142 THE FLORIST. 



the amount of money spent annually in the purchase of plants in Britain 

 alone, we believe that an astonishing array of figures would be posted 

 before us, and to meet this demand large sums of money are invested in 

 the collection of stock by the nurserymen we shall have occasion to allude 

 to ; and the risk they encounter in doing so is a thought seldom enter- 

 tained by others than themselves. Such is the fragile nature of some 

 of the valuable and tender plants, that, notwithstanding every precau- 

 tion, they are sometimes lost. Beheving that at this appropriate season, 

 information respecting many of the new and rare occupants of the 

 principal London Nurseries would be acceptable to our readers, we 

 started off on a trip of discovery in search of the requisite information, 

 and we are pleased to add — not unnecessarily. 



Pine Apple Place, Edgeware PiOAd, 



First claimed our attention. This nursery is well known, ha^^ng been 

 established by the late I\Ir. Henderson, and is now in the possession of 

 Messrs. A. Henderson and Co. The collection of plants here is both 

 varied and extensive, this estabhshment being particularly celebrated 

 for large collections of stove and greenhouse plants. Passing through the 

 various and numerous houses, we saw a very charming early blooming 

 plant, Elseocarpus dentatus, a half greenhouse, half stove plant, with 

 fi-inged small white pendulous flowers, on stiff, short footstalks. This :s 

 a most serviceable and ornamental plant, admirably adapted to small 

 collections, as it blooms freely even in small 60 pots. In the stove we 

 also noticed a well-grown specimen of the showy Phrynium sanguineum 

 (or INIaranta sanguinea), which throws its bright pink bracts pro- 

 minently above the fohage ; and the ornamental Aphelandra squarrosa 

 citrina, the leaves of which are strongly marked with large white veins, 

 and the flowers of which are yellow and produced in spikes, the plants 

 blooming freely in a dwarf state. We saw here Begonia zanthina in 

 abundance, and it certainly is a very ornamental plant, with large deep 

 reddish green leaves, the under surface being strongly marked with 

 deep red ribs or segments ; it produces its yellow flowers in the 

 autumn. Like Begonia cinnabarina, it dies do\Mi in winter. Lager- 

 strcemia indica rosea is a greenhouse shrub, with small rose-coloured 

 flowers, the plant blooming in a small state, being in this respect very 

 unhke the other species. We observed in one of the houses, Tropseolum 

 incisum, a new hybrid between T. canariense and T. Lobbianum, more 

 curious than handsome, and by no means so interesting and valuable 

 as T. Lillie Schmidt and a few others — only it has this advantage, it 

 continues blooming for a much longer period, we are told. It flowers 

 in the way of T. Moritzianum, colour orange yellow, with blotches at 

 the base of each petal. The various species of the beautiful genus 

 Ansectochilus are well managed here, and form a striking object in one 

 of the stoves ; and we were much pleased in observing a fine plant of 

 Lapageria rosea planted out in the Heath-house and gromng vigorously. 

 There is every reason to believe this will prove at least a valuable 

 greenhouse creeper, if not perfectly hardy. We in particular noticed 

 in the specimen house the new Gastrolobium ovahfoHum, with large 



