THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 61 
An Exuipition or Earty-FLowerine Ciemaris will be held in May next, 
by Messrs. G. Jackman and Son, of Woking, in the gardens of the Royal Botanic 
Society. The exhibition will commence on the tirst Wednesday in May, and remain 
open for three weeks, if the weather is favourable to the preservation of the flowers 
for so long a period. 
PrLargonium WonDERFUL, now in course of distribution by Mr. George Smith, 
of the Tollington Park Nursery, will probably prove one of the most valuable Zonals 
that will be introduced to commerce this season. The flowers are brilliant scarlet, 
fairly double, and produced in medium-sized trusses in the most profuse manner. 
It was obtained from a sport of Vesuvius Pelargonium, and differs only from that 
famous variety in having double flowers. As the petals are not shed so quickly as 
in the case of the parent, the double form will probably be found of immense value 
for growing in quantities for furnishing cut flowers during the winter. 
Tur Ace or Trees.—The following table, based on an examination of the 
annual concentric layers of the oldest known trees, appears in a recent number of 
the Zllustration Hurticole—Judas tree, 300 years ; common Elm, 335; common 
Ivy, 450; common Maple, 516 ; White Birch, 576 ; Orange tree, 630; Evergreen 
Cypress, 800; common Olive, 800; Walnut, 900 ; Oriental Plane, 1000; common 
Lime, 1100; common Fir, 1200; common Oak, 1500 ; Cedar of Lebanon, 2000; 
Taxodium distichum, 3000 ; Yew, 3200. 
Tue Trea TREE or Corrace GARpENs.— The name “Tea tree,” orf‘ Tea 
plant” (by which the commonly cultivated Lycium is generally known in Eng- 
land) originated, according to Loudon, in a curious mistake. It was at first called 
the Duke of Argyle’s Tea-tree, from the circumstance of a tea-plant (Thea viridis) 
having been sent to the Duke of Argyle at the same time as the Lycium, and the 
labels having been accidentally transposed. A somewhat similar occurrence 
explains the name Thé de Abbé Gallois, by which a Chinese dwarf variety of the 
elm is known in France. An abbé of that name, in the reign of Louis XV., im- 
ported the plant from China, supposing it to be the real tea tree. 
Tue AvuRICULA, says Nature, is said to be the only Alpine plant which has come 
into general cultivation in the gardens of the rest of Europe. In a pamphlet, 
entitled Die Geschichte der Aurikel, Professor Kerner traces the history of the 
discovery and cultivation of this plant from the time of L’Escluse (Clusius), who 
first transplanted this species and the hybrid P. pubescens, Jacq., in 1582, from the 
Tyrolese Alps to Belgium. The latter species, and not the true P. Awricula, L., 
which quickly disappeared from cultivation, is believed by Professor Kerner to be 
the real ancestor of the cultivated Auriculas of our gardens. The two were known 
at the time of Clusius under the names of “ Auricula-ursi I.” and “ Auricula- 
ursi II.,” from the supposed resemblance in the shape of the leaves to that of the 
ear of a bear. The hybrid P. pubescens, which had been lost from the German 
and Austrian alps for nearly three centuries, was rediscovered by Professor Kerner 
in 1867, in a single locality in the Tyrol. 
Avucusas.—The flowering of the female aucuba occurs in April and May, that 
of the male earlier, which does not prevent fertilization taking place when the 
plants are placed sufficiently near each other ; this, however, does not imply that 
we could not obtain better results, either by the selection of males which flower 
later, or by the help of special means to retard the flowering of the males or to 
hasten that of the females. We speak thus to assure those of our readers who, in 
consequence of the difference in the periods of flowering, fear they will not obtain 
seed. When the plants are in the open air, the berries sometimes begin to grow 
red in December ; ina house this may happen somewhat sooner. The difference 
in the times of flowering causes a corresponding one in that of ripening, which, 
according to circumstances, may take place from the end of March to the end of 
May. If sown as soon as gathered, and placed either in a house or under a frame, 
the germination of the seeds takes place in August or September, so that the seed- 
lings may be separated and potted off in October or November. If the plants when 
potted off are placed in a house with a slightly raised temperature, there will be no 
reason to repent of having done so ; on the contrary, the young plants will push 
faster, and in June or July they may be put out, plunging the pots in a half-shady 
place, or even in the sun, but taking care to water them often with a fine rose, and 
but little at a time. At the approach of winter they may be placed under a cool 
frame until spring, when they can again be put in the openair. Treated in this 
February. 
