from Manilla, from Mr. Cuming. It has the habit of Goodyera procera, but is smaller; the scape and spike are rather more than a foot high, downy, and of a dull cinnamon brown. The flowers are also downy and of the same colour, with the exception of the lip, which is white, and densely fringed inside with glandular hairs. The whole of Blame's 3rd section of Neottia appears to belong to Goodyera. 93. MAXILLARIA lentiginosa ; bracteis latè ovatis acuminatis, labelli lobo medio ovato-oblongo obtuso, cristá transversá medio processu quadrato tri- dentato auctá, antherz apice incurvo; alioquin M. stapelioidi similis. A plant very like Maxillaria stapelioides; but the sepals are more acute, the purple spots redder, more distinct, and less run into bars; the lip is of the same colour as the petals, and its transverse crest has a square three-toothed process in the middle. , Imported from Brazil by Messrs. Loddiges. 94. VANDA congesta; folis oblongis coriaceis apice obliquis mucronulatis, spicis capitatis subsessilibus, perianthio carnoso fragili, sepalis oblongo-line- aribus petalisque lineari-spathulatis obtusissimis, labello oblongo limbo sub- deltoideo crenulato papilloso basi excavato pubescente, columns angulis mucronatis. A small yellow and brown-flowered species from Ceylon, communicated by Messrs. Loddiges. It is near V. multiflora in the structure of the flowers, but the dense inflorescence and bearded sac of the labellum are obvious marks of dis- tinction. 62 MEXICAN PINES. Among the collections of seeds formed in 1838 in the mountainous districts north of Mexico, by Mr. Hartweg, for the Horticultural Society, are many species of Pinus, among which six are quite new. As the Society is about to distri- bute the seeds of these plants, it is desirable that they should in the first instance be described, in order that no confusion may be hereafter introduced among the garden plants. They may therefore bear the following names. 95. PINUS Hartwegii, ; tetraphylla, foliis secundariis angustissimis primariis membranaceis elongatis scariosis, strobilis pendulis oblongis obtusis aggre- gatis; squamis apice transversis medio depressis umbonatis ecarinatis um- bone recto rotundato, seminibus subrotundis cuneatis ala testaceà 4-pló brevioribus. The cones are about four inches long, and about two inches or rather more in diameter, of a clear greyish brown, and as broad at the one end as the other. The branches are very stout, like those of P. palustris. The leaves are almost invariably in fours, and rather more than. six inches long. Mr. Hartweg sent it from the “Campanario,” where he found it forming a tree 40 or 50 feet high, and beginning to appear where the Oyamel, or Abies religiosa, ceases. U v 96. PINUS Devoniana; pentaphylla, foliis longissimis, ramis crassissimis, strobilis ) oce solitariis corniformibus obtusis: squamis apice rotundatis rhomboideis lineá transversá paulo elevatá opacis griseis medio abrupté um- bonatis obtusis levigatis, seminibus obovatis ala nigricante quintupló brevioribus, This noble species is the ** Pino blanco," or ** P. real," of the Mexicans. Mr. Hartweg describes it as a hardy tree from 60 to 80 feet high, found on the Ocotillo between Real del Monte and Regla. The cones are from nine to ten inches long, curved, about three inches in diameter near the base, and tapering till they are not more than one inch and three-quarters broad at the point. The young shoots are nearly an inch in diameter, and look very like those of Pinus palustris. It is worthy of bearing the name of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, whose arboretum at Chatsworth se it is to be hoped be soon augmented by this truly regal plant. CAT GA 63 97. PINUS Russelliana ; pentaphylla, foliis longissimis, strobilis elongatis horizontalibus subcernuis verticillatis rectiusculis sessilibus: squamis apice rhomboideis pyramidatis rectis obtusis, seminibus oblongis alà nigricante 4-pló brevioribus. Found on the road from San Pedro to S. Pablo, near Real del Monte. It differs from P. Devoniana in its cones being shorter, not pendulous, nor curved, with the ends of the scales distinctly pyramidal. The cones are from seven to eight inches long, about two inches wide near the base, and almost acute at the upper end. I trust to be excused in the eyes of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, if 1 propose to attach the name of Russell to this fine species. 98. PINUS macrophylla ; pentaphylla, foliis longissimis, strobilis rectis hori- zontalibus ovatis elongatis solitariis : squamis apice transversis rhomboideis runcinatis, seminibus subrhomboideis rugosis ala testaceá 4-plà brevioribus. The leaves of this are from fourteen to fifteen inches long; the cones grow singly, and are about six or seven inches long, about three inches broad near the base, and taper gradually into an obtuse point. The species differs from P. Russelliana in the longer leaves and shorter and stouter cones, the ends of whose scales are strongly hooked backwards. Mr. Hartweg found a single tree, of small size, on the ** Ocotillo." ` o— 99. PINUS pseudostrobus ; pentaphylla, foliis'tenuissimis glaucescentibus, stro- bilus ovalibus verticillatis horizontalibus ; squamis apice rhomboideis py- ramidatis erectis rectiusculis linea elevatá transversá, seminibus ovalibus ala nigrescente quadrupló v. quintupló brevioribus. Mr. Hartweg describes this as allied to Pinus Devoniana, but quite distinct and resembling P. Strobus in habit; he found it very common at Anganguco, about 8000 feet above the sea. The leaves are fine and glaucous, like those of the Weymouth Pine. The cones are about four inches long, by an inch and half in breadth over the middle. 