42 
GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 
Tlu* liber or inner bark of this tree consists of layers of reticulated fibre, exactly resembling well-prepared lace ; and 
its nature is best exhibited by taking a truncheon from a branch, tearing down the bark, and separating it by the hand 
into as many layers as that portion of the tree is years' old. " The ladies of Jamaica," Dr. Lunan observes, w are 
extremely dextrous in making caps, ruffles, and complete suits of lace with it. In order to bleach it, after being drawn 
out as much as it will bear, they expose it (stretched) to the sunshine, and sprinkle it frequently with water. It bears 
washing extremely well with common soap, or the « curatoe ■ soap, and acquires a degree of whiteness equal to the best 
artificial lace. The wild negroes have made apparel with it of a very durable nature, but the common use to which it is 
applied is ropemaking." A tree from 20 to 30 feet high, with branches too straggling and foliage too thin to form a 
striking object, though really of a good size, glossy and handsome when in flower. Leaves alternate, on rather short 
petioles, which are jointed on the branch, hence the leaves readily fall off in drying ; they are heartshaped-ovate, acute, 
reticulated, palish green. Flowers pure white, or, in bud, greenish-white, arranged in spikes which are solitary and 
terminal on a main branch, or on short side branches. In growing it at Kew we have made use of good yellow loam, 
mixed with a little leaf-mould and sand. In this it has attained the height of 8 feet, and continues in a perfectly healthy 
state. —Botanical Magazine, t. 4502. 
61. Dotmoota cristata. Miguel. A creeping, downy, fleshy-leaved, hothouse Gesneriad, with 
large lacerated green flowers. Native of Dutch Guiana. Bloomed at Ghent in October, 1848, with 
M. Van Houtte. (Fig. 25.) 
Stems round, rooting from any part of their surface. Leaves coarsely toothed. Flowers solitary, axillary, with great 
leafy calyxes nearly as long as the pale green uneven corolla. Described as handsome, on account of its long creeping 
branches and broad deep-green foliage, and as suitable for mixing with Epiphytes in an Orchid house.— Van Houtte 's 
Flore, t. 388. Seems to be very near Drymonia bicolor. 
G2. Abies Jezoensis. SlehoU. A magnificent evergreen coniferous tree from Japan. 
Introduced by Messrs. Standish and Co. Leaves of a brilliant green. (Fig. 26.) 
According to Siebold, the Jezo Spruce is so called because it grows on the islands Jezo and Krafto, in the empire of 
Japan, whence it has been introduced into the gardens of the wealthy inhabitants of Jedo. He describes it as a large 
tree, w.th a soft light wood employed by the Japanese for arrows, and in the construction of domestic utensils. The 
leaves are said to remain for seven years upon the branches. The cones were unknown to him. He only saw the 
tree m flower in the month of June. 
The plant now introduced by Messrs. Standish and Co. has leaves of the most brilliant green on both sides, placed 
when young in two rows, about i* inch long, and a line and a half wide, thin and soft when young, stiff when old, 
and terminated gradually by a very distinct spine, which is the end of the midrib. The branches when very 
young are covered with a rusty down ; when old they become smooth. The cones are narrow, tapering, rather more 
than o inches long, with broad convex loose rounded scales, which do not readily separate from their axis, and have at 
their baae a short roundish slightly serrated bract, which is just visible at the point of intersection of the lateral scales. 
Although the cones of the Jezo Spruce are unknown, we can hardly doubt that this is the plant intended by Siebold ; 
at east we observe nothing at variance with his figure and description, except that he describes the young branches of 
that species as being smooth ; in the plant before us they are covered with short down, but they become smooth with 
age ; and as he describes those which he saw as having a yellowish rusty coat, the apparent difference is reduced to little. 
Probably perfectly hardy, but that is not as yet ascertained. 
TR1LIX 
Orchid 
Malp: 
yellow flowers thinly arranged upon a racemose panicle. L^u 
Egerton, Bart., M.P. Blossomed at Onlton Park, in April, 1850. 
ovario^m,T^i <M l CROCHIL u A) f0liiS • • • • racem0 sub ™I»Mi nasi paniculate, floribus raris, bracteis oblongis spathaceis 
subrotnnTn V ° breV, ° nbus ' 8e P alis kteralibus nnguiculatis basi connatis lanceolatis undulatis elongatis dorsali 
SSsZT? T, UDSUe , aUriCU,at ° C0]umQX *»«*«**», Petalis lanceolatis revolutis valde crispis, labelli pugi< ■ 
tereoblh^lll T gr °^ dentatis earnosis ascendentibus crista maxima valde convexa a fronte trilingui a 
tth re^rtS ^ mterJeCt4 deDtiCUl ° Carn0S0 utrint l ue > colum "<* S^™ a]is P^* 9etaceis - 
P "8 No 4™ in SPeC,eS g9 t0 the8ame natural dhision ^ the genus as the 0. serratum mentioned and figured at 
flow/* Ta^, oTa deL r T U8 ,Ti. ° f thi8W0rk ' lt is > h °™ver, perfectly distinct from it and all others known to us. Its 
1st Thettituit? f br ° Wn ' thC P6ta,S and cre9t of the «P b <4 edged and spotted with bright yellow. Of the 
front of a larcT ,1!? T ,""* COm P Hcated *•* * * difficult to describe ; in this, however, it is remarkable that >n 
Before it flowered nT!/ tI ° n there rr °J ect t,,ree flat y e,low ton *ues which are quite peculiar to the species. 
be trusted L must JlJ T. ,"f T^Tl * be °" ™acranthum, which is a very much finer thing, and, if drawings can 
