FOREIGN NOTICES. 



429 



and basins, and g:reen-houses, arranged in archi- 

 tectural symmetry with other parts of the building. 

 The high hill behind is partly laid out in shrub- 

 bery, partly covered with Stone Pines, Cypresses, 

 and other trees, with winding Avallcs, and at- 

 tempts at lawns in the style called on the Conti- 

 nent a UAnglaise. These gardens altogether are 

 said to contain a great variet}' of ornamental shrubs 

 and plants, the Sultan being very anxious to have 

 every thing a VEurophnne. The Imperial Bota- 

 nic Garden is within the college of Galata-Serai, 

 in Para, and is under the direction of Mr. Noe. It 

 is small, but neally kept, well supplied with wa- 

 ter; and though quite new, contains about 1500 

 species arranged according to the Natural System, 

 and affords sjjecimens of most of the large natural 

 orders. Mr. Noe, by desire of the Sultan, is en- 

 deavoring especially to collect as many as possi- 

 ble of the interesting Turkish plants. The private 

 gardens, with their Stone Pines and Cypresses, 

 are one of the great elements of beauty on the 

 bold and varied shores of the Bosphorus. Those 

 on the European side are not often of great extent, 

 but are rendered more picturesque by the kind of 

 houses amongst which they are situated. On the 

 Asiatic side, where there is not so much building, 

 there are often extensive grounds or woods. It 

 is on that side (and especially towards the western 

 end,) chiefly on account of the more abundant 

 supply, that most of the flower gardens are situat- 

 ed for the supiily of the town. I have had but lit- 

 tle opportunity of seeing them; but in the streets 

 of Pera, Moss and Cabbage Roses (R. centifolia,) 

 and very fine Pinks, are now selling very cheap, 

 and we are told that this second season for them is 

 but just begun. 



Dr. Sprengel's Herbarium. — We understand 

 that the heirs of this celebrated botanist are desir- 

 ous of selling his herbarium. It is represented to 

 consist of 21,S00 species (without reckoning the 

 numerous sub-species and varieties) in the best 

 order, and arranged after C. Sprengel's System a 

 vegetabilium, with an exact catalogue written by 

 himself. It comprises unique duplicates of the 

 herbarium of John Reynold Forster, the companion 

 of Captain Cook, (of 800 species,) the rich presents 

 of the East India Company, and almost all the col- 

 lections of travelling botanists which Avere sold in 

 the first third of this century. The price is 200/., 

 as we learn from his son. Dr. Anthony Sprengel, of 

 Halle, in Prussia. — Gard. Chron. 



The Tei.v-ching, or Chinese Indigo. — When 

 injthe northof China, my attention was directed to 

 a plant largely cultivated by the inhabitants for the 

 sake of its blue dye. In the southern provinces a 

 considerable quantity of indigo (Intligofera) is cul- 

 tivated and manufactured, besides a large portion 

 which is imported from Manilla and the Straits. 

 In the north, however, the plant which we call in- 

 digo is never met with — owing, I suppose, to the 

 coldness of the winters — but its place is sup- 

 plied by this Isatis indigotica, or the " Tein- 

 chirig,-' as it is called by the Chinese. I met with 

 it in the Nanking cotton district, a few miles west 

 of Shanghae, where it is considered a plant of great 



importance, and covers a large tract of country. It 

 is grown in rows, a few inches apart, and at a dis- 

 tance looks like a field of young turnips or cab- 

 bage plants. In June, 1844, when 1 was in that 

 country, the plants were from six inches to one 

 foot in height, and being considered in perfection, 

 the natives were busily employed in cutting them, 

 and removing them to the manufactory. One of 

 these places which I inspected was close on tlie 

 banks of the canal, and was placed there for the 

 convenience of the farmers, who brought their 

 leaves in boats from the surrounding countrj'-, as 

 well as to be near the water, a large quantity of 

 which was requisite in the manufacture. It con- 

 sisted of a number of round tanks, which are built 

 for the purpose of steeping the leaves. The leaves 

 are thrown into the tanks and covered with water, 

 and, after remaining a certain length of time, the 

 juice is drawn off into other tanks, where I believe 

 it is mixed with lime. The color of the liquid at 

 first is a kind of greenish blue, but after being well 

 stirred up and exposed to the air, it becomes much 

 darker, and very like the well-known indigo of 

 commerce. I suppose it is thickened afterwards 

 by evaporation in some way, but that part of the 

 process did not come under my observation. I am 

 very much inclined to believe that this is the dye 

 used to color the green teas which are manufac- 

 tured in the north of China for the English and 

 American markets; this, however, is only conjec- 

 ture. The plant has a half-shrubby stem, covered 

 with a fine bloom. Its root-leaves are oval-lan- 

 ceolate, on long stalks, sharp pointed, slightly 

 toothed, and somewhat fleshy; those on the upper 

 part of the stem, near the flowers, are linear. The 

 stem is decumbent, a foot and a half long, and di- 

 vided at its extremity into several drooping ra- 

 cemes about six inches long; on its sides it bears 

 here and there small clusters of leaves like those 

 of the root. Flowers very small, yellow. Sili- 

 cles black, quite smooth, six lines long by two 

 wide in the broadest part, oblong, obtuse at each 

 end, a little contracted below the middle, with a 

 thin edge and a single median line. — Fortune, in 

 Journal of the Horticultural Society. 



HoYA iMPEEiALis. Imperial Hoya. Stoi'C 

 Climber. (Asclepiads.) Borneo. In the posses- 

 sion of Mr. LoAve, of Clapton. This is the most 

 noble climbing plant Ave haA'e cA'er seen. Imagine 

 a true Hoya, Avith Avoolly stems, leaves six inches 

 long, and clusters of the most magnificent flow- 

 ers forming a diatlem of ten rays; each fioAver 

 fully three inches in tiiameter, and Avith the deli- 

 cate texture of the common IIo)-a carnosa, and you 

 Avill have some notion of this superb species. In 

 Mr. Lowe's letter from SaraAvak, dated .January 

 12, 1846, Ave have the following account of its dis- 

 covery. " On the next day, Avhen in the territory 

 of the Gumbang Dyaks, I found another curious 

 plant belonging to Asclepiads; it is an epii)hytal 

 climber; there Avas but one individual, growing 

 from the decayed part of a tree, also overhanging 

 the river. The floAvers are large and in umbels; 

 the leaves are leathery ; and the stem abounds in a 

 white, perhaps acrid juice. The contrast betAveen 

 the purple of the petals, and the iA-ory white of the 



