THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 237 



weeping bush, the ovate leaves richly margined with amber or cream 

 colour. 



Rkttxospora ltcopodioides. — A lovely little bush, of a dark 

 green colour, the growth of which resembles that of a dense sela- 

 giuella. I have not seen it grown well in pots, but I am quite sure 

 that, with proper care, it would make a superb pot plant. 



Retinospora obtusa. — This forms a large tree, and is one of the 

 most beautiful of all the recent introductions from Japan. In style 

 of growth it bears some resemblance to Cupressus Lawsoniana. It 

 is certainly hardy. 



Tnujopsis DOLABRATA. — One of the most distinct, hardy, and 

 beautiful coniferous trees in the world. It is too well known to 

 need to be described, but the variegated form, every growing point of 

 which is of the brightest gold colour, should be found in every 

 choice garden. 



Bambusa Fortukei. — A beautiful hardy bamboo, with creamy 

 striped leaves. Fine for an edginor to a large bed, and fit for a 

 hundred purposes. A few days ago, I saw this in great quantity in 

 a nursery where plants are grown for market. I asked, " What do 

 you want with this ?" The answer was, " To cut for bouquets — one 

 of the best things in that way we've got." It is of small growth, 

 risins: a foot at the most. 



All the foregoing are adapted for the choicest gardens, and they 

 have the advantage of being quite hardy, and, once planted, will 

 increase in value from year to year. 



LASTREA ^MULA. 



HIS scarce and beautiful fern rarely succeeds under 

 cultivation, and hence we do not often meet with it in 

 cultivation, or in collections of ferns at exhibitions. 

 Numerous as are elegant plants amongst the species of 

 ferns, few equal or surpass this in elegance, whether we 

 note particularly its finely-divided, bright green fronds, or the grace- 

 fully half-pendant character of a fine specimen. It is the " hay- 

 scented " or "triangular prickly-toothed buckler fern" of the rustic 

 herbarium ; but as it is not the only hay-scented or prickly-toothed 

 fern we have, such designations are delusions. In JNewman's 

 "History of British Ferns," it is described under the name of 

 Lastrea recurva, elsewhere as Polypodium cemulum^ and Lophodiicm 

 ftenisecii. It has a stout, tufted caudfx, and long, stout, wirv, dark 

 brown roots. The stipes, usually about half the length of the frond, 

 brownish purple, the rachis greenish, and stipes and rachis beset 

 with small spherical glands. Fronds twelve to twenty inches long, 

 rich bright i^reen, drooping, gibbous lance-shaped or elongate trian- 

 gular. The pinnce opposite or alterruite, the pinnules oblique, 

 oblong, more or less pinnatifid, the margins lobed and toothed, 

 the whole frond having a delicate crispy appearance. The fructifica- 



