m 



hBI .01 FOREIGN N0T1CE8. 



C'rphaloiaxns, discovered by me in the north of China. Sir "William IIookee described and figured 

 that phiut in tlio Botanical Magazine, and pronounced it to be quite new, and a tree of great 

 beuutv. And yet, notwithstanding that higli authorit}', I find that hirge quantities of Ctphalo- 

 taxux Harrinqtoni have been eeiit out with the new name of C. Forluni attached to them. i\ur- 

 eerynion out;lit to guard against such mistakes, as they are not only annoying to the purchasers of 

 plauts, but tend greatly to confuse our nomenclature. — R. F., in London Gardeners' Chronicle. 



DEXDROBa-M TR.\N9P.\REXS (Wall). — Orckidacccc. — {Bat. Mag.)— A beautiful epiphytal speciess hav. 

 ing some resemblance to D. Pierardi, flowering in great profusion during summer, and the flowers 

 are produced freely on the stem. It grows with stems some eight or ten inches high, about the 

 thickness of swan-quills, and clustering from a fibrous root, where they swell into a kind of bulb 

 or tuber about the size of a pea. The leaves are borne on the young stems, and are from three to 

 four inches long, linear-lanceolate in form, more or kss acute, recurved, sheathing and striated. 

 Tlie old stems from which the leaves have fallen, produce the flowers in twos at each joint. Tlie 

 sepals are spreading lanceolate, somewhat acuminate, white, and tipped with purple rose color. 

 The petals only differ in being rather broader and more obtuse. The labellum is larger than the 

 other coroline parts, oblong ovate, white ; the recurved obtuse apex beautifully tinged rose. The 

 sides, consisting of two obscure lobes, are involute ; the margins waved, ciliated, the disk having a 

 large dark crimson 8pot> passing into the oblique striae at the edges. This desirable species is a 

 native of Nepaul, and probably many other parts of Eastern Bengal. It was received in a living 

 state from Assam, whence it was sent by Mr. Simon. Few species, says Sir Wm. Hookkr, are more 

 lovely, even among the Oriental Epiphytes, which are proverbial for their beauty over those of 

 the new world. — K., in Gardeners' and Fanners' Journal. 



BEGO^•L^. Prestoniensis. — Messrs. Lucombe and Pixce's advertisement, at page 5G1, reminds me 

 of an opinion I was led to form on receiving from them lately fine specimens of the above named 

 plant — that Begonias must soon become as popular as Achiraenes, Gloxinias, and the like, now 

 that the process of hibridization has been so successfully brought to bear upon them. You will, 

 perhaps, allow me to mention, for the information of those Avho have not seen it, that this 

 B. Prestoyiienais is probably the handsomest of the Begonias — certainly one of the most bril- 

 liant ; so that it must become a popular plant. It is said to come from B. cinnaharina crossed 

 ■with B. nitida, and unites with foliage and flowers very much like those of the former the shrubljy 

 character of the latter, so far modified as to be literally of a neat branched habit of growth ; the 

 leaves are obliquely ovate-acuminate, slightly lobed, and doubly-serrate on the margin, and the 

 flowers come along the branches in axillary trichotomous cymes, elevated on long red peduncles 

 above the dark green leaves. These flowers (male 4-petalled, female 5-petalled) are, perhaps, 

 rather smaller than in B. cinnabarina, but brighter colored, and they have unquestionably a very 

 pleasant rose-like odor, which was discoverable after a long railway journey. It is a true Diplo- 

 cUniura, not a Platyclinium, like its female progenitor, having the placentas double. A figure of 

 it will be published in the forthcoming, and, I believe, final number, of the Garden Companion. 

 — Thomas Moore, in Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Gy.verr-m argentevm. — T have seen a plant of this magnificent grass growing on the banks of 

 the Dargle river, -which blossomed this season, throwing up 47 stems not less than 20 feet high ; 

 the plant measured 9 feet in circumference. Many who came to feast their eyes on the beauties 

 of the Dargle were struck with its picturesque appearance, and were surprised that it had so long 

 escaped the notice of botanists. Many will be desirous to see it next season, for I am sure it will 

 be an object of great curiosity. — T. D. H., in Gardener^ Chronicle. 