100. PINUS apulcensis ; pentaphylla, foliis tenuibus abbreviatis a glaucis, strobilis pendulis verticillatis ovatis acutis: squamis rhomboideis pyramidatis rectis nunc elongatis medio constrictis, seminibus ovalibus ala lineari quadruplo brevioribus. The short leaves and very glaucous shoots distinguish this, independently of the ovate cones, covered closely with pyramidal elevations, which are sometimes prolonged and 64 contracted in the middle, especially those near the points of the cones. The leaves are not more than six inches long, the cones are about four inches long, and very regularly ovate. Mr. Hartweg found it in ravines near Apulco grow- ing fifty feet high. 101. CUPRESSUS thurifera (Schlechtendahl) ; Found near Anganguco and Tlalpuxahua, forming a tree 50 to 60 feet high ; 102. JUNIPERUS tetragona (Schlechtendahl) ; a beautiful shrub, with quadrangular branches and small glaucous fruit, making a bush from four to five feet high, on the road from Real del Monte to Chico; 103. JUNIPERUS flaccida (Schlechtendahl) ; a beautiful small tree from 15 to 20 feet high, with weeping branches and glaucous fruit as large as a hazel nut, from the neighbourhood of Regla; and 104. JUNIPERUS mexicana (Schiede) ; an upright shrub or small tree, with large greenish, irre- gularly oblong fruit, producing a resin like Sandarach in the Real del Monte mountains; have also been received by the Society, and their seeds are in the course of distribution to the Fellows. Notes upon the Plants that produce some of the fetid gum-resins of the Materia Medica. There is so much uncertainty in the source from which the foetid gum resins are obtained, the origin of Galbanum and Sagapenum being unknown, that of Asafetida disputed, and that of Ammoniacum dependent upon evidence which requires confirmation, that any new information upon this subject is of interest. Through the kindness of the Honour- able W. F. Strangways, I have been put in possession of some new evidence collected in Persia by Sir John McNiell, and it is so satisfactory as to deserve to be made known. 105. Ammoniacum is certainly produced, as Professor Don states, by Dorema ammoniacum, it having been found B Re erd 65 sticking in abundance to the inflorescence of a specimen gathered in flower, between Ghorian and Khaff. It is un- doubtedly the secretion of the plant, and has been obligingly identified for me by Mr. Pereira. It is however deserving notice that a lump of Gum Ammoniac itself, from the neighbourhood of Ghorian, was mixed with numerous fruits of a Ferula, but not with one of the Dorema. 106. The discrepancy between the statements of Pallas and Kæmpfer, as to the origin of Asafætida, is not settled ; Sir J. McNiell’s collection not answering to the statements of either. Three samples of Asafcetida fruit were sent home, none of which belong either to F. persica or F. asafcetida ; one of the samples is near the former species, but the fruit is broader and larger, corresponding with it however in thick- ness, and in the almost total want of a thin margin; the other two samples are different from each other, as well as from fruit formerly sent from Persia, and described by me in the Flora Medica, No. 97, as those of the true F. asafcetida; they more resemble the F. Hooshee, No. 100 of the same work, but are larger, and have their dorsal vittæ much elevated and undulated. From this I think we must con- clude that Asafcetida is collected indiscriminately from various species of Ferula found wild in Persia, and that it is not the produce of any one species in particular. 107. Of Galbanum, what has been thought to be the fruit has been described by Professor Don, from specimens found sticking to samples of the imported drug; but there is nothing to shew that the drug and the fruit belonged to each other, and I think that the evidence now in my pos- session renders it probable that there was no connection between the two. Sir J. McNiell sent home specimens of a plant called a 2nd sort of ammoniacum, gathered near Durrood, June 27, 1838, to the branches of which are sticking. lumps of a pale yellow waxy gum resin, which I took for Galbanum, and upon which Mr. Pereira, who has examined it, makes the following remark :—** It is not asafcetida ; it is not ammoniacum ; neither does it accord with either galba- num or sagapenum, as met with in the shops or in my museum. Both these substances, however, vary somewhat in their properties, and therefore I could not deny the identity 66 of your sample with some specimens of either of them. Of the four foetid gum resins above referred to, it certainly ap- proaches Galbanum the nearest.” From this it is I think clear, that the species in question, if not the origin of Galbanum, must be very near it. Now its fruit has no resemblance to that called Galbanum by Pro- fessor Don, and in fact the plant itself is new to science. At tirst I took the specimens for a new kind of Opopanax, supposing my fruit to be very young ; for they are in no small degree like that of Opopanax shortly after flowering; but when I found them containing solidified albumen, no doubt could be entertained of their being in nearly a perfect state. This plant, instead of being a neighbour of Ferula and Opo- eiue. must be stationed somewhere in the neighbourhood of myrnium, from all whose related genera it is essentially dis- tinguished by the surface and vitte of the fruit. The following name and character are what 1 would propose for its future designation. 108. : OPOIDIA. Flores polygami. Calyx obsoletus, 5-dentatus, equalis. Petala ovata, acumi- nata, acumine inde. Fructus teres, ovalis. Mericarpia jugis 3 primariis angulos obcuros referentibus: valleculis planis. Vitte jugorum primario- rum solitarie minuts, secundariorum maxim: solitarie, commissurales dua maxime ‘dueque obsolete. Semen involutum. Herba erecta, minuté scabra. ` Folia lata bipinnata. Umbelle terminales et laterales composite. Involucrum universale subnullum, partiale polyphyllum. Flores pallidé flavi. - | Oporpia galbanifera. Hab. in Persia, provincia Khorasan prope Durrood. Folia bipinnata, bijuga, petiolo glabro, ceeterúm scabriuscula ; foliolis oblongis, obtusis, serrulatis, decurrentibus, Opopanacis facie. Caulis elatus, robus- tus, glaber; umbellis quibusdam sessilibus in axilla ramorum, quibusdam terminalibus pedunculatis; radii umbellarum umbellulis 3-pló longiores. Invol. univ. nullum, aut parcum, foliolis ovatis. membranaceo-marginatis ; cete polyphyllum, conforme. Umbellule patul«e, pedicellis fruetu dupló ongioribus, Petala albida, ovata, parva, acumine lineari acuto inflexo. Discus 4 clypeatus, decagonus, fere astylus. Fructus junioris teretis ovalis basi pauló angustati juga primaria anguli tantum obsoleti, quorum lateralia marginantia, valleculis planis. Albumen intüs sulcatum, dorso alté exaratum ad vittas 4 maximas recipiendas; vittee sub jugis minime in medio pericarpii; commissuralés duse maximz antesulcum albuminis, duce minimz in medio inter axin et marginem, —— TN 67 109. ANGRACUM armeniacum ; caulescens, foliis distichis canaliculatis apice obliqué et acuté bidentatis, spicis lateralibus horizontalibus secundis, sepalis ovatis, petalis linearibus, labelli 3-lobi laciniis lateralibus acuminatis intermediá triangulari longioribus, calcare pendulo clavato basi compresso calyce duplo longiore. This very singular plant is a native of Sierra Leone, whence it has been obtained by Messrs. Loddiges. Its flowers are of a uniform apricot-colour, small, secund, and closely arranged in a horizontal lateral spike. The habit is that of a Saccolabium. It is very distinct from all that have before been seen, but has some affinity with Angrecum mystacinum. The spur is twice as long as the calyx, com- pressed at the base, and then inflated a little so as to appear clavate. 