1 
10 GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 
in Amu. GW., t, 271). An orchid from N. Grenada, with large handsome variegated flowers, 
and a white lip sometimes tinged with green. An old inhabitant of English gardens. 
published before Professor Morren gave it the name here quoted ; but it has long 
country under the name of Oncidium hastatum. It is a true Oncidium. its column 
and forming an obtuse angle with the Up. In point of value it is about equal to 
does 
known 
with 
In its 
being short and protuberant at the base, and forming an obtuse angle with the lip. 
the Oncidium (Cyrtochiluni) maculatuin. 
3. Eciiinocactus rhodophthalmus. Hooker. A Mexican He< 
stem, and handsome red floweis appearing in August. 
Received from Mr. Staines, who procured it from the neighbourhood of Sa 
flourishing state it is extremely handsome, the deep red of the base of the petals forming a ring, as it were, round 
the densely-clustered stamens and bright yellow rays of the stigma, adding much to the beauty of the blossom. Mr. Smith 
gives the following account of the manner in which such plants are managed by him at Kew : — " At Tab. 4417, we 
haw said that Cactem are almost indifferent as to the kind of soil they are grown in, provided it is not retentive of 
moisture. The present very pretty species will thrive in a mixture of light loam and leaf-mould, containing a small 
quantify of lime-rubbish nodules, the latter being for the purpose of keeping the mould from becoming close and 
compact, a condition not suitable to the soft and tender roots of the plant. If cultivated in a pot, it must be well 
drained ; the pot being nearly half filled with broken potsherds, and the upper layer so placed as to cover the interstices, 
in order to prevent the mould from mixing with the drainage. During winter, Mexican Cactece do not require much 
artificial heat : several species are, indeed, known to bear with impunity a few degrees of frost. Where they can be 
cultivated by themselves, we recommend that the plants and atmosphere of the house should be kept in a dry state during 
win tor, artificial heat being given only during a long continuance of damp cold weather or in severe frost ; but at no 
time during winter needs the temperature of the house to exceed 50° at night. In sunny days in spring the house should 
be ept close, in order that the plants may receive the full benefit of the heat of the sun's rays. As the sumraer-heat 
increases air should be admitted, and occasionally the plants should be freely watered, and in hot weather daily syringed 
over-head:'— Botanical Magazine, t. 4486. 
4. Valoradia plumbagixoides. Boissier. — Botanical Magazine, t. 4487. 
This is an alias of the now common Plumbago Larpentee, which is thought by Boissier not to belong to Plumbago. 
We see very little, however, to characterise a genus in the differences pointed out, and agree with Sir W. Hooker, in 
thinking that if a new genus is really necessary, the plant ought to bear the older name of Ceratostigma. 
">. Metrosideros tomentosa. Achllle Richard A New Zealand Greenhouse shrub of much 
beauty, flowering in the summer months. Blossoms rich crimson. One of the order of Myrtle 
| Blooms (Myrtacese). 
* It inhabits," says Mr. Allan Cunningham (by whom it was introduced to the Royal Gardens of Kew), « usually 
the rocky sea-coast and shores of the Bay of Islands, where it is called by the natives Pohutu-Kawa, and is readily 
distinguished among other plants by the brilliancy and abundance of its flowers, enlivening the shores of the northern 
island with its blossoms in December. With us in the greenhouse it has attained the height of six feet, and attracted 
attention by its copious, compact, but spreading ramification, and the abundance and beauty of its evergreen foliage Its 
lossomi 
spring, in a sheltered part of the woods of the Pleasur 
branchlet was terminated by the vivid scarlet blossoms 
During 
Mtance. In its native country it is described as making its first appearance on other trees, as an epiphyte. By its 
strong and rapid growth it soon envelopes the parent tree, its woody roots descending till they reach the ground, and 
there spread.ng to a great extent, while the main roots, by their numbers and interlacing*, ultimately become so 
combine, that they form a trunk of a singular appearance and sometimes of an immense size. The original tree dies, 
or the ^rr^ . T 8 - f00d fW the Pamite; thelatterin *is respect resembling the fig-trees of the tropics 
b UtdTn .In ,S ^"Tf " l l " ^ Said t0 f0m a *** **«* the aid of others ' With u * » 8*™ luxuriantly if 
wTnlade £n T ™* ?W C f f eenhoilse > «* f orms * handsome evergreen bush. The figure here represented 
oln^JTt^STT to*™*""* to <> tag* ^r our greenhouse accommodation. As it afforded the 
pE HavIE? n ^ C ° ,d H W ° Uld bear ' a *>*** sitUation *™»& *» wa * ***ted, where it was 
Ld>, aid tnti nue d to Z?, n.TT 1 BmmA ^^^ *™^ * ™* 8trikin S prance for an out-door 
open £wC™ the rnZ! 1 n ^ T ? ** We ° b «" 8 ** ^^ that this *» shrub ** ™* ^ in the 
« nlvH **"""*" Ms a few *««» below the freezing point."- J Bo*imca? Magazine, t. 4438. 
fe«l*77tai l™' ^^ A h ^ h -% -nuol from the Neilglierries, belonging to 
P-J5J' JX XZl f ° 0t h!gh ' ^^ F1 ° WerS Pa,e P Ur P le ' With a white ^ * corymbs. Requires 
i 
