iso 



JOUBNAL or fiOBTIOULTtJKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB, 



[ November I'J, 1874. 



hundred years ago, but have referred to a BufiSoiency to show 

 the early commencements of our modern practices. — G. 



PORTKAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWEES, AND 

 FBUITS. 



Passiflora (Tacsonia) manicata. Nat. ord., Passifloracea?. 

 Linn., Monadelphia Pentandria. — Flowers scarlet. "This 

 lovely plant has been for many years cultivated in England, 

 though not so extensively as it deserves, having had the re- 

 putation of not fiowering freely. It was introduced previous 

 to 1850 by the Horticultural Society, through its collector 

 Hartweg, who found it in hedges near Loxa in Peru, where, 

 indeed, it was difcovered by Humboldt and Bonpland half a 

 century previously. It is also a native of the Andes of Equador 

 and New Grenada, where it was found by Purdie on the arid 

 plains of Suta Marchan, and is there called Euruba de Seneno. 

 A similar undescribed species, or perhaps a variety of this, 

 with white flowers, was gathered by Pearce at Puquina (in 

 Peru?), at an elevation of 10,000 feet."— (BoL Mag., t. 6129.) 



Cekinthe gtmnandba. Nat. ord., Borraginese. Linn., 

 Pentandria Monogynia. — Flowers yellow and purple. " A very 

 rare European plant, hitherto found, as far as I am aware, 

 only near Naples, whence I have seen specimens collected by 

 Heldreich ; it is, however, common in some parts of Western 

 Algeria, as at Oran and Blidab, growing in sandy places, and 

 in Marocco. Though hardly different from C. major (Tab. 

 nost. 333), as pointed out by Willkomm and Lange, it is a very 

 beautiful form of the genus, well worthy of cultivation, but 

 unfortunately annual. One of its most striking characters is 

 the discoloration of the tips of the leaves ; these in all our 

 specimens are of a fine pale glaucous blue, except at the very 

 end, which is pale greenish-yellow, bounded towards the mid- 

 rib tiy a dull dark purple band ; thus the colouring of the leaf- 

 tip is a repetition of that of the flower, and gives a bright 

 appearance to the whole plant. From the above-quoted figure 

 of Cerinthe major in this Magazine, the present differs in the 

 yellow tubular terminal portion of the corolla, the narrower 

 sepals not cordate at the base, and foliage. But little depend- 

 ance can be placed on these characteristics in so variable a 

 genus. 



" Our specimens were raised from seed sent by Messrs. Haage 

 and Schmidt, and flowered in July." — (Ibid., t. 6130.) 



Melaleuca Wilsoni. Nat. ord., Myrtacero. Linn., Poly- 

 adelphia Polyandria. — Stamens deep lilac. " This is one of 

 that large class of hardwooded Australian plants which, if 

 properly cultivated, would ornament our conservatories and 

 greenhouses at seasons when little else worth looking at meets 

 the eye, but which have almost throughout the country 

 succumbed to the treatment they have received — namely, of 

 watering in season and out of season. The genus to which it 

 belongs contains just one hundred species, scattered over all 

 parts of Australia, amongst which are some of the most brilliant- 

 coloured plants of that gay Flora. The present ia essentially 

 a dry-country species, inhabiting the desert of the Tattiave 

 country. Port Lincoln, &c., in South Australia, as also the 

 country around Lake Hindmarsh in the colony of Victoria. 

 It was raised at Kew from seeds sent by Baron Muller from 

 the Melbouiue Botanic Garden, when he was director of that 

 rich botanical establishment ; and was named by him after Mr. 

 Charles Wilson, through whose aid, he states, this very beautiful 

 species was discovered." — {Ibid.^ t. 6131.) 



Ibis l^vigata. Nat. ord., IridacesB. Linn., Triandria 

 Monogynia. — Flowers deep reddish purple. " This beautiful 

 hardy plant is likely to become as great a favourite in England 

 as it is said to be in Japan. It was originally introduced 

 by Von Siebold from Japan, and flowered in Verschaffelt's 

 establishment at Ghent in 18.57, when a very pale variety of it 

 was figured by Lemaire in the ' Illustration Horticole.' As 

 it there appeared under the name of I. K:cmpferi of Siebold, 

 I suppose that this latter author identified it with the Sziti or 

 Itz falz of Keempfer (Amcen. Exot., p. 87.S), a plant which 

 Krempfer describes as an Iris with large double flowers, and 

 which flowers during many days. Hasskarl (Miquel Protus., 

 p. 'Mi'i), says that it is the Itsi Katsi of the Japanese. What- 

 ever may be its Japanese name or the history of that of 

 Ka;mpferi, it was no doubt first long previously described from 

 Eastern Asiatic specimens by Fischer as I. la>vigata. It is a 

 native of East Siberia from the Baikal and Dahuria to Kamt- 

 schatka, the Amur district, and Korea, and it thence extends 

 to the northern parts of Japan. "^(76i(f., (. ('.l.')2.) 



