( 165 ) 



NEW PLANTS, ETC., FROM THE SOCIETY'S 

 GARDEN. 



10. Gesnera breviflora.* 

 Received from G. U. Skinner, Esq., in April, 1847. 



Stem simple, a foot high, green, covered with long spreading 

 hairs. Leaves dark green above, somewhat hoary beneath, oval, 

 opposite, 6 or 7 inches long, with a stalk about an inch long. 

 The flowers are very shaggy, f inch long, bright rich red, and 

 appear in fours in the axils of the upper leaves, so as to produce 

 the appearance of a raceme. 



The plant is near G. allagophylla, from which its leaves and 

 leafy inflorescence abundantly distinguish it. 



A pretty half-shrubby stove-plant, growing freely in a mix- 

 ture of sandy peat and leaf-mould. It is easily increased by the 

 roots, which are composed of scales like those of Achimenes. 



It is a desirable plant, which may be had in bloom nearly all 

 the year, if treated like Achimenes. 



Sept. 29,1847. 



Since the above was written, a GesneratrifJora, nearly related 

 to this, has been published in the Botanical Magazine (t. 4342). 

 From that plant Gesnera breviflora seems to differ in having its 

 peduncles simple, not trifid, and shorter, not longer, than the 

 petioles ; in the stem being covered with shaggy hairs instead of 

 rusty down ; and in a tendency to form a leafless raceme, which 

 is not indicated in the figure and description of G. trijiora. 



11. Iris reticulata. Marschall von Bieberstein, Flora Tau- 

 rico-caucasica, vol. i. p. 34. 



Purchased at the sale of the late Dean of Manchester. 



Of this very curious and beautiful Iris the leaves are perfectly 

 erect, a foot long, one or two to each flowering plant, glaucous, 

 and four-cornered, with a pale, curved, sharp conical point. 

 The flowers are solitary, shorter than the leaves, proceeding 

 from green closely rolled spathes, from which the angular tube 



* G. breviflora; herbacea, caule patentim villoso, foliis ovalibus petio- 

 latis crenatis convexis supra pubescentibus subtus petiolisque villosis, pe- 

 dunculis unifloris quaternis in axillis foliorum superiorum villosis petiolo 

 brevioribus, corolla; villosissimrc tubo pedunculi longitudiue limbo scqualiter 

 5-fido laciniis obtusis, staniinibus inclusis. — J. L. 