110. MALACHADENIA (Vandez). Flos resupinatus. Sepala lateralia connata, apice reflexa libera, galeam for- mantia; dorsale cordatum acuminatum. Petala minima, squameformia, rotundata, Labellum carnosum, margine revolutum, basi mucronatum, cum pede elongato columnse sepalis lateralibus galeatis adnate articulatum. Columna antice bicirrhosa, basi longé productá, stigmate lineari oblongo. -Anthera 2-locularis, decidua. Pollinia 2, ceracea, sessilia, glandulá molli, cubicá, nudá. Herba repens, pseudobulbis monophyllis, scapo radicali, floribus carnosis galeatis. MALACHENIA clavata. Rhizoma repens. Pseudobulbi subglobosi, monopbylli. Folia angusté ovalia, carnosa. Scapus radicalis, foliis ter longior, erectus, teres, apice cla- vatus, subbiflorus; axi spice articulata: internodiis clavatis. Spica termi- nalis, pauciflora. Bracteze membranacez, ferruginez, reflexze. Ovarium brevissimum. Flores obscuré virides purpureo maculati. Sepala lateralia acuminata, apice revoluta, basi obscuré semisagittata; supremum subcorda- tum: sinu lato inter sepala. Petala squamiformia, rotundata, obsoleta. Glandula polliniorum mollis, subcubica, cinnamomea, cui pollinia leviter annectantur. This very singular plant was given to Mr. Bateman by Mr. Wm. Miner of Lambeth, who received it from Rio in 1836. It is a remarkable genus, resembling Megaclinium in some respects, but belonging in reality to Vandew, among which it is marked by the nearly total absence of petals, the cirrhate column, and the soft fleshy cinnamon-coloured gland, to which a pair of reniform pollen-masses are slightly attached. In this division of Orchidacee it is uncertain . Where it must stand; probably other genera stil undis- covered will connect it with the system better than can at present be done. | I. September, 1839. k 68 The scape is about nine inches long; the flowers are fleshy, dull green, slightly spotted with purple. The labellum is an ovate fleshy body with revolute edges, concave only on the upper side, and with two little mucronate processes at the base, one on each side. 111. SENECIO odoratus. Horn. hort. hafn. 2. 809. DC. prodr. vi. 371. Why this is called ** sweet-scented ”.is unintelligible, for it has no smell It is a glaucous herbaceous plant, with simple terete stems, rising in a crowd from the crown of the root, and growing one and a half to two feet high. "The leaves are firm like those of an evergreen bush, oblong, toothed, auriculate, and covered with a thick blue bloom, which however readily rubs off, when they become bright green and shining; they are not however acuminate, as DeCandolle describes them, in the garden plant. The flower-heads are yellow, small, scentless, rayless, and ar- ranged in corymbose panicles; and although destitute of individual beauty, they form rather a pretty effect by the neatness of their figure, their abundance, and the contrast of their colour with that of the leaves. I leave this plant in Senecio, observing, however, that its receptacle is alveolate, and the alveoli bordered by a deep irregularly toothed border, which gives the receptacle the appearance of being paleate. The plant has flowered in the garden of the Horticultural Society, where it has been raised from seeds collected in the south-east interior of New Holland by Major Sir Thomas Mitchell. 112. EURYBÍA glutinosa; fruticosa, undique puncticulis elevatis cinereis scabriuscula, ramis subangulatis glutinosis calvis, foliis linearibus utrinque viridibus obtusis margine rotundatis nec revolutis, pedunculis corymbosis monocephalis foliorum longitudine, invol. cylindracei squamis ovato-lineari- bus apice obtusis herbaceis margine membranaceis, radio 9- 12-floro invo- lucro longiore. A native of Van Diemen's Land, where its seeds were collected by Mr. Bunce, who sent them to the Horticultural Society. It forms an erect shrub, closely covered with long narrow leaves like those of rosemary in form, and produces in the month of August, at the end of its young shoots, from three to five heads of flowers, whose starry ray is long and a clear pale violet. It is a pretty addition to the Conserva- tory. This species is nearly related to Eurybia ledifolia, a | RU X / Ww 69 species partly described by M. DeCandolle from specimens collected by Mr. Gunn, (no. 284), and sent him by me; but it differs from that plant in not having shaggy involucres, and in its leaves, which are longer and thinner, not being revolute at the margin, &c. In habit it is more like E. glan- dulosa, DC. also a Van Diemen's Land plant ; but the latter species has numerous campanulate flower-heads and a short ray. All the green parts of this plant are covered by specks of a whitish viscid exudation. 113. STANHOPÉÁ oculata. Botanical Register, t. 1800. Var. Barkeriana ; sepaly petalis et columnæ dorso purpureo maculatis, hypo- chilii sacco discolore. This is a remarkable variety of S. oculata, obtained from Mexico by Mr. Barker. It looks like S. insignis with the lip of S. oculata, and is very handsome. The sepals, petals, and column are covered with numerous purple freckles rather than spots, which, as the flower fades, run together, as if their colouring matter were dissolved; so that at last the flower becomes of a dull wine-red tint. 114. PORTULĀCĂ grandi ora ; rutila. Hooker in Botanical Magazine, t. 2885. This is a beautiful variety of a greenhouse perennial, of whose brilliancy the figure above quoted in the Botanical Magazine gives an inadequate idea. The flowers are the richest crimson, more bright than even P. Gilliesii, and they are nearly as large as a half-crown when full blown. The plant is succulent, with long cylindrical leaves, and will only expand its blossoms under sunshine; but as it is easily culti- vated that circumstance signifies little, and when it does open it is a magnificent object. The plants I am describing have been raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society, from seed sent from Florence by the Hon. Frederick Thelluson. The species is a native of Mendoza. 