170 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Junej 



tained. However, it was not so, perhaps because 

 both appear to have been received at the same 

 time from China; for in a report on new plants 

 grown at Chiswick, and read to the Horticultural 

 Society by Dr. Lindley in 1824, we find this ac- 

 count of its original introduction: "To this 

 plant, one of the finest ornaments of the green- 

 house, attention was first attracted by a draw- 

 ing sent by John Reeves Esq., from China to 

 the society, in consequence of which it was in- 

 troduced three years ago by Captain Rawes, and 

 presented by him to his relative, Thomas Carey 

 Palmer, Esq., of Bromley, in Kent. It was for 

 some time very scarce, but is now become more 

 common from the liberal distribution which has 

 been made by the society of plants obtained 

 from seeds brought from China by Mr. Potts. 

 It has never been seen in this country in the 

 luxuriant state in which it is represented in the 

 Chinese drawings, but two varieties have been 

 noticed, one the state in which it produces fringed 

 petals, and the other in which it produces plain 

 petals." The latter seems to have been the 

 more prevalent, and commonly cultivated form, 

 but from the former no doubt the larger and 

 high colored fringed ones was gradually evolved. 



The fringed forms are noted in catalogues as 

 having been introduced in 1833, but this in the 

 face of Dr. Lindley's report is evidently an 

 error, and it is probable that the rarity of the 

 fringed type no less than its beauty— for we must 

 admit the beauty of fringed Primulas, and frilled 

 Azaleas, the florists' general law notwithstand- 

 ing—led to its being more carefully cultivated, 

 and to the selection of improved varieties. This 

 is indicated in the records of the day, for in 1837, 

 Mr. Knight is credited with having in his pos- 

 session a fringed variety larger and brighter 

 colored than the ordinary form ; and a year or 

 two later we read of double-flowered white and 

 rose-colored varieties, these latter being of the 

 plain edged type. So much for the first twenty 

 years of its cultivation in our gardens. 



In the next twenty years a slow but manifest 

 improvement was going on in the single fringed 

 sorts, the plain edged ones being generally dis- 

 carded, and towards the close of this period, 

 several new forms of double flowers were pro- 

 duced, most if not all of them being fringed 

 flowered sorts, with large flowers of rich and 

 varied colors, the original rose and white being 

 varied to purple-crimson and rose-crimson in dif- 

 ferent tints, and varying shades of pink, flesh- 

 color, and blush, while flaked flowers, white 



with red stripes, were also produced. During 

 this interval too, and towards its close, the fern- 

 leaved variety originated as a seedling sport, we 

 believe, at Finchley, and this after a time in its 

 turn yielded both the rose and white flowered 

 varieties. 



The third period of twenty years since Prim- 

 ula sinensis (P. prsenitens of some), was intro- 

 duced has now nearly passed away, and during 

 this latter space of time, the acquisition of 

 double flowered sorts has been much more rapid, 

 until now the list of names of varieties has be- 

 come a lengthy one. This period has also wit- 

 nessed the production of double-flowered forms 

 of the fern-leaved section in various colors, and 

 the numerous certificates awarded during the 

 last few years show that, in the opinion of those 

 best qualified to judge, improvement has been 

 going on. It was quite at the commencement of 

 this third period that M. Penary introduced the 

 bright colored variety named Carminata, the 

 bright salmony rose flowers of which were at 

 that time quite a novelty. The introduction of 

 this form has done much to brighten up the 

 colors of many of the later novelties. This, 

 however, is surpassed in richness of hue by a 

 crimson form, for which it appears we are in- 

 debted to M. Vilmorin, and of which we shall 

 hear further by-and-by. — Gardeners'' Chronicle. 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



Nephrolepis davallioides furcans. — The 

 taste for ferns, now so general, makes the intro- 

 duction of any striking variety very acceptable 

 to lovers of these graceful plants. The one we 

 now illustrate belongs to a genus very well 

 known, one species Nephrolepis bulbifera, being 

 in very general cultivation. This pretty form 

 was introduced by Messrs. James Yeitch & Son, 

 of Chelsea, England, who kindly furnish the 

 following account of it : 



" A beautiful and distinct crested variety of 

 the Java fern Nephrolepis davallioides, received 

 from our friends Messrs. J. Baptist & Sons, of 

 Sydney, N. S. W. It is a noble fern, of robust 

 growth, sending forth as from a central tuft 

 numerous arching fronds from three to four feet 

 long ; and both in habit and general appearance 

 is a great improvement on the normal form. 

 From this it diflers in several striking particu- 

 ulars ; very obvious among these is the furcation 

 of the pinnte. In the sterile pinnae, which are 



