72 THE FLORIST. 



extended itself from a shrubbery near this town over some consider- 

 able portion of a field laid down with grass; and, from the attractive 

 colour of its flowers in summer, it arrests the attention of even the 

 most negligent beholder. 



Hyacinthus nonscriptus, when cultivated with the two less com- 

 mon varieties, displaying colours white and carnation, contributes its 

 full moiety of beauty to the early adornment of our gardens. 



Malva moschata, frequently to be found by our road-sides, boasts 

 of a hue that resembles many of our Roses. If grown in good soil, 

 well watered, and carefully attended to in other respects, we become 

 rewarded with a strikingly alluring plant, producing blossoms abun- 

 dantly ; and one which may well vie with many of the highly proved 

 herbaceous plants that are taken to some of our country exhibitions. 

 Oxalis acetosella, common Wood Sorrel, when planted in shady 

 portions of a garden, presents in its handsome drooping white 

 flowers, much calculated to attract. It may be as often discovered 

 in wet and cold, though sheltered places, as in dry sunny banks; 

 such a circumstance shewing it to be a plant of a very accommo- 

 dating nature. 



Ononis arvensis : spurious as this shrub may be, it is neverthe- 

 less entitled to some spot in the garden. The flowers are a handsome 

 rose-colour. Troublesome as it is to extirpate wholly from fields, 

 owing to the running character of its roots, we must admit that it is 

 equally difficult to bloom it under cultivation. The white variety, 

 which is more rare, adorns a plot of unbroken ground near here in 

 the months of June and July. 



If these natives and others were grown in pots, they might pos- 

 sibly become favourites, and the prejudice to their culture, merely 

 because they are wild flowers, be removed. 



Englefield Green. William Whale. 



NOTES FROM THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, 



AND OF NEW OR RARE PLANTS 

 FIGURED IN CONTEMPORARY PERIODICALS. 



Paxton's Flower-Garden for March has coloured plates of — 



The Retuse Echeveria (E. retusa), a handsome winter-flowering greenhouse 

 succulent from Mexico, belonging to the Order of Houseleeks. Few plants are 

 better suited for window-gardens than the Echeverias, all of which are very easily 

 managed. 



The Thtrse-like Billbergia (B. thyrsoidea), a stove perennial from Brazil, 

 with rich crimson bracts arranged in a cone. It belongs to Bromeliads. 



The Golden Swan-Orchis (Cycnochesaureum), a noble Epiphyte with clear 

 yellow flowers, from central America. It is a good addition to this " masquer- 

 ading" genus. 



In the Botanical Magazine for the same month we find — 



A very handsome pink-flowered Echinocactus, which is found to be only an 

 elliptical variety of rhodophthalmus. 



The Pillared Araucaria (A. columnaris), a branch with two cones on it. 

 It is a tender kind, discovered on the little islands off New Caledonia by Captain 

 Cook, in his second voyage round the world. Singular enough, the first tree of 

 this Conifer noticed by Captain Cook in 1774 still stands, and is in a flourishing 

 condition. 



