THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 259 



Dr. Masters. — This also is a superb show flower, of which it is 

 impossible to say too much. It differs from its predecessor in the 

 colour of the lacing, which is deep purplish crimson, instead of 

 light rose. 



Those who purpose forming a collection will find the following 

 selection of twenty-five older kinds of considerable value : — 



Attraction, Beautiful, Beauty of Bath, Bertram, Blondiu, Charles 

 "Waterton, Christabel, Delicata, Device, Dr. Maclean, Edith, Emily, 

 Excelsior, Eustace, John Ball, Lady Craven, Lizzie, Lord Herbert, 

 Marion, Mrs. Maclean, Mrs. White, Perfection, Picturata, President, 

 Rev. G. Jeans. S. H. 



THE LACE-LEAF PLANT (OUVIRANDRA FENESTRALIS). 



BT GEOftGE GORDON. 



[HE singularly beautiful Ouvirandra fenestralis, and its 

 congener Bemeriana, are seldom seen in any but the 

 stoves of the most wealthy, whereas they are just the 

 plants that the enthusiastic amateur who has the con- 

 venience of a stove should take in hand. They are 

 certainly peculiar in their requirements, but when the details are 

 well understood, there is nothing difficult in their management, and 

 it will be found that attention, rather than skill, is of the greatest 

 importance. 



"When recently conversing with the Rev. W. Ellis, the well-known 

 missionary, who had the honour of first introducing living specimens 

 of these plants to this country, on the conditions under which they 

 are met with in the greatest perfection in their native habitats, and 

 the immense difficulties he had to encounter in bringing them home 

 alive, the thought struck me that a few hints on their cultivation 

 may be of service to some of the readers of the Floeal Wobld. 

 The cultural directions which follow are, it is hardly necessary to 

 say, founded on my personal experience in their cultivation, and it 

 may with safety be said, that if they are strictly acted upon, failure 

 will be impossible. 



The blades of the leaves of 0. fenestralis usually attain a length 

 of about fifteen inches, and a width of three inches, and are sup- 

 ported on gracefully arching petioles which vary in length according 

 to the depth of water above the surface of the soil. About fourteen 

 nerves run from the base of the leaf, gradually expand, and converge 

 again towards the apex, so as to form a lengthened oval shape, and 

 are connected together with cross veins ; and from the entire absence 

 of parenchyma, they are simply a network of brownish green 

 threads, as shown in the illustration of the leaf, and also of the 

 entire plant, which accompany this. The leaves of 0. Bemeriana 

 are longer in the blade, of a brighter green, and are made of much 

 stouter network or veins. Of the two, the former is the most 

 elegant, but both should be grown by those who care for this 