POLIGONATUM VDLOAKE Var MACRANTHUM. Nat. ord., Smi- 

 lacesc. Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. — Flowers white, tipped 

 with green. Native of Japan. " The size of the flower is 

 perhaps the most noticeable feature of the plant here figured, 

 though in that it is rivalled by both European and North 

 Asiatic specimens ; the inflation of the corolla above its middle 

 and its slight contraction at the throat are other characters, 

 which, however, disappear as the corolla withers and its lobes 

 connive. Decaisne and Morren observe that the style ex- 

 ceeds the stamens in their P. japonicum, which is no doubt a 

 sexual difference. In the form of its foliage it agrees best 

 with the North America P. commutatum, Dietr. and Otto, 

 which has a terete stem. Lastly, having regard to the vari- 

 abiUty of the alternate-leaved Polygonatums, it would not 

 surprise me to find that all were referable to two, the P. vul- 

 gare with a grooved stem, and P. multiflorum with terete stem. 



" The subject of the present plate has long been cultivated 

 at Kew under the name of P. japonicum, and it flowers iu 

 April."— (ZitiL, t. 6133.) 



Blumenbachia (Caipuoka) coniorta. Nat. ord., Loasero. 

 Linn,, Polyadelphia Polyandria. — Flowers scarlet. " It is a 

 climber, native of Peru and Equador, where it ascends to an 

 elevation of 12,000 feet ; should it prove as hardy as the 

 charming B. lateritia (Loasa lateritia), it will be a very orna- 

 mental wall plant in most parts of England. It is probably, 

 like that plant, a biennial. It was raised from Peruvian seeds 

 by Messrs. Veitch, and flowered in their grounds in July of the 

 present year."— {Z6id., (. 6134 ) 



LinuM Washingtonianum rDEPUEECM " is a beautifully 

 tinted variety of L. Washingtonianum, described as being 

 smaller iu stature and more slender in habit, with a stem of 

 1 foot to H foot high, furnished with oblauceolate leaves from 

 1 inch to 1^ inch long, and crowned by a raceme of from four 

 to eight or more very handsome flowers. The perianth is bell- 

 funnel-shaped, with the segments very much reflexed, white 

 stained (more deeply iu the older flowers) with wine-purple, 

 and dotted all over with minute spots of blackish-purple. It 

 also flowers in July. 



" The introduction of this variety is due to Mr. W. Bull, by 

 whom it wa.s imported, and distributed in some quantity at 

 Stevens' Auction llooms in the latter part of last year, under 

 the name of L. purpureum, which was attached to it in accord- 

 ance with the descriptions received from California, where it 

 is found iu the YosOmite Valley. Mr. Bull observes that he 

 has 'never found L. Washingtonianum to bloom iu the pre- 

 cocious way that this variety does ; the bulbs, moreover, are 

 different. Another distinction is, that L. Washingtonianum 

 grows 6000 feet above the level of the sea, where the ground 

 is covered in winter with from 1.5 feet to 20 feet of snow ; 

 whereas L. Washingtonianum purpureum is found in Humboldt 

 county, iu a climate of perpetual spring. The flowers are 

 fragrant, and from twelve to sixteen are produced on a stem.' " 

 — {Florist and Pomoloijist, 3 s., vii., 256.) 



LITTLE TROT SILVER-EDGED BEDDING 

 GERANIUM. 

 The season of summer-flowering and fine-foliaged bedding 

 plants being over for the year, let us take a retrospect and 

 compare those which have tended to embellish our flower 

 beds with others that were similarly used a dozen or twenty 

 years ago, and we shall find that a great change has taken 

 place. Into the causes of this change as well as its effects it 

 is not my present purpose to enter, my object being to call 

 attention to one class of plants that came into use as soon ai, 

 the mass-bedding system iu its present form started into 

 existence ; and here I may observe that it is perhaps more 

 popular now than it ever has been, and taking it in all its 

 bearings it is not likely to go out of fashion. The plant to 

 which I especially refer is the Geranium or Pelargonium, on 

 which latter name some fastidiously insist, but by the plain 

 practical man the term bedding Geranium is sufiiciently well 

 understood. We need not go far back into the history of the 

 bedding Geranium to find out what great improvements have 

 been effected in its varieties, and yet new ones keep flowing in, 

 and some of these, it must be acknowledged, present but httle 

 if any improvement on older ones. Oceaeionally, however, 

 old varieties that have been discarded have been restored to 

 favour, and enjoyed a higher reputation than before. Never- 

 theless, it must be admitted that great improvement has been 

 made, and the choicest kmds that could have been brought 



