DECEMBER. 265 



In a hothouse which contains the Tropical aquarium, in wliich 

 Nymphsea dentata and micrantha are the only aquatics at present in 

 flower, are some fine specimens of Gesnera Herbertiana and Ruellia 

 macrophylla, with Jasminum hirsutum, llondoletia speciosa major, a 

 few Ixoras, &c., all in blossom, intermixed with some strong healthy 

 plants of Achimenes picta coming on for winter decoration. These 

 })lants are grown here in shallow pans, five or six plants in each, 

 kept in a brisk heat until they commence flowering. They are then 

 removed to a milder temperature, where they flower freely, and the 

 blossoms last a long time in perfection ; they are kept dry over head, 

 and sometimes attain the height of five feet with sixty expanded 

 flowers on one stem. On the east-end of this house outside is a 

 plant of Eucalyptus pulvigera, a white-looking fragrant evergreen 

 New Holland shrub of considerable beauty. It stands here without 

 protection, and is at present in flower. In a small stove adjoining, 

 which has recently been converted into an Orchid-house, the plants 

 are more healthy and looking better than they have done for several 

 years past, a proof that small houses are infinitely better for the 

 cultivation of this tribe of plants than large ones. Many of the 

 Cattleyas and Dendrobes are making strong growth, and the other 

 kinds are looking well. Cattleya labiata, C. guttata, Zygopetalum 

 Mackayi, Calanthe vestita, Coelia macrostachya, several kinds of 

 Lady's Slippers, and a few other plants, are in flower. On the front 

 table of this stove is arranged a group of Tillandsias, &c., which are 

 particularly striking from the variation of colour in their leaves ; they 

 are on a raised sort of rockwork covered with Lycopods, which being 

 green tend materially to enhance the beauty of their foliage. A few 

 of the most conspicuous are, Tillandsia amoena, T. morelliana, T. 

 acaulis zebrina, T. acaulis viridifoHa, Echmaea discolor, Vriesia 

 speciosa (this has a flower-spike now on it more than two feet long), 

 and one or two unnamed species with two-coloured leaves. In one 

 of the large stoves formerly used as an Orchid-house, and glazed 

 with long British sheet-glass, the panes have all been taken out on 

 the south side, cut into smaller squares, re-glazed, and painted on the 

 outside, " stippuled,"* to prevent the rays of the sun from injuring 

 the leaves, and in a measure to do away with canvass-shading ; but 

 this remains to be proved by next summer's sunshine. Klugia 

 notoniana, a succulent balsam-like stove-plant, lately introduced from 

 Ceylon, is at present flowering here ; it has a one-sided raceme of 

 very bright blue pendulous flowers, which, though of a colour that is 

 much desired, the scarcity of them (for it is not a very free bloomer) 

 will be against it becoming a plant for general cultivation, ^schy- 

 nanthus Teysmannianus is a species which has a proximity to JE, 

 Javanicus, and was introduced to Kew from the continent. It is 

 grown on a flattish open pan suspended from the roof of a moist 

 stove, where its slender traihng branches hang down four feet ; the 

 flowers are red, hairy, with a green calyx darkish towards the upper 



• "Stippuled" is an architectural term for painting;, and pouncing, to destroy 

 the lines left by the brush ; it looks like pepper all over. 



