162 GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 
attached to the middle lobe of a trifid apex to the column, In our plant, however, the lobes are shorter than in the ert 
flowered Sobralias and the se m as well as the petals are eonnivent and uni ited for some length at the base. Wheth 
a goose quil, nearly terete, covered for the most part with the long rather سه‎ sheathing bases of the leaves. 
Leaves two or three, very unequal in size ; e lowest of them half a foot long, the uppermost from one to two inches, 
resembling a bractea, all of them dark full green, oblong or elliptical-ovate, rather acute, subcoriaceous, fleshy, the 
little ed, the surface iria with a few, distant, ag TE longitudinal striæ. In a sterile plant sent us, 
the rm are more ides equal and more oblong. The flowe large, terminal, sessile, curved, of a uniform pale 
sulphur-coloured yellow. Ovary clavate, sessile, rising a little above p sheath of the upper or bracteal leaf. Sepals 
sit and of the same length, erecto-connivent. Lip — = tha greater part 8 usi length enclosed Vim the "m 
and petals, large, longer than the perianth, broad! 
the dise faintly striated, with a slight elevation where the Pers is set on, and below that two oblong, small, incurved scales 
or portions of the margin. Column clavate, curved, about two-thirds the length of the flower, yellow, deeper-coloured 
and plain in front; the apex obscurely trifid, the lobes, especially the latter ones, short, obtuse ; the anther-case 
hemispherical, imbedded, as it were, within the lobes, and attached to the intermediate one.— Bot. Mag., t. 4682. 
642. MERIANIA Karsten. Naudin. (alias Meriania macrantha Linden ; alias Schwerinia 
superba Karsten; alias Chastenæa longifolia Naudin.) A beautiful hothouse shrub, with rich 
crimson flowers. Native of the Caraccas. Belongs to Melastomads. Introduced by Mr. Linden. 
enus Meriania, which was dedicated by the Swedish Botanist Swartz to the memory of Sibylle de Merian, 
a Dutch lady who published a great work on the insects of Surinam, contains a small number of Melastomads inhabiting 
the West Indies and the intratropical Andes, all remarkable for the delicate venation of their leaves, and the brillianey 
of their flowers. Karsten's genus Schwerinia certainly belongs to it, for the pretended distinction between the anthers 
of the two genera (two pores in one and one pore in the other) is too slight to possess real value. The species in question 
was found in the Caraecas by Mr. Linden in 1842, and forms No. 35 of his herbarium. It inhabits the middle mountain 
elegans, It is in facta shrub with oval-lanceolate acuminate seréated 3-ribbed dark green leaves, and flowers as large 
as an apple-blossom, but with the peculiar colour of Lemonia.— Flore des Serres. 
643. RHODODENDRON Lovis PHILIPPE. A magnificent hardy hybrid, between R. ponticum and 
R. arboreum, with intensely crimson flowers. 
This brilliant variety was obtained from seeds sown nearly ten years ago by M. Bertin, of Versailles, who also 
succeeded in raising at the same time two other very remarkable plants, viz., the Rhododendrons Charles Truffaut and 
Madame Bertin. It is said to be a variety of Rhododendron arboreum, and the brilliant colour of its flowers is in favour of 
this supposition ; in consequence, however, of the indiscriminate use of the word hybrid, which is often applied even by 
eminent persons imple varieties produc y و‎ we co have some hesitation in adop the above 
opinion. The new Rhododendron is at all events hardy even at Paris ; it first flowered in 1846, but did not become 
generally known until last year, as M. was desirous of ascertaining that its characters were constant before it 
Bertin 
became an article of trade. The name by which the plant is designated commemorates at once benefits conferred and 
misfortunes suffered, and tends to excite feelings of gratitude and sympathy in the minds of those ami were ever interested 
in the late king of the French. The following are the characters of this beautiful variety as given by M. Henzé:—A 
freely flowering shrub, having from its very base extremely ramified branches ; flowers a early (April and 
May); leaves of an average size, oblong-lanceolate, smooth, mucronate, clear green above, paler below, petiole 
middling long, greenish. Flowers in an almost hemispherical and closely packed corymb. Flower-bud round, whole- 
tte with كه‎ scales ; peduncle moderately long, green in a house, and reddish in the open air. Calyx 
Mane viy shallow rounded divisions me undulating at the edges. General colour of a very brilliant lac 
red, set off by rich dark purple spots covering the upper divisions and a quarter of the lateral ones. Stamens with 
filaments reddish at the base and scarcely projecting beyond the corolla ; anthers darker in ety — pet de 
reddish, ies than the stamens; stigma brown.—Planchon, in Bene Horticole, 1852, p. 361, fig. 19. Certainly 
accordi the figure, a very fine variety, with all the brilliancy of the best states of R. nti 
644. PHALANOPSIS INTERMEDIA. A very fine stove epiphyte. Flowers white ud deep rose. 
Introduced by Messrs. Veitch & Co. (Fig. 310.) 
* 