115, STENOCHILUS longifolius (A. Cunn. mss.); foliis linearibus canali- culatis acuminatis coriaceis glanduloso-punctatis minutissimé pubescentibus floribus pluriés longioribus, corollá tomentosa : limbo subeequaliter 5-par- tito, ovario biloculari. A shrub, discovered many years ago by Mr. Allan Cun- ningham, in the interior of New Holland, and latterly again met with by Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, by whose people it 70 was called “Lemon Haws,” on account of the odour of its fleshy fruit. It forms a small bush, flowering in its native country in March, but here in the month of August. The leaves are long, very narrow, coriaceous, conspicuously marked with glandular dots, and apparently smooth, until they are examined by a microscope, when they are seen to be covered with fine short close-pressed hairs. The flowers are about an inch long, single or in pairs in the axils of the leaves, downy, and of a dull greenish red colour, with the stamens a little projecting. In both this and the next the ovary is bilocular. The corolla of Stenochilus, although formed upon the same plan as that of other labiate flowers, differs in this, that the four upper lobes grow into an upper lip, and that which is usually the middle lobe of the lower lip forms by itself the whole lower lip, which is rolled back upon itself. 116. STENOCHILUS incanus ; tota pilis minimis stellatis incano-tomentosa, foliis ovali-lanceolatis obtusis in petiolum angustatis impunctatis, corolla tomentosa utrinque glandulis pruinosá : labio superiore cymbiformi quadri- dentato inferiore semilibero revoluto multó longiore, ovario biloculari. Another shrub resulting from Sir Thomas Mitchell's last journey into the south-east interior of New Holland, for which the Society is indebted to that distinguished officer. It forms a gray bush, looking like an olive, or some leafless Acacia, and is covered closely with a short white down, con- sisting of stellate hairs ; a circumstance deserving of atten- tion in such a natural order as that of Myoporacee. The flowers are solitary, axillary, and rather more than an inch long. The corolla is dull green, with the upper lip com- pressed, slightly toothed at the point, beyond which the stamens project a little, and much longer than the lower lip. The leaves have not the transparent dots of the last species at all distinctly ; but traces of dots may be found upon cutting into the leaves. The whole surface of the corolla is studded with beautiful but microscopical pin-headed trans- parent glandular hairs. - v vuv à 117. ASTERACANTHA longifolia. Nees in Wall. plant. As. rar. iii. p. 90. This is a handsome greenhouse herbaceous perennial, seeds of which were sent to the Horticultural Society by Mr. McCulloch, one of the gardeners to His Highness the 71 Pacha of Egypt. It forms a bright rich green bushy plant, with long thin rough-haired opposite lanceolate’ leaves, which are auricled and amplexicaul, and in their axils it bears whorls of gay blue labiate flowers. If care is taken to reduce the vigour of leaves, by not giving the plant too much shade and moisture, it becomes very handsome ; but if it is permitted to “ run to leaf” too much, its beauty is con- siderably impaired. Two circumstances connected with this Asteracantha de- serve particular notice. The whorls of leaves are in sixes, two of the leaves being larger than the other four. The largest leaves are the ordinary leaves of the stem, and each forms at its axil a short cluster of flowers; below which two other leaves, smaller than the first, make their appearance at right angles with the latter, so that there are three leaves, two small and one large, on each side of the stem. But the stem leaves attempt in the first instance to pro- duce an ordinary branch from their axils; in this however they do not succeed : the branch is abortive, and remains in the form of a spine ; the secondary leaves also attempt each for itself to produce axillary branches, with a like want of success, and a similar result, spines being produced instead ; and hence each whorl of flowers is surrounded by six spines, forming a star: whence the name of Asteracantha (acrnp, a star, axavOa, a spine) has been contrived. 118. CIRRHOPETALUM nutans ; pseudobulbis ovato-subrotundis rugosis, foliis ovato-subrotundis emarginatis coriaceis humi pronis, scapo erecto elongato, umbellá multiflora nutante, bracteis linearibus acuminatis, sepalis glaberrimis: supremo acuminato lateralibus linearibus ligulatis vix acutis, petalis ovatis acutis serrulatis, labello obtuso convexo bicristato, columne angulis obsoleté bidentatis. A pretty little epiphyte, sent to Messrs. Loddiges from Manilla by Mr. Cumming. It has a nodding umbel of pale straw-coloured flowers, at the end of a weak scape about six inches high. The leaves are from an inch and half to two inches long,-very thick, emarginate, and lying almost flat upon the ground. The species is very near C. Wallichii, a Nepalese plant, the specific character of which in the Genera and Species of Orchidaceous plants is erroneous, in conse- quence of bad specimens and an Indian drawing having been misunderstood. It is necessary to correct the definition of that species as follows. 72 119. CIRRHOPETALUM Wallichit (Gen. et sp. orch. p. 59.); foliis lan- ceolatis apice fissis scapi erecti longitudine, racemo multifloro pendulo, bracteis linearibus acuminatis, sepalis glaberrimis supremo acuminato la- teralibus linearibus ligulatis vix acutis, petalis acuminatis subciliatis, ubéello 3. . 7... 120, CIRRHOPETALUM fimbriatum; pseudobulbis ovatis subtetragonis, folis ovalibus . . ... , Scapo erecto, bracteis linearibus acuminatis, um- bellá multiflora, sepalis lateralibus ligulatis vix acutis coherentibus supremo petalisque ovatis acuminatis fimbriatis, labello crasso linguiformi nudo ob- tuso, column: angulis cornutis edentulis, antherá papillosá. A very pretty new species of this curious genus, with the long lower green sepals united into a channelled rather stiff strap, while the upper sepal and the petals are broken up at the margin into beautiful purple fringes. It is extremely different from all the species previously known, and was im- ported from Bombay by Messrs. Loddiges. In both this and C. nutans the pollen-masses are four in number, and collateral, all adhering together, with the interior pair much smaller than the two outer. 121. CIRRHJEA saccata ; pseudobulbis ovatis obtusé tetrapteris inter an- gulos costatis, foliis oblongis plicatis sub-septem-costatis in pseudobulbos omnino sessilibus, scapo pendulo trigono, racemo multifloro, sepalis oblongis obtusis lateralibus margine revolutis, petalis lineari-lanceolatis obtusis basi teretibus compressis, labelli lobo medio galeato saccato. This is a very distinct species of the curious genus Cirrhza, for which I have to thank His Grace the Duke of Bedford, by whose directions it was sent me from Woburn, where it flowered in August. From all the previously known species it differs in the middle lobe of the lip being concave, and having very much the form of that of many Satyria. It has the general appearance of the other species, but its raceme is nearly a foot long, and the dull yellow green flowers are twice as large as those of any before discovered. It has been figured in the Botanical Magazine under the name of C. fusco-lutea, which is a different plant. 