568 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



longer in producing effect than the latter, thus rendering it more suitable, 

 perhaps, for a mixed border than for grouping ; when at their best the plants 

 presented a compact sheet of bloom. Phlox Drummondii and Saponaria are 

 found useful ; the latter last year was in good bloom in December. I shall 

 refrain from occupying your space further with other things of minor im- 

 portance. D. Mackie. 



NEPENTHES HOOKERII. 

 We presume that botanists have some reason for assuming that this 

 magnificent, and we may say distinct, pitcher plant is merely a variety 

 of ]Sr. Eafflesiana, They are, nevertheless, as distinct as most other 

 Nepenthes ; and where a select collection of these interesting plants is 

 desired, the presence of Rafflesiana should never exclude Hookerii, for 

 the latter is to our mind one of the, if not quite the, most interesting 

 pitchers in cultivation. It is a more compact and robust grower than 

 Eafflesiana, and it produces much larger pitchers. Generally on 

 healthy plants they measure about 4 inches by 3 inches. The colour- 

 ing is very striking, being a li^ht green ground, splashed and spotted 

 with reddish brown. Being of greater substance, the pitchers of this 

 variety last longer than those of Eafflesiana. Their singular-looking 

 hair-fringed frills, extending from the base up each side of the pitcher 

 stalk to their mouth, and the beautifully marked lid, add much to the 

 interesting aspect of the pitcher. N. Hookerii should certainly be in the 

 most limited and select collection of these curious plants, which de- 

 serve more attention from possessors of plant-stoves than has 

 hitherto been accorded them. D. T. 



OIiD-FASHIONED PLANTS. 



Habrothamnus. 

 It seems to us that amid the plethora of new plants, fruits, and veget- 

 ables, and the existing rage for novelty at any price, horticulturists 

 are in danger of forgetting or ignoring old favourites, equal, and 

 in many cases superior^ in point of beauty and usefulness, to those by 

 which they have been supplanted. In how many greenhouses or 

 conservatories, for example, will we find nowadays well-grown speci- 

 mens of Habrothamnus elegans, with its broad fresh foliage, and 

 clusters of waxy bell-shaped carmine flowers ; its twin sister H. aurunti- 

 acus, equally gay in orange -coloured blossoms ; or any of the other 

 species of the genus, which though, to our thinking, scarcely so showy, 

 are nevertheless fine decorative plants ? Yet these were the glory of 

 our conservatories twenty- five years ago, and notwithstanding the many 

 brilliant accessions of the past few years, these two have not yet in 

 their own way been eclipsed. 



