1*G9. ] NOTES ON NEW PLANTS. 



and, judging from plants shown by Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson and Son. another 

 having the leaves striated with pale green. From their evergreen habit and 

 characteristic appearance, these all come into the front rank of ornamental green- 

 house plants. Another class of highly characteristic greenhouse plants, the 

 Agaves, now occasionally turns up at exhibitions, and seems to be making way 

 in public estimation ; we have here to record a highly interesting species from 

 the collection of W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., of Eeigate. It is called Agave 

 Besseriana hystrix, and is a dwarf tufted plant, with erect leaves 4 in. to 5 in. 

 long and f- in. wide, very glaucous, terminated by a strong black spine an inch 

 long, and edged with smaller black spines, which produce a fine contrast. 



One or two interesting Ferns have recently appeared. Asplenium ferncm- 

 dezianum, sent by Messrs. Veitch and Sons, and obtained from Montevideo, forms 

 a neat tuft of gracefully arching fronds, with small incised obliquely-oblong 

 pinnules, and a proliferous bud at the apex, and is a remarkably elegant ever- 

 green species, well adapted for greenhouse culture ; as also is Todea hymeno- 

 phylloides compacta, from Messrs. Standish and Co., Ascot, a variety of that fine 

 pellucid-leaved fern, which has come up plentifully amongst seedlings, and is so 

 slow in growth, that with ordinary treatment, the densely grown plants are not in 

 half-a-dozen years more than three inches high. 



Turning to Orchids, the collection of W. Marshall, Esq., of Enfield, has 

 yielded two remarkably fine varieties of Odontoglossum triumphans. One of them, 

 called Marslicdlii, has the yellow sepals and petals blotched with brown, the 

 latter being toothed at the edge, and the lip white, with a narrow yellow frilled 

 edge, and deep brown tip, the prominent crest at the base having shorter lateral 

 teeth. The other, called Wilsoni, is much smoother, the pseudobulbs looking 

 as if polished, the flowers not toothed, yellow, with larger and fewer blotches of 

 brown, and the lip scarcely frilled, and wanting the lateral teeth of the crests. 

 The Assam Dendrobium Williamsoni, as shown by J. Day, Esq., of Tottenham, has 

 pale yellowish flowers, with a dense orange spot on the lip ; while the slender- 

 stemmed Burmese D. lasioglossum, as shown by Messrs. Veitch, proves to be 

 extremely beautiful, with its fleshy pure white flowers, having a beautiful 

 yellow woolly crest, and rosy tints at the base of the lip ; and D. crassinode is 

 remarkable for its peculiar short knotty stems, and its white flowers, which are 

 tipped with pale rose, and have a cordate lip deep orange at the base. Lycaste 

 Schilleriana is a curious species, with the pseudobulbs and habit of L. Skinneri, 

 but with long recurved olive-green sepals, and a white lip connivent with the 

 small white petals. This came from Mr. B. S. Williams. The rare Lycaste 

 gigantea, with immense tawny-green flowers on very tall scapes, has been shown 

 in fine condition by Messrs. Veitch. Finally, from the same collection as the last, 

 Cypripedium Harrisianwn, one of Mr. Dominy's fine hybrid Orchids, has been 

 produced. This is a cross between 0. barbatum and C. villosum, and is a 

 very handsome plant, with the leaves green, mottled with deeper-coloured 



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