122. CYTISUS Weldenti. Host. ft. austr. 2. 339. Baron Jacquin, in a letter 1 have recently received, ex- presses his surprise at the opinion given in one of our Eng- lish books that this species is the same as C. Laburnum or C. alpinus. He says it is impossible to confound a plant hav- Ing erect racemes, which do not droop even when ‘in fruit, and ES I" 73 ovate-roundish leaflets, with either the one or the other of those species. He adds, that the plant, when not in flower, is more likely to be confounded with Anagyris fetida, as has actually happened. It is however only fair to remark, that in our gardens this C. Weldenii has much the appearance of a Laburnum, and that it has never yet flowered that 1 am aware of; so that a person unacquainted with Host's book might easily fall into the error which has actually occurred. It is well known that the seeds of Laburnum are poison- ous, fatal accidents having occurred to children who have incautiously eaten them. C. Weldenii appears to possess this deleterious quality in a more concentrated state, for, according to Baron Welden, the smell of the flowers causes headache, and the milk of goats which feed upon the flowers produces the same effect, only more severely, upon those who drink it. 123 NEPETA salviefolia. Bentham gen. $ sp. Labiat. p. 481. This Himalayan plant has flowered in the garden of the Horticultural Society, where it has been raised from seeds received from the East India Company. It proves to be a hoary perennial of little beauty, with long slender pallid or white flowers, arranged in long-stalked cymes. 124. IPOM(EÁ longifolia. Bentham Plant. Hartweg. p. 16. Of all the flowers yet received from Mr. Hartweg by the Horticultural Society this is one of the finest. The stems are erect, not twining, and the flowers grow singly in the axils of the long entire grey leaves. The corolla is white, with a delicate noyau smell, and is as large as that of Calo- nyction bona nox. Itis a perennial, with a fleshy tuber-like root, and has lately blossomed in the Society’s Gardia It will probably do very well out of doors in summer, but it will require such protection as is given to the Dahlia in winter. 125. SOLANUM candidum ; (acanthophorum) caule fruticoso villosissimo aculeis rectis densé armato, foliis oblongis cordatis sinuato-angulatis tomen- tosis subtüs incanis venis utrinque petiolisque villosis aculeatis, racemis ses- silibus lanatis distichis sub folio natis rachi aculeatà, calycibus 5-lobis inermibus. Among the crowd of Solana now scattered over many books, it is almost impracticable to ascertain whether a foreign 74 species is new or not. This however seems to have been hitherto omitted by systematists. It is a fine, noble-looking shrub, with leaves a foot long and nine inches broad, and clusters of large handsome pure white flowers. It was re- ceived from Mexico by George Barker, Esq. who presented it to the Horticultural Society, in whose garden it is kept in the stove. STARCH ON THE OUTSIDE OF POLLEN-GRAINS. In the Annals of Natural History, vol. iii. p. 127, there is a report of a memoir upon pollen, read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, by M. Giraud, in which memoir the author states that there are ** minute opaque bodies on the surface of the pollen of Polemonium coeruleum, which, when immersed in water, appear to be possessed of spontaneous motion." Having lately been led to examine the structure of pollen, I took the opportunity of enquiring into the nature of that to which M. Giraud ascribes so singular a property. I had no difficulty in finding the bodies spoken of, for they are from js to ix, Of an inch in diameter, thickly stud the surface of the pollen-grain, which is itself about a; of an inch ,in diameter, and are readily detached if the grains are placed in water, when they float about, turning upon their longer axis, with the same kind of motion as is seen in the molecules contained in the interior of the pollen. "They vary in form from oblong to spheroidal, but I do not find them opaque; on the contrary they are transparent, like grains of feecula, and so much like them, in certain states, that I felt persuaded from the first moment of seeing them that they were really of that nature. The application of iodine imme- diately gave them a pale blue colour; so that if this agent is in all cases a test of starch, the bodies seen by M. Giraud must be of that nature. ‘I regard this as a circumstance of some physiological interest, for I am not aware that amyla- ceous granules have been before detected on the outside of any vegetable organ. Pollen, indeed, being developed in the interior of the anther, and produced as it would seem by a disintegration of the parenchyma forming the mass of that organ, cannot strictly be compared to any part of a plant except to the individual cells or tubes constituting the elementary tissue ; nevertheless it is equally novel to find fecula secreted in the intercellular passages, its situation ER d 75 having been always hitherto assigned to the interior of cells, where it is supposed to be formed by those vital forces of plants which carry on the functions of digestion and assimi- lation. Are we to suppose this feecula to be the residuum of the contents of the mother cells, the intersection of which produces the grains of pollen, and within which the latter are organized ? Flora de Filipinas. Segun el sistema sexual de Linneo. Por el P. Fr. Manuel Blanco, Agustino Calzado. Manila, 1837. This is a thick square 4to. of 887 pages, upon the plants inhabiting the fertile and richly-wooded islands called the Philippines. It commences with a short preface explaining what has already been written upon the same subject by others; and a sketch of the principles of the Linnean classification, with a glossary of botanical terms: the whole occupying lxxviii additional pages of introduction. The body of the work consists of descriptions of plants in Spanish, each filling on an average about three-fourths of a page, so that the whole number of species introduced may be estimated at about 1100. Of these a great proportion are referred to Linnean plants, it is needless to say, with but little probability of their belonging to them; and there are, moreover, many new species. From the want of books the author has