166 



Botanical Periodicals. 



rowness of the leaves, which are otherwise so 



different, that no person who possessed the slightest 



acquaintance with the natural affinities of plants 



could have fallen into the mistake. But at that 



time botany was too often mere empiricism, a 



stigma from which it has not yet recovered in this 



country. The botanist of artificial arrangements 



could do nothing without his stamens and styles ; 



but, for the student of nature, no better evidence 

 upon this plant than 

 the leaves offered 

 would have been de- 

 sired, to determine 

 whether or not it was a 

 Buonapartea." Agave 

 belongs to the natural 



order kmoxyWidecB, Buonapartefl! to Bromelia- 

 cecB. — Polygala oppositifoliavar. major (j%. 69.), 

 Amaryllis intermedia, iupinus lepidus (one of 

 the smallest of perennial lupines) and Genista 

 procumbens are also very pretty flowering 

 plants, and Cratae^gus cordata {fig. 70.) is a 

 handsome hardy American tree, valued for its 

 dark glossy leaves, and brilliant scarlet fruit, 

 which will sometimes hang on the tree during 

 the entire winter. 



The Botanical Register, for June, contains Calocliortus {kalos, handsome, 

 chortos, a kind of grass ; beautiful flowers borne 

 by grassy herbage) macrocarpus {makros long, 

 karpos, fruit ; the fruit of other species is short 

 and roundish) {fig.1\.)', 6 and 1, and Z/iliaceae. 

 A fine plant, with purple flowers, resembling in 

 its general appearance Tigridia pavonia. — Pyrus 

 grandifolia, a new species from North America. — 

 O'rchis papilionacea, from the south of Europe. 

 — Tillandsia acaulis ; 6 and l, and BYomeMacece ; 

 introduced by Mrs. Arnold Harrison. — Gesnerfa 

 riitila, imported from Brazil by the Comte de 

 Vandes. 



The Bo- 

 tanical Ca- 

 binet, for 

 May, con- 

 tains Cypripedium insigne {fig, 

 72.) A beautiful orchideous bulb, 

 from Nepal, of which Messrs. Lod- 

 diges observe, " There is something 

 fascinating about this plant, as well 

 in form as in the arrangement of its 

 colours ; delightful to every eye, but 

 doubly so if we view it as formed by 

 the kindness of God." — Potentilla 

 splendens, an almost hardy perennial, 

 also from Nepal, and to which the 

 specific name of splendens is given, 

 on account of its fine silvery leaves. 



