vt- 
t 
178 
GLEAOTNGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA 
is growing luxuriantly in light loam, and trained against the glass in the Palm-stove ; it will also succeed in a 
warm green-house. It increases freely I)y cuttings placed under a bell-glass, and treated m the usual way.- 
Bot.Mag.jt.iGU- 
453. Centkadenta ovata. 
Klolzsc/i, 
A 
acGOus 
\Varcze\ritz 
Central America. Tlowers pink. Belongs to Melastomacls. Introduced by Mr. Matliieu, nursery- 
maUj Berlin. 
Stem and branches between spreading and erect, four-comered, placed in four rows, and covered ^vith close bristle- 
like hairs. Leaves opposite, triple-nerved, stalked, ovate, acute, bright green, smooth and shmmg above, with stiff bristles 
at the edges, pallid and downy on the veins beneath. Cymes terminal, trichotomous, many-flowered. Petals obovate. 
deep flesh-coloured. Sepals lanceolate, acute, closely coated.— (?arfenzeifww^, 1851, p. 354. 
scL A stove herbaceous plant, found by Warczewitz 
ADENI 
KM 
in Central America. Flowers wliite. 
gs to Melastomads. Introduced by Mr. Matliie 
nurseryman, Berlin. 
Leaves membranous, unequal sided, stalked, long, acuminate, shortly narrowed 
glandular hairs 
inch 
one 
long, the upper ones are shorter. 
Branches long, straggling, hoary. _ . . _ , ■ , , - ^i, 
at the base, deep green above, closely bristly near the edge, pallid on the under-side, with downy veins ; every other 
one smaU and persistent. Flowers few, terminal. Petals white, obovate. Sepals short, ci\mied,—Oartemeitunff, 
1851, p. 354. 
4<U. NicoTiANA ALATA. Ilulc Sf OHo. {alios ? N. decurrens Agard/i ; alias ? N. persica 
Lindley.) A handsome tender annual, with fragrant white and green flowers. Native of South 
Brazil, Belongs to "Nightshades. (Pig. 229.) 
We translate literally the account given of this plant by Link and Otto. " The stem is from four to five feet in 
height, branching, with distant, glandular hairs. The leaves are from three to four or more inches long, and from 
one to two inches broad ; the upper ones are smaller ; they are all decurrcnt and form narrow wir-s on the stem, 
obtuse and witt a small callous point, but a little repand at the edges and toothed, the teeth having al^io little callous 
points, on both sides rough with small somewhat closely pressed hairs, and at the edges furnlbhed with distaut and 
The flowers are placed rather far apart from each other on a raceme ; the lower pedicels ai"c 
The rough calyx is not quite an inch in length, tubular ; its teeth 
are long and very uairow. The flowers are white and sweet-scented ; the tube from two to three inches 
long, a little expanding at the top ; the teeth of the limb, eight lines in lengtli, are oval, somewhat expanded, obtuse. 
The seeds of this plant were sent by M. Sello 
in 1827 from Brazil. They should be sown in the spring in pots, and the seedlings should be planted out in the 
ground when the frosts are gone. The plant ia hardy and may be kept in winter in a temperature of from 38'' to 43 
Fahr., and as such plants as are strongest flower best and produce most seeds, they should be so treated. The soil should 
be light, but rich and mixed with sand. The large white odoriferous flowers, forming nice-looking tufts, render the plant 
suitable for bedding out. The flowers close in the day-time and hang down, but open at night. If the weather is cloudy 
they open as early as five p.m., but if clear not before six and a half p.m. ; in like manner they shut in the morning at 
six if the weather be clear, but not before seven if it be overcast," 
Such is the account given by Link & Otto of a plant which we think is beyond all doubt what Sir Henry Willock 
found cultivated in Persia and sent to England as the source of Shiraz Tobacco ; in consequence of which it was called 
N, persica by one of us, and, according to M. Walpers, N, decmrem^ by Bishop Agardh. We must, however, observe that 
the Persian plant was not observed to be a perennial ; nor do the leaves appear to have been so distinctly decurrcnt as 
is represented in the accompanying figure : but the specimens which have been preserved show that the leaves were 
somewhat decurrent, even near the summit of the flowering stem. This identification of plants supposed to be distinct 
leads to the inquiiy of how a South Brazilian plant came to be cultivated in Persia as Tobacco ! and also whether any 
Brazilian Tobacco is manufactured from it \ We trust that some one will be able to answ^er these questions, as well a» 
many others connected with the history of commercial Tobacco ; as, for instance, is any Havannah Tobacco prepai^ed from 
N. amplexicaulaf as George Don reported I Is tlie white-flowered Guatemala Tobacco a species distinct from the Red 
Stamens as long as the tube. 
Style somewhat longer. Capsules oblong. 
open 
Virginian, iV. Tabacumf Are the red-flowered Tobaccos all 
species, as some pretend ? 
varieties of JV. Tabacum f or do they belong to different 
The Djebele 
What yields the pitchy Tobacco of Latakia : or the mild Tobacco of Syria ? 
How came N. ruMica to be 
seems to belong to N. Tabacum. Is it true that N. paniculata is cultivated in the East ? 
grown in Egypt and Tunis, where it produces the fragrant but strong Tombaki Tobacco, which was shown at the Great 
Exhibition of all Nations 1 Of what country is N. rmtica certainly a native ? All Uiese are interesting questions, to 
not one of which we believe can a satisfactory answer be found in books, N, alata is lost in English gardens, but might 
perhaps be recovered from Berlin. 