been unable to give any synonymy, which is much to be regretted, as the work contains a good deal of information concerning the uses of plants. Of new genera 17 are specially named, besides which others, in the opinion of the author less cer- tainly new, are introduced and described, but are mentioned by their native names only. Thus, at the head of Pentan- dria Monogynia, stands a plant called Bitlag, which, the author thinks, may be the same as Mayepea. The new genera, and the natural orders to which they possibly belong are the following :— Azaola, p. 402—Sapotacee. Balingayum, p. 187—Placed near Gronovia. : 7 Calius, p. 608—Not to be found at this page, to which it is referred in the Index. Cobamba, p. 510 —Verbenacez. Enrila, p. 709—? ? Lumanaja, p. 821 —Euphorbiacee. Lunasia, p. 783—Euphorbiacee. K. October, 1839. d 76 Malaisia, p. 789 —Urticacee. Mamboga, p. 140—Cinchonacez. , : : Manungala, p. 306—Simarubacee? Powerfully bitter ; a specific against cholera. Palaquium, p. 403—Sapotacee. Quilamum, p. 851— ? ? Quilesia, p. 176—Olacacee? Soala, p. 437—Clusiacee ? Sulipa, p. 497 —Cinchonacez ? Placed in Didynamia Angiospermia. Tala, p. 484—Scrophulariacee. Tayotum, p. 105— Apocynacez. For the opportunity of examining this curious work I am indebted to the Hon. W. F. Strangways, by whom it has been presented to the library of the Horticultural Society. PRIMARY DISTRIBUTION OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. In the present state of Systematical Botany every day may be said to throw some new light upon the principles of classification, and every new book to contain something important with reference to the plan upon which the vege- table kingdom is organized. While however improvements in the secondary details of classification are thus continually indicated, it is only here and there that any step is taken to interfere with the classes or primary groups of plants ; indeed there can now be little doubt that in their most essential par- ticulars these fundamental portions of the natural system are but little open to alteration; that the great divisions of -Exogens, Endogens and Acrogens are essentially different from each other, no botanist will attempt to deny. But it is not therefore certain that they do not in themselves contain the types of other fundamental divisions, or in other words, that they do not represent three great plans of structure, each of which includes modifications of a much higher grade than such as are employed for the definition of natural orders, If this be so, it will be necessary to augment the number of pri- mary divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom, and that an ex- tended view of vegetable structure shews that necessity to exist, may now I think be proved. Jussieu admits three primary groups only, namely— 1. Dicotyledons, 2. Monocotyledons, and 3. Acotyledons, which are equivalent to the modern 1. Exogens, 2. Endogens, and 3. Acrogens. MA 17 It was however in course of time discovered that each of these groups contained plants as essentially different from each other in physiological circumstances as the primary groups themselves, and hence each has been subdivided, and the number of classes increased to six, in the following manner. _L In £zogens there are two totally different modes in which the influence of the pollen is communicated to the seed. The larger part of this primary group consists of plants pro- vided with the apparatus called style and stigma, through which the pollen-tubes are introduced into the ovary in the act of fertilization. But others are so constructed that the pollen falls immediately upon the seeds, without the intro- duction ofany intermediate apparatus; a peculiarity analogous to what occurs among reptiles in the Animal Kingdom. And as was to have been anticipated, the plants in which this sin- gular habit occurs prove, upon being collected together, to form a group having no direct affinity with those among which they had been previously associated. Hence Exogens have been broken up: into 1. Angiosperms, or those having an ovary, style, and stigma; and 2. Gymnosperms, which have neither. 2. Among Endogens, in like manner, two modes of propa- gation have been discovered, essentially different from each other. In the major part of them the result of the fertiliza- tion of their seed is the production of an embryo, having one point upon its surface predestined to become a stem, and another to become a root; besides which their elementary or- ganization includes vascular tissue in abundance. But others, although in a high state of developement, are wholly or nearly destitute of vascular tissue, and where their seed is fertilized, instead of an embryo being formed, the issue is a mass of sporules, or reproductive bodies, analogous to those which Acrogens have instead of seeds. The old class of Endogens required therefore to be replaced by 3. Spermogens, whose organs of propagation are seeds, and 4. Sporogens, commonly called Rhizanths, whose reproductive bodies are spores. 3. Among Acrogens also two modes of growth occur, so essentially different from each other that they evidently repre- sent different kinds of vegetation. In some of them there is a distinct axis of growth, or stem and root, symmetrically 78 clothed with leaves; in others they are irregular cellular ex- pansions, destitute of true leaves; in the former we find a trace of something equivalent to the sexes of Exogens and Endogens, in the latter all indications of the kind disappear. Thus are formed the two groups now called 5. Cormophytes, where there is a stem and leaves, &c., and 6. Thallophytes, where there is no separation of those parts. To what extent dismemberments of the three classes of Jussieu may be further carried, there is no evidence to shew ; it is not. however probable that they are capable of much further increase. For with a few exceptions, the affinities of the six primary groups now indicated are too continuous and complete to allow us to suppose that any great physiological or fundamental differences of organization exist among them. Upon the few exceptions that do exist 1 propose to offer some observations. Among Angiospermous Exogens the Natural orders Aris- tolochiacee, Nepenthacee, Lardizabalacee, Menispermacez, Piperacee, and some others allied to the latter, stand isolated, as it were, in whatever part of the group they are stationed, having no obvious affinity with any other orders ; for we can only regard the approximation of Menispermacee to Anonacee, &c. as the result of altogether artificial considerations. - Now all these orders agree in one remarkable