80 REPORTS OF THE FLORAL COMMITTEE, 



were bordered with narrow stripes of olive green so as to form a star; 

 then came a broad belt of silvery gray, and at the margin a narrow 

 border of green intermixed with silvery blotches. The colours 

 were well disposed and rich looking. It was awarded a Fibst-Ciass 

 Cektificate of Merit, as one of the finer and more distinct of the 

 varieties of the present season. It was stated to have been bred 

 between B. splendida ami B. Thicaitesii ; as also were the follow- 

 ing, which were individually handsome, but less marked than the 

 foregoing : — B. pulcherrima and B. speciosa, variously marked, 

 but of the style of B. Rex; B. spectahilis and B. coneinna, both 

 distinctly green at the centre and margins, with a broad vandyke- 

 edged silvery belt, the former larger, the latter smaller, and 

 much more speckled with white on the green parts ; B. picturata, 

 paler, with fork-branched or V-shaped green markings near the 

 margin, and green ribs in the centre, the rest sulphury gray. 



Messrs. Low & Co, also showed: — Begonia, Cloth of Silver, the 

 surface of which was nearly covered with silvery gray, a few green 

 spots only occurring near the margin ; B. albo-punctata, green 

 next the veins near the centre, and towards the margins, the 

 rest of the surface broken up into silvery patches and specks ; 

 these were of the same parentage as B. Lowii, which was evi- 

 denced in their dwarfishness of character; also Begonias — 

 Madame Alwardt, and Lord Clyde, which were larger growing 

 plants, with the general characteristics of the varieties of B. Bex; 

 that named Lord Clyde being of a brighter green, and also fur- 

 nished with red hairs and red veins behind. From the same 

 firm came besides : — Franciscea confertiflora fol. variegatis, 

 an English variegated seedling, the leaves of which were heavily 

 bordered and irregularly marked with cream colour, the green 

 parts dull and mottled with grayish green.— Plocostemma las- 

 ianthnm, a strong growing Hoya-like plant, with drooping umbels 

 of yellowish woolly flowers. — Myrsine picta, a native of Borneo, 

 with lance-shaped serrated leaves purple -while young, and then 

 having a broad central white stripe on the rib, becoming purplish 

 green when older, with the rib reddish-tinted ; it was thought to 

 be not sufficiently developed. The same remark applies to two 

 species of Ferns from Borneo : one supposed to be a Lindsaea, 

 dwarf and creeping in habit, and remarkable in having the rachis 

 uniformly winged, and furnished on one side only with small, 

 roundish, creuated pinnse, which are entirely wanting on the 

 other side ; the other a Nephrolepis, bearing white dots along 

 the margin of the pinn^ on their upper surface. 



