Plates 113, 41 1. 

 LASIANDRA MACRAXTHA. 



There is not any plant which, during the present season, has 

 commanded so much attention as the magnificenl Melastomad 

 which, owing to the courtesy of Mr. W. Bull, of the Bang's 

 Road, Cluls,.,!, vve arc enabled to figure, and to which Mr. 

 Andrews lias only done simple justice. 



Although the family to which it belongs already contains 

 many fine showy and useful plants, there can be no question 

 that for size and vividness of colour, the present species eclipses 

 all its congeners; while to the horticulturist it offers the advan- 

 tage of being almost perpetual flowering, and of commencing 

 to flower at a very early state, for we have seen young plants 

 at Mr. Bull's, only five and six indies in height, flowering 

 abundantly. 



Lasiandra macrantha, or as it is called by some Pleroma ma- 

 cranthum, is a native of the province of St. Catherine, Brazil, 

 from whence it was introduced some years ago by M. Lihon, 

 the zealous collector of M. Linden, of Brussels. We learn 

 that it flowered with him four years ago, and that through Mr 

 Bull it will he distributed in this countrj in the course of the 

 present year. The largest plants yet shown haw been about 

 four feet high, although doubtless under cultivation it will 

 attain a larger size. The flowers are from five to six inches in 

 diameter, although possibly these may also come larger with 

 increased vigour in the plant; the leaves are also very orna- 

 mental, being of a bright green, and the plant is moreover of 

 easy cultivation, requiring but the ordinary treatment of a 

 greenhouse, and thriving well in loam and peat, and one can 

 conceive no finer object in a conservatory than a well-mown 

 plant in full bloom. 



