70 THE GARDENER, [Feb. 



giving the plant a pyramidal form. The leaves are not so large as in 

 many of the perennial varieties ; they are, however, of a dark velvet- 

 like green, and the plant, being decidedly evergreen, has a fine effect 

 during the dull months of winter. It has more the appearance of an 

 evergreen shrub than anything else. As none of the plants flowered 

 during the summer, and not knowing whether they were hardy or not, 

 I took the precaution to have one carefully lifted, potted, and put 

 under glass for the winter. To my delight, however, I found that the 

 plants left outside continued to live and grow, and actually seemed 

 greener and healthier for the exposure. They did not suffer in the 

 slightest degree from the effects of frost. By the middle of the 

 following June they were a complete mass of bloom, literally covered 

 with long spikes of buff flowers, which continued in fine condition for 

 more than a month, and were the admiration of all who saw them. 

 Mr Draper (to whom I lately wrote concerning the Lupine) informs 

 me that he finds the plants to increase in size yearly, and that he has 

 had them as much as seven years old, and several yards across. He 

 likes them best when about four years old ; after that he says they get 

 loose, straggly, and untidy. Mr Draper further informs me that the 

 seeds of the plant were sent to his then employer (the late E. Mangles, 

 Esq. of Sunning Hill, Berks), from California, and afterwards for- 

 warded to him (Mr D.) at Seaham Hall, where he finds it to do remark- 

 ably well, being the most conspicuous plant in the garden during the 

 time it is in flower. 



For growing in front of large shrubberies I know of no better flower- 

 ing-plant. I am only surprised that it has been so long in the country, 

 and yet is so little known. Several nurserymen, and many practical 

 gardeners who have been calling on me this summer, were much pleased 

 with its shrub-like appearance, and said they had never seen it before. 

 The plants here at date of writing (19th Oct.) are 6 feet high, and 

 from 4 to 5 feet through, with a thick stem like a young tree. 



A. Pettigrew, Gardener. 



Dumfries House, Cumnock, N.B. 



So many species of the Lupinus have been introduced from California at 

 various times, that in order to identify the form of which Mr Pettigrew writes 

 as L. Californicus, his paper has been held over to allow of inquiries being made. 

 A sprig of the plant, together with a seed-pod, was sent to Kew, and duly ex- 

 amined, and we have been informed that no trace of any such name as L. Cali- 

 fornicus can be discovered, but the specimen sent was believed to be quite 

 identical with Lupinus arboreus of Sims, as figured in the ' Botanical Magazine/ 

 t. 682. Mr Kingston, who supplies this information, also states, " I have just 

 now observed that Mr Pettigrew describes the flowers as buff in colour, which I 

 did not notice at first, and which agrees with L. arboreus." There is, therefore, 

 every reason to believe that what Mr Pettigrew has as L. Californicus, is L. 

 arboreus. Some years since, the Royal Horticultural Society distributed a 