circumstance. In- stead of their wood being formed by zone deposited over zone, season after season, as is the case in the great mass of Exo- gens, they never have more than one zone of woody matter, to whatever age they may have arrived. Whether their wood itself is formed exactly in the same way as that of other Exogens, namely, by a gradual external addition of stratum upon stratum, is doubtful; it is probable that they have a mode of growth of their own, analogous to that of Aristolo- chia, in which the wood when young is augmented by the successive introduction of wedge upon wedge of wood between wedges originally placed concentrically around a medullary axis. Such plants as these agree with Exogens in their Dico- tyledonous embryo, and in general appearance, but their mode of growth is an approach to that of some Endogens to be presently noticed, and I therefore think they ought to be regarded as a fundamental group, which from the homoge- neity of the wood may be called Homogens, for the sake of 79 contrasting their structure with the concentrically zoned growth of other Exogens, to which the collective name of Cyclogens may be applied. In this manner Exogens are composed of three classes, 1. Angiosperms, 2. Gymnosperms, and 3. Homogens. Among Endogens I find a group of exactly the same nature as the last, and differing from the mass of the order in nearly the same manner. The peculiar habit of Smilax and some other Endogens, which no one would suppose from their general appearance to belong to that class, some time since led me to propose the separation of them into a group which was called the Retose. But as I had no better character for it than the reticulated leaves, nobody seems to have adopted it, and it has been regarded as an unnecessary separation of plants essentially the same; an opinion to which, in the ab- sence of better evidence than I have before been able to offer, there has been nothing to oppose beyond the conviction that the Retose group is in nature well founded, although its true characters may have been undiscovered. It now however appears that Smilax and its allies have the wood of their stem arranged upon a plan extremely similar to that of Ho- mogens ; and consequently they will constitute, not a subdi- vision of Endogens as I formerly supposed, but a new class or primary group. Ifthe annual branches of a Smilax are exa- mined, there 1s nothing in their internal structure at variance with that of a stem of Asparagus; they are exactly Endoge- nous ; but in the rhizoma of the whole genus (take the Sarsa- parilla of the shops for instance) the wood is disposed in a compact circle, below a cortical integument, and surrounding a true pith ; so that the rhizoma or permanent part of the stem is that of a Homogen. In Dioscorea alata the stem is formed of eight fibrovascular wedges placed in pairs, with their backs touching the bark, surrounding a central pith and having wide medullary plates between them ; in fact, when the stems of this plant are in a state of decay, the eight fibrovascular wedges may be pulled asunder, like those of a Menisperma- ceous plant. In Testudinaria elephantipes the structure of the stem is of nearly the same kind ; several bundles of fibrovas- cular tissue form a circle surrounding a pith, and pierced with broad medullary processes. Lapageria and Philesia have each a zone of wood below their bark, and a central pith 80 in which the common fibrovascular bundles of Endogens are disposed; a tendency to which is also observable in Smilax. Roxburghia Y have not had an opportunity of examining. It seems therefore clear that what I have elsewhere called the Retose group is composed of plants whose mode of growth is essentially different from that of Endogens in general; and that the species composing it stand in the same relation to the mass of Endogens, as Homogens to the mass of Exogens. For these reasons it appears that Endogens contain three dis- tinct types of organization, namely Spermogens and Sporogens, or Rhizanths, of which the former consists 1. of true Endo- gens with striated inarticulated leaves, and 2. of false Endo- gens with reticulated disarticulating leaves, the first of which may be named Ptychogens, and the second Dictyogens. From these considerations we learn that of the three primary divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom, recognized by Jussieu, two require to be broken up into three each, and the other into two; making eight in all. The mutual relations of which with each other and the Animal Kingdom may be expressed thus :— Angiosperms. Homogens. Dictyogens. Gymnosperms. Ptychogens. Cormophytes. Sporogens. Thallophytes. * (Animal Acrita Kingdom.) On the opposite page is an analytical arrangement of the classes, intended to bring their distinctions more plainly into view. | PRIMARY DIVISIONS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. Class I. ANGIOSPERMS. Cyclogens ( Class II. GYMNOSPERMS. Division I. EXOGENS . lst State. t . . . . Class ITI. Homocens. SEXUAL,or FLOWERING PLANTS Class IV. Dicrvocrws. Class V. Prycnocens. Sermone] Division IT. ENDOGENS . Class VI. SPOROGENS, (Rhizanths). 2nd State. ( Class VII. CormoPHYTES. ESEXUAL, or FLOWERLESS PLANTS, Division II I. ACROGENS. ns Class VIII. THALLOPHYTES, 82 126. CODONOPSÍS Zurida; folis cordatis serratis pilosiusculis utrinque concoloribus, calycis tubo nullo, sepalis rhomboideis serrulatis ciliatis tubo corollae equalibus basi integerrimis. A fetid twining milking annual, with large green flowers slightly dotted with purple in the inside. 1t is a native of the northern parts of India, whence seeds were sent to the Horticultural Society by Dr. Falconer. As a twining Cam- panulaceous plant it is closely allied to Canarina ; but it has none of its beauty. 127. SALVIA Moorcroftiana. Wall.—Benth. Lab. p. 228. This plant has been raised in the garden of the Horticul- tural Society, from seeds sent from India by Dr. Falconer ; it proves a herbaceous species resembling S. Sclarea, with very large leaves, cordate at the base, woolly underneath, and pale light blue flowers about one-half the size of that species. 128. CYNOGLOSSUM glochidiatum. Wall.—Benth. in Royle's Illustr. p. 306. A straggling herbaceous plant about three feet high, of a loose inelegant mode of growth, and not much covered with leaves, which are sessile, ovate, oblong, acute, and bright green. The flowers are rather small, but of a most intense blue, and therefore well suited to gather for the sake of orna- menting sitting-rooms. It is quite hardy, and was raised by the Horticultural Society from seeds sent from India by Dr. Falconer. 