204 



NOTES ON NEW PLANTS. 



GENTIANA FORTUNE 



This is one of Mr. Fortune's Chinese ac- 

 quisitions, and will doubtless prove a most 

 valuable border and shrubbery plant. It is 

 a tree gentian, forming a close conical bush, 

 two feat high, and produces hundreds of 

 charming flowers, each nearly as large as 

 the well-known G. acaulls, and of a bright 

 cobalt blue, thickly dotted with white spots 

 in the inside. As a strong growing hardy 

 plant it is the more valuable, because of its 

 blue colour, so rare in the queendom of Flora. 

 Sir William Hooker says, "Of the 153 

 species described in De Candolle's Prodro- 

 mus, beautiful as they are, the present 

 Gentiana Fortuni excels in beauty all that 

 have yet been described," and we may there- 

 fore, fully anticipate for it as great a popu- 

 larity as most of Mr. Fortune's other 

 introductions have acquired. The stock is 

 wholly in the hands of Mr. Charles Noble, 

 of the Nursery, Bagshot, who is now sending 

 out plants for the first time. [Price 10s. 6d., 

 large plants 15s.] 



RHODODENDRON VEITCHIANUM. 



This splendid greenhouse Rhododendron, 

 is now being sent out by the Messrs Veitch, 

 who possess the stock. It was exhibited in 

 1857, and took a first prize at the Grand 

 Garden Show, at Chiswick. It was also 

 exhibited, and similarly distinguished at 

 the Royal Botanic Show, and at the Crystal 

 Palace on the 30th of May. It is from 

 Moulmien, and was, we believe, introduced 

 from thence by Dr. Hooker. The flowers are 

 pure white, and shaped like those of an azalea, 

 the margin of the corolla singularly waved 

 and crisped, the foliage a rich dark green, 

 and the habit dwarf and bushy. Some of 

 the flowers of the specimen exhibited on the 

 5th of May, 1857, measured five inches 

 across, and Dr. Lindley compared them to 

 Azalea crispiflora, on account of their curious 

 edges. As a greenhouse and conservatory 

 species, Rhododendron Yeitchianum will as- 

 suredly take and keep a very high place. 

 [Price 42s. and 63s. each.] 



RHODODENDRON GRIFFITHIANim, VW. 

 AUCKXANDI. 



This is also a white flowered greenhouse 

 Rhododendron, which flowered for the first 

 time, in the nursery of Mr. Gaines, at 

 Wandsworth, in May, this year. It was 

 introduced from Sikkim, Himalaya, in 1849, 

 by Dr. Hooker, but was]met with originally, 

 in Bhotan, by Mr. Griffith, from whom it 

 was originally named. But the Bhotan 

 plants are far inferior to this Sikkim form of 

 the variety, which produces fine terminal 

 corymbs of from four to six flowers of a 

 snow white, very large, measuring some- 

 times seven inches across. It is a close 

 growing shrub, rising eight feet high, and 

 branching from the base, and is one of the 

 most beautiful additions lately made to this 

 charming family of plants. It will not, we 

 believe, bs let out this season. 



SAXIFRAGA PURPUEASCEXS. 



This Himalayan species of Saxifraga, was 

 raised at Kew, from seed obtained by Dr. 

 Hooker, who found it growing in damp 

 mossy soil, at an elevation of from 10,000 

 to 14,000 feet, above the level of the sea. 

 Though somewhat resembling S. Ugulata, 

 and S. Crassi/olla, it is still very distinct, 

 and far more beautiful. It has bright glossy 

 leaves, elegantly margined with red, and 

 the flower scape is a bright reddish purple. 

 It is not yet, we believe, in the hands of the 

 trade. 



NEW FERNS. 



We have just added to our collection, a 

 lovely sport of Nephrodium molle, now 

 being sent out by Mr. Sim, of Foot's Cray, 

 and we have also received from Mr. Cooley, 

 of Mile Ash Nurseries, Derby, fronds of a 

 new variety of the Lady Fern. Both of 

 these are in process of engraving for our 

 next number, and, for the present, we con- 

 tent ourselves by calling the attention of 

 fern growers to them, as charming additions 

 to our present stock of fern varieties. For 

 greenhouse culture and exhibition, next sea- 

 son, they are, in their way, unequalled. 



: c-c-c c -C-" :;: ;: -:;;;; : 



CULTURAL REMARKS ON THE HYACINTH. 



BY MR. CUTBTJSH, OF THE H1GHGATE NURSERY. 



Before entering into detail of practice, we 

 would wish to define a good Hyacinth. It 

 should be of a compact pyramidal form, with 

 a firm, tall, and upright stem supporting 

 numerous large bells, each attached to the 

 stem bv a strong footstalk in a horizontal 



position. The bells should be perfectly 

 circular in outline, and be composed of thick 

 wax-like petals — among the double varie- 

 ties, with the centre well-raised, rendering 

 the form convex, and with the single kinds 

 the tube should be firm and rounded, and 



