266 NOTICES OF CERTAIN ORNAMENTAL PLANTS 



" The Philesia is a plant of very slow growth. In its native 

 country it forms large masses on trunks of trees and rocks, 

 throwing out long slender stems, which creep along beneath the 

 decayed bark, and over rocks that are partly covered with soil. 

 The roots, which proceed from the internodes of the stem, are 

 few and brittle, and very difficult to preserve. No plant tlmt I 

 have seen requires so much care in moving." 



In another place he writes: — 



" It is a splendid thing, and probably the most valuable plant 

 of" my collections. It often covers trunks of trees and rocks. 

 Sometimes it grows erect, but when found in that state it seldom 

 exceeds a foot in height, and is always growing about the base 

 of dwarf stunted wood, similar to coppice in England. The 

 flowers are profluced near the extremity of the branches, have 

 a campanulate form, and are sometimes not less in size than 

 the common Tulip, of a deep rose colour. Tiie petals are 

 thicker in substance than any other flower that I have seen. I 

 have traced it from the level of the sea to the snow line, and it 

 flowers more freely at a great elevation." 



7. LAPAGERIA EOSEA, Ruiz cmd Pavon. 



8. LUZUEIAGA RADICANS, Euiz and Pavon. 



9. CALLIXENE POLYPHYLLA, Hooker. 



All these are climbing plants from the south of Chili. Lapa- 

 geria is of large growth, and scrambles over bushes in the woods 

 of Chiloe, producing there firm, broad, dark-green leaves, and 

 brilliant, rose coloured, speckled, pendulous, campanulate flowers 

 as large as a Tulip. In a conservatory where the roots have 

 plenty of room to spread it has flowered vvitii Messrs. Veitch,but 

 is a plant of very difficult management. Luzuriaya and Cal- 

 lixene are nmch alike, and probably ought to be regarded as 

 species of the same genus, as Kunth proposed, in which case the 

 latter will become Liczuriaga erecta. Tliey bear small, flat- 

 ribbed, somewhat succulent leaves, arranged along'-the stems in 

 2 rows, and bearing on the underside white pendulous flowers in 

 great abundance, whole coloured in Luznriaga, speckled with 

 brown in Callixene. Of these two Lobb says : — 



" Like many others of these countries, they inhabit the cool 

 shady woods, often covering the trunks of trees and rocks. The 

 first, wliich is generally confined to trees, throws out branches in 

 form much resembling the fronds of Ferns ; the flowers are pro- 

 duced beneath, and assimie a pendent position ; the petals are 

 snow white, and not unlike those of Galanthus nivalis. The 

 flowers of both kinds are delightfully fragrant." 



