1873.] SEEDING STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA. — CLEMATIS LUCIE LEMOINE. 161 



any well-grounded excuse for our turning them aside ? Look, for instance, at the 

 want of merit in very many orchids of not very distant introduction : save as 

 botanical gems, they are indeed poor by comparison ; yet it is owing to such 

 indifferent subjects as these and others, even after such comparison has taken place, 

 that old, true, and tried favourites are discarded. 



Such has been the case with the showy, fragrant, hardy, and adaptable Cardinal 

 Musk, the scarlet blooms of which are likened in their bi'ightness to the showy 

 cardinal's hood, &c. The plant belongs to the hardy herbaceous border, and is 

 very neat and effective from its pyramidal form, growing from 2 ft. to 3 ft. high, 

 and laden with blooms. The foliage is large, hirsute, and with a powerful and 

 distinct musk odour. The plants are well adapted for pot-cultm-e also, its 

 very graceful pyramidal habit, added to its brightly coloured blooms and fragrant 

 foliage, with a very ready adaptation to the culturist's wishes, both in and out of 

 glass structures, combining to make it essentially an amateur's plant. 



Like the family of musk plants or Mimuluses generally, this plant will also 

 thrive to perfection in a shady situation, and where a superabundance of moisture 

 exists. — William Earley. 



SEEDING THE STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA. 



lAVlNG seen some remarks in some of the gardening periodicals during the 

 past autumn about this favourite sweet-scented climber producing seed- 

 pods, I have thought, although it is a circumstance not altogether uncom- 

 mon, that a short account of its having fruited on several occasions here, 

 on plants managed under a cooler system of treatment than is generally given to 

 this species, might prove interesting. We have three large plants which are kept 

 for autumn-flowering; they are trained balloon fashion, and one is a seedling raised 

 from seed ripened here. These plants are placed at the warm end of a plant-pit 

 amongst orchids, and where the temperature seldom exceeds 40° through the 

 winter. As little water is given during the dormant stage as will just keep them 

 from flagging. When subject to this cool and retarded treatment, the plants, 

 when in flower, bear removal to a sheltered corner in an airy greenhouse, and 

 will thus keep in flower for a long time. It is always in this house that seed- 

 pods have formed with me. On one occasion two pods were formed on one 

 raceme, and ripened their seeds. I find the seeds take a long time in attaining 

 maturity ; a pod formed in August, 1871, was only gathered in November last, 

 and the young pods were at that time as green and fresh as the leaves on the 

 plant from which it was taken. — J. Webster, Gordon Castle Gardens, 



CLEMATIS LUCIE LEMOINE. 



y J-^\ HEN first sent out this was said to be the best double white variety 

 M^ known, being purer in colour than the old 0. Fortunei, It has been 

 shown at several of the Spring shows, and though always in a weakly 

 condition, so that its full merits were not brought out, yet the descrip- 



