236 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



dark blotch at the base of the sepals and petals. These all partake 

 of the general character of O. phaJcenopsis , and require a rather 

 higher temperature than the other Odontoglots. They succeed most 

 satisfactorily with the Cattleya and Lcelias. Gattleya gigas is a spring 

 flowering species of great merit, the flowers very large, the sepals and 

 petals soft rose, and the labellum dark purplish red. Masdevallia 

 Davisi is the most recent introduction to this most interesting and 

 valuable genus, valuable because the plants can be grown in a cool 

 house, and by amateurs with but little expense in orchid culture, 

 and produce flowers of great beauty. This is in the way of M. 

 JSarryana, and has flowers yellowish white out&ide, and brilliant 

 orange inside. 



Ferns are not numerous, but several interesting kinds are 

 ofiered. Foremost amongst these must be placed Adiantum cjra- 

 cillimum, unquestionably the most beautiful of all the Maidenhair 

 ferns. It is very similar in character to the well-known A. 

 cuneaium, but the pinnse are much smaller ; they are, indeed, so 

 small, and the plant so light and elegant, that a specimen may be 

 likened to a cloud of gauze. Its fronds will be found of special value 

 for bouquets and for dressing epergnes, because of their lightness and 

 airy appearance. In striking contrast to this is A. Seemanni, which 

 has pinna; three inches long and two inches broad ; it is a very fine 

 fern, well adapted for specimen culture. A. speciosum is of semi- 

 scandent habit, has very large tripinnate fronds, and is worthy of a 

 place in the most select collection, and well adapted for specimen 

 culture for exhibition purposes. Fhocnemia Leuzeana is a remark- 

 ably handsome arborescent species, introduced from the Philippine 

 Islands by Mr. W. Bull, of the King's Road, Chelsea. It has a sbort 

 thick trunk and large spreading fronds, which attain a very large 

 size on fully-developed specimens. It is very beautiful when stem- 

 less and in a small state, and as it is, comparatively speaking, very 

 cheap, it can be strongly recommended to the notice of amateurs. 



Flowering Plants are very few in number. There are, in fact, 

 hardly any flowering plants beyond the soft-wooded things and the 

 orchids. Dipladeiiia £rearlei/ana, wliich formed the subject of the 

 coloured plate in the Floral World of last month, is undoubtedly the 

 most important, and can have the heartiest recommendation. AntJiu- 

 rium candidum is an elegant plant, with ovate-lanceolate leaves, from 

 six to eight inches in length, and producing a profusion of white 

 spathes. It is hardly an amateur's plant, and is not entitled to a 

 place elsewhere than in a stove of large size. Begonia Model and 

 B. Excelsior are two good additions to the list of tuberous-rooted 

 begonias, which is now very lengthy. Both have flowers of large 

 size, those of the first-mentioned being of a delicate rosy blush 

 shade, and of exceptionally fine form. The other has flowers of a 

 bright cinnabar-red, and with rather long petals. Amaryllis Leo- 

 poldi is a grand amaryllid, introduced from Peru. The flowers are 

 of immense size, measuring, when fully developed, quite seven 

 inches across ; they are, in fact, larger than those of any other 

 amar^'llis in cultivation. The flowers consist of six broad obovate 

 perianth segments, the lower half of which is a clouded crimson 



