40 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOKTED. 



"A rare and little-known Wesl Australian species of Fugosia, a genus, as ob- 

 served by Bentham and Hooker fil., very nearly allied on the one hand to 

 Hibiscus, on the other to Gossypium ; differing from the former chiefly in the 

 style, from the latter in the bracteoles. The present species seems to have been 

 discovered in Dirk Hartog's Island by Allan Cunningham, who gave it a manu- 

 script name implying that it has a goatlike odour. Milne, during the voyage 

 of Captain Denham in H. M. S. Herald, found it on the same island, and re- 

 marks that it is a seashore plant (as indeed might be expected from its very 

 thick and fleshy leaves). A much-branching and very woody shrub, with copi- 

 ous oblanceolate or spatulate, rather than cuneiform, leaves, thick and fleshy, 

 readily breaking off in a dry state. Flowers large, axillary, solitary ; the pedun- 

 cles clavate : the calyx leafy, downy ; the petals broadly obovate. pure white, with 

 a deep blood-coloured spot at the base. Anthers also blood coloured, beautifully 

 arranged in whorls, as in the Hibiscus huegelii; and the style and stigma, erect 

 and connivent, are the same as in H. huegelii, from which this seems hardly 

 generically distinct." (Curtis's Botanical Magazine, pi. 5' f 13.) 



40526. Begonia socotrana Hook. f. Begoniaceae. Begonia. 

 From Nancy. France. Presented by Messrs. V. Lemoine & Fils. Bulbs 



received April 14, 1915. 



"It is necessary to keep the bulbs at rest during the summer, in pots, the 

 soil not being absolutely dry: they will grow in autumn." (Lemoine.) 



"A winter-flowering species; stems annual, stout, and succulent, forming at 

 the base a number of closely set scales or suppressed leaves resembling bulbs; 

 leaves dark green, orbicular, peltate. 4 to 7 inches across, center depressed, 

 margin recurved, crenate, flowers all male except the terminal one of each 

 branch of the cyme, in terminal few-flowered cymes, bright rose. Bulbs or 

 semitubers were brought from the hot sandy island of Socotra by I. B. Balfour, 

 and grown at Kew in 1880. This excellent plant requires to be grown in a light 

 position in a stove to develop at its best. The bulbs should be shaken out of 

 the old soil in September or October and potted up in a light soil, rich in humus, 

 and placed in heat and moisture, and when well established should be liberally 

 supplied with manure water. The flowers appear during the winter months, 

 after which the plant dies down, forming a number of large resting buds or 

 bulbs; the pots should then be placed in an intermediate temperature and be 

 kept nearly dry until the following growing period comes round. On account 

 of its habit of producing flowers in winter, this species has been largely used 

 by the hybridist in the production of a race of winter-flowering begonias, of 

 which there are many named varieties. Following are leading socotrana 

 derivatives: Oloin de Lorraine, Gloire de Sceaux, Tfininidn ■/<■ Lemoine, 

 Incomparaoilis." (Bailey, Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, vol. l. p. tftS.) 



40527. Platantjs orientalis L. Platanaeea\ 



Oriental plane tree. 



From Lahore. India. Presented by the superintendent, Government Agri- 

 Borticultural Gardens. Received April 9, 1915. 



See S. 1'. I. No. 34342 for previous introduction. 



40528 to 40531. Aloe spp. Liliaceae. 



From Barberton, Transvaal. Presented by Mr. George Thorncroft. Re- 

 ceived April 9, 1915. 



