142 MISCELLANY OF NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



London Horticultural Society, May 5th. — A curious novelty came from 

 the gardens of the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon, in the shape of Platy- 

 cerium grande; one of those remarkable Ferns which grow on trunks of trees, 

 deriving their sustenance from the atmosphere, and multiplying themselves by 

 means of little patches of cinnamon-brown bodies, attached to the under sides of 

 the leaves, looking something like diseased spots. A number of seedling plants 

 raised from these bodies was produced, exhibiting a curious peculiarity of 

 growth. The young plant increases in a horizontal direction for a time, then 

 strengthening, throws up from the centre numerous large fronds, having the 

 appearance of antlers ; a form of growth observed by all the Platyceriums. A 

 Knightian medal was awarded for this noble Fern, of which not more than two 

 or three plants are as yet in England. To ensure success in raising seedlings, 

 it was mentioned that the seed must be sown immediately when ripe. Messrs. 

 Henderson, of Pine-apple- place, sent Hypocyrta strigillosa, a Solanum, with 

 lilac blossoms, misnamed Salvia azurea, said to be suitable for bedding out, and 

 Tremandra verticillata, a pretty little Heath-like Swan River plant, with 

 beautiful violet flowers, having reddