FEBRUARY. 41 



MEMORANDA FROM KEW. 



There is no period throughout the year when the out-door depart- 

 ment of a garden is more devoid of flowers or less inviting than the 

 present. It is now only within the stove, greenhouse, or conservatory 

 that we can enjoy those charms of Flora which are the natural pro- 

 ductions of distant or tropical climes. Owing to the long and con- 

 tinued succession of wet, though unusually mild weather, many of 

 the hardy herbaceous plants are looking as fresh as if it was the 

 commencement of spring. Except the various species of Hellebore, 

 one or two Anemones, and some other plants of minor importance, 

 few, however, are now in flower. One species particularly deserves 

 notice, viz. Tritoma sarmentosa. This has an aspect and habit simi- 

 lar to T. media. A large specimen of it on a south border has now 

 thirteen flower-stems, varying from two to three feet high, flowering 

 copiously, and exhibiting all the freshness of summer. Against a 

 west wall are two large specimens of Acacia afnnis, each about twelve 

 feet high ; their flowers are beginning to expand, and in a week or 

 two more they will be very gay. Magnolia grandiflora, Jasminum 

 nudiflorum, and Chimonanthus fragrans, are blossoming against the 

 same wall. Of all out-door shrubs at this season the Jasminum is 

 by far the showiest, as it never fails to be covered with its bright 

 yellow flowers. Cotoneaster denticulata, a rather neat-looking ever- 

 green half-hardy Mexican shrub, about three feet high, with smallish 

 leaves and white flowers, is in great beauty against an east wall. 

 This is a shrub that deserves cultivating, being of a good compact 

 habit, and a famous winter-flowering plant. 



In the Orchid -house many of the Dendrobes, which have been 

 dormant for a few months past, are just starting into new growth. 

 One species, D. heterocarpum, introduced from Assam, is flowering 

 profusely. It is a very pretty, free-blooming kind, and not very com- 

 mon in collections. The pseudo-bulbs are stout, about six inches 

 long, from the sides of which the flowers are produced, two or three 

 together, each about two and a half inches across ; the sepals and 

 petals are of a creamy white, the lip brown and pale yellow streaked 

 with purple ; the flowers are very fragrant, having the smell of a 

 Primrose, and they last for a considerable time in perfection. Onci- 

 dium cebolletum, a good old species, Ansellia Africana, Phalamopsis 

 amabilis, Dendrobium densiflorum, D. Pierardi, Cyrtochilum macu- 

 latum, Tricopilia tortilis, and a few other kinds are all in flower. 



In a small hot-house near the Orchid-house are a few fine speci- 

 mens of Achimenes picta, from one to two feet high ; they are at pre- 

 sent in a very healthy free-growing condition, and are beginning to 

 flower freely. An hybrid raised here about two years ago, between 

 A. picta and Gesnera picta, proves a very showy free-blooming use- 

 ful plant for winter ; its flowers are similar in form and colour to 

 those of Achimenes picta; but they are smaller in the limb, while the 

 toliage is that of a Gesnera. Gordonia anomala, an evergreen shrub, 



NEW SERIES, VOL. III. XO. XXVI. E 