129. APLOTAXIS albescens. DC. prodr. vi. 540. A handsome herbaceous plant, native of the northern provinces of India, whence it has been lately introduced by the East India Company, through Dr. Falconer. It forms a bush about three feet high, with long lanceolate deep green leaves, hoary with down on the under-side. The flower- heads are arranged in a panicled manner, and are narrow, with pale bright purple blossoms. 130. MALVA lucida; annua, glaberrima, lucida, foliis superioribus cuneatis serratis rotundatis trilobis basi integerrimis cordatis, floribus axillaribus fasci- culatis, calycibus reticulatis. A Himalayan, apparently annual, plant, resembling the common M. sylvestris, but having all the herbage bright rn Fen ™, 83 green, and very lucid, without a trace of hairs, while the upper leaves, and indeed all except the lowermost, are wedge- - shaped, 3-lobed, obtuse and serrated ; with the base, which is cordate, quite entire. The flowers are a rich deep purple. It will make a good annual for shrubberies and roughly kept places. 131. LEPTODERMIS lanceolata. Wallich in Roxb. f. Ind. 2. 191. DeCand. prodr. iv. 462. This plant proves to be a small shrub, with ovate bright green strongly feather-veined leaves, and pale yellow flowers, tinged with purple; it is something like a cream-coloured Bouvardia. In the garden of the Horticultural Society it seems nearly, if not quite, hardy. 132. SOLLYA linearis ; foliis glaberrimis linearibus et lineari-lanceolatis ob- tusiusculis, cymis multifloris nutantibus glabris, fructibus oblongis, This third species’ of the beautiful genus Sollya has been lately added to our collections by Robert Mangles, Esq. of Sunning-hill. The specimens which have as yet flowered are weak, and by no means what it may be expected that they will become. In wild specimens before me, for which I am indebted to Mr. Toward, gardener to H.R. H. the Duchess of Gloucester, 1 see as many as 11 flowers in a cluster, and a single branch has 5 such clusters. The flowers are of the deepest and richest blue. This plant differs from S. heterophylla in having its leaves linear, or at the most linear-lanceolate, without any trace of toothings upon their margin ; the stigma is less distinctly two-lobed, and the fruit is much shorter and thicker, so as to have an oblong instead of a narrow terete figure. It is much to be desired that Sollya angustifolia, the Billardiera fusiformis of Labillar- diére, should be procured for our gardens; it is said to be found in Van Diemen's Land, and to have hairy leaves, dis- tinctly veined, and large blue flowers. 133, HOTEIA japonica. Morren & Decaisne Ann. sc. 2nd ser. IT. 317. t. 11. Spiræa barbata. Bot. Reg. t. 2011. Astilbe rivularis. Don prodr. A. nep. 210. At length an opportunity has arisen of examining ripe seeds of this plant, which have been obtained from India by Dr. Falconer, and I find that they have an abundance of fleshy albumen, surrounding a straight cylindrical embryo L—1839. m 84 rather more than half their length. The seeds are scobiform, quite smooth, not at all reticulated, with a lax testa, which is prolonged at each end into a tapering withered sac, but fits pretty tight to the seed in the middle. Each seed, including its testa, is rather more than half a line long. 134. COTYLEDON cristata. Haworth in Phil. Mag. 1827. p. 123. DC. prodr. 3. 399. For this little known plant I am obliged to William Brent, Esq. of Walworth, who obtained it from the Botanical Gar- den of Leyden, and succeeded iu flowering it. It is very well described by Haworth, so far as his account of it goes; but since M. Denak regarded it as one of the species in- sufficiently known, it deserves to be noticed more particularly. The stem is very short, and closely covered with leaves, from between the touching bases of which there proceeds a number of light brown threads, described by Haworth as rufous hairs, but in reality withered roots, emitted by the leaves; but perishing after exposure to the air. The leaves themselves have a singular form ; they are described techni- cally as being wedge-shaped, triangular, stalked, and ter- minated by a curled crest; but in more homely terms they look very like a jelly-bag, or a filter sewed up åt the upper edge, and thrown on its side so as to acquire a flattened figure; they are covered with very short hairs, which are obtuse, and placed perpendicularly upon the epidermis, so that the leaves have a súrface like that of fine woollen cloth. I find nothing like the furfuraceous hairiness described by Haworth, who mistook for scurfiness a great number of pallid specks, indicating subcutaneous air chambers, with which the epidermis is thickly studded. The flowering stem is an erect spike, about three feet high, covered with close-pressed slen- der green flowers, tipped with pink, about half an inch long, and rather longer than the internodes. The corolla is com- pletely monopetalous, the limb only, which is revolute, being divided into five segments. The stamens grow to the sides of the corolla, those opposite the petals being a little longer than the others. The carpels are distinct, slender, rather . downy near the base; the scales beneath them are white, and emarginate. The plant is a very curious species, but it has nothing beautiful in its appearance. ~w j 85 135. EPIDÉNDRUM inversum ; pseudobulbis elongatis compressis, foliis loratis canaliculatis obtusis, spicá terminali sub-6-floro, bracteis brevibus ovatis acuminatis, ovario triquetro, sepalis petalisque patentibus lineari-lan- ceolatis convexis subaequalibus, labello adnato oblongo acuminato basi con- vexo ecalloso, columná obtusé 3-dentatá, anthere cardinis appendice ob- longá denticulatá. A Brazilian epiphyte, nearly related to Epidendrum fra- grans, for which I am obliged to Messrs. Loddiges. The flowers are straw-coloured, with a few purple streaks on the column and at the base of the lip, and have a heavy not very pleasant smell, something like that of Ground ivy (Glechoma). Of this form of the genus Epidendrum, of which Æ. fragrans may be selected as the type, there are now several species on record, and it is probable that many more remain to be discovered; 1 am already acquainted im- perfectly with more than one undescribed species. It will therefore be necessary to provide a distinct section for such species, to which the name of Oswoprnvruw may be assigned, in allusion to their being usually scented plants. 136. IPOM(EÁ Purga. Wenderoth: Schlecht. in Linnea, viii. 515. Lindley Flora medica, no. 809. This beautiful plant, whose fleshy root is one of the species from which the principal supply of Jalap is derived, has