344 



TliG Horliculturisi and Jonmal 



Maranta MaJcoyana. — A lovely, dwarf- 

 growing stove perennial, belonging to the front 

 rank of plants, with ornamental foliage. The 

 leaf stalks are slender, erect, of a dull, reddish 

 purple, and support an ovate blade, somewhat 

 unequal sided, about 6 inches long, and 4^ 

 inches broad, most charmingly colored. The 

 margin and the oblong marking are of a very 

 dark, bottle-green color, while the whole inter- 

 vening space is semi-transparent, cream-col- 

 ored, or of a greenish, straw color, and traversed 

 by the veins, which form narrow, divergent, 

 dark-gi'cen lines, between which the pallid sur- 

 face appears as if minutely striate ; when closely 

 examined, however, it is found to be barred 

 transversely with minute, green lines, pro- 

 ducing, under a magnifying glass, the appear- 

 ance of being cancellate, like the Oucircmda. 

 This pale center of the leaf, on each side the 

 midrib, is ornamented by oblong, often stipi- 

 late blotches, of a deep, full green, and from 

 one to two inches long ; the larger and smaller 

 marking frequently alternating. The under 

 surface is a wine red, deeper opposite the 

 darker marking of the upper surface, It may 

 be generally described as a miniature of such 

 plants as M. Veitchii and M. Lindenii, but is 

 even more beautiful than those fine kinds. — 

 William Bull. 



Hibiscus (Ilosa Sinensis) Punicena. 

 — A very attractive stove plant, of a remark- 

 ably dense and close-growing habit, as com- 

 pared with others of this well-known, showy 

 species. The leaves are shortly and broadly 

 ovate, of a deep green color, with an irregular 

 toothed margin. The flowers are double, re- 

 markably red and compact ; they measure 

 about three inches across, and the wavy, peta- 

 line bodies which form the close center are 

 about two inches in depth, and have- a very 

 elegantly crisped appearance. The color is 

 a bright, dense crimson, so that the blossoms 

 are very attractive. It is one of the many 

 importations from the South Sea Islands. — 

 William Bull. 



Liliuni Washingtoniamini ^>iti'2>jt- 

 reuni. — A new lily, a native of Humboldt 

 county, California, and a variety of the Wash- 

 ingtonianum, although there is some discrep- 

 ancy still unsettled. In the " Journal of the 

 Li?i?iean Society " it is described by Mr. 

 Baker as smaller and more slender than the 

 type, with a stem from 1-1 4 foot high, and 

 the whorled leaves from 1-1 ^ inch long, as 

 having from 4 to 8 flowers on an umbel ; the 

 perianth being of a wine purple, and covered 

 with minute dots. It has a peculiar pyramidal 

 habit of growth, the flower stem pointing from 

 one common center upward at an angle of 45° ; 

 the color, on first opening, was nearly white 

 with purple spots, becoming, in age, sufi"used 

 with a purplish tint, not deep enough to ob- 

 literate the spotting. 



JVeiv Weepiny False Acacia {Robmia 

 pseudo Acacia peJidula). — The Revue Hor- 

 ticole considers this an acquisition. It is of a 

 distinctly weeping character. The vigorous 

 branches, which are often of great length, 

 weep down towards the main trunk after the 

 manner of the Slyphnolobium pendulum. 

 The foliage presents no special peculiarity, 

 and resembles that of the typical species or 

 common Robinia. 



Aralia Granadensis. — This free-growing 

 stove shrub was sent from New Grenada as an 

 Aralia, from which genus, however, it appears 

 widely to differ. It is a soft-wooded plant 

 with alternate leaves, which, in young plants of 

 1| foot high, are about a foot long, and nearly 

 as much in breadth, of a soft herbaceous tex- 

 ture, peltately attached, and of a pale green 

 color, the under surface being clothed with 

 cobwebby hairs. These leaves are ovate in 

 outline, three-lobed,with ovate-acuminate lobes, 

 and there is a peculiar white patch at the lower 

 side of the base of the terete petioles. The 

 stems are marked by a ring at each node, 

 showing the presence at an earlier stage of a 

 convolute stipule, as seen in Artocarpads. — 

 William Bull, London. 



A good edging plant for a sandy soil in a 

 garden is the Lithosper?/nim, Provlratum, 

 Grownwell or Stone weed. 



