MARCH. 81 



NOTES FROM KEW. 



Canna Warscewiczi. Among the more recent introductions to English 

 gardens, from tropical America, is this showy species of Canna (or Indian 

 Shot). Tliirty or ibrty kinds are enumerated as belonging to the genus, 

 all tropical, amongst which are several beautiful flowering sorts ; they are 

 all sub-evergreen hothouse herbs, cultivated with the greatest facility in a 

 warm humid atmosphere, but require to be kept well syringed over-head to 

 keep them clean and free from mealy bug or red spider, Avith which they are 

 apt to become infested ; they should be potted in a mixture of rough peat, 

 turfy loam, and a little gritty sand, and pretty freely watered at the roots 

 during their growing season, as they are moist-loving plants. Where any 

 of this tribe are cultivated, C. Warscewiczi must not be omitted, as it is 

 decidedly the best of them hitherto introduced, being a highly ornamental 

 plant at all seasons, whether in or out of flower. It attains the height of 

 3 — 5 feet, flowering freely on small plants; the leaves are 10 — 18 inches long, 

 of a light green, stem erect, and, as well as the midrib of the leaf, of a dark 

 purple colour, and covered throughout with a farinose powder ; on the apex 

 of the stem is a raceme 6 — 10 inches long, having 10 — 14 flowers expanded 

 at once ; they are of a bright scarlet, and remain in perfection for a con- 

 siderable time. A plant of it here is flowering very freely, and has been for 

 these two months past. 



Sciadocalyx Warscewiczi. This is a very handsome flowering Ges- 

 neraceous plant, recently introduced to Kew from the continent, and may 

 be viewed as a good addition to this succulent tribe of plants, it has precisely 

 the habit of a Gesnera, the foliage much resembling that of G. oblongifolia, 

 and the flowers have a very striking resemblance to those of Achimenes 

 picta. It has an erect stem one to near three feet high, with ovate leaves 

 6 — 10 inches long, having a footstalk about one-third of their length ; the 

 flowers are produced copiously on the upper part of the stem, 5 — 8 on the 

 apices of long footstalks, which stand out well from the plant, arising from the 

 axils of the leaves ; they are scarlet, with the lobes of the limb reflexed and 

 beautifully spotted ; and have a conspicuous large grein calyx. The whole 

 plant is densely clothed with soft woolly hairs throughout. Plants of it are 

 in flower here ; they require the same treatment as is given to Achimenes 

 and Gesneras. 



Abutilon insigne. Ahandsome flowering evergreen greenhouse shrub, very 

 closely resembling an Hibiscus. Several species of Abutilon are well known 

 in cultivation, and are usually much admired for their beautiful and richly 

 coloured flowers, which are produced during the winter and spring months. 

 They are not impatient of cultivation, requiring an intermediate or warm 

 greenhouse temperature, and to be vvell cut back, so as to form bushy plants, 

 otherwise they soon become unsightly by being naked at bottom ; the present 

 species is one of the best of them, and is capable of being formed into a 

 tolerably compact specimen three feet high ; the leaves are rugose, heart- 

 shaped, acute at the apex ; the flowers are pendulous, two inches or more in 

 diameter, and are of a rich dark colour, something approaching to that of lake, 

 and have conspicuous dark veins. This is a winter flowering kind, and will 

 be found well worthy of attention. It is at present in flower at Kew. 



Pentas rosea. This is a decided improvement on P. carnea, of which 

 it is probably only a variety, as both in habit and foliage it is precisely iden- 

 tical, the difference being in the colour of the flowers, which in rosea are of a 

 liglit rose colour. A specimen of it is at present in flower here. 



Besleria ardens is a succulent or soft- wooded hothouse plant, recently 

 introduced to Kew from the continent; the flowers are of a shining orange- 

 red, but are much too small and too sparingly produced for its foliage. 



GoLDFCSsiA DicKSONi. ^VTle^e winter flowering plants are a desideratum 



NEW SERIES, VOL. V., NO. LI. G 



