JULY 28, 1859. 57 



is a botauical curiosity, rather than an ornamental plant ; but 

 its habit is stately, and this, together with its bold foliage, will 

 adapt it for large greenhouse conservatories, where plants of 

 remarkable structure are preferred. Its upright stem, furnished 

 with long lance-shaped doubly-serrated leaves, terminates in a 

 fine pyramidal panicle of flowers, the horizontal or somewliat 

 recurved branches of which ramify, and bear the numerous 

 blossoms standing erect from their upper side. The flowers have 

 a narrow tube of moderate length, and longer recurved limb- 

 segments, and are of a dirty purplish-stained buff". 



Messrs. Veitch & Son also had Cattleya elegans, a showy 

 kiud, with purple-tinted veiny petals and a rich dark purple Up; 

 and Tradescantia odoratissima, a stove species, with purple- 

 tinted leaves and blue fringe-petaled flowers, 



DelpMnium fonnosnm : — from Messrs. Parker & Williams, 

 Holloway. A curious, monstrous variety of this, one of the most 

 showy of hardy herbaceous plants, was shown. The sepals, 

 which are normally coloured in this genus, had in this case 

 acquired the common leafy condition of a calyx, retaining much of 

 their usual form ; the petals were coloured. 



Sinningia aflBnis : — from Messrs. Pabkeb & Williams. This 

 was shown, to illustrate a curious fact in hybridising. The plant 

 was of dwarf habit, but had all the character and habit of 

 Sinningia ; the flowers, which were of a dull purple, having an 

 angular ovary. It was raised, along with about three hundred 

 others similar in character, from seeds of the erect-flowered variety 

 of Gloxinia-, named Madame Picouline, which had been fertilised 

 with Sinningia guttata. Not one of the progeny resembled the 

 female parent, which was shown, along with the hybrid, for 

 comparison. ^ , ,, 



Clarkia pulchella, var. integnpetala :— from Messrs. Carter 



petals broad and entire, instead of being cut into narrow 

 segments ; it is consequently more showy, and seems likely to 

 prove a handsome purple-flowered annual. It was Commended ; 

 the increased breadth of petal being regarded as an improvement 

 on the original kind. 



Panicum capillare :— from Messrs. Carter & Co. A tree- 

 Iwarf an 

 } of its 

 capillary or hair-like ^ 



growing much-branched dwarf annual ornamental grass, r 

 able for the gracefulness of its spreading panicles, comf 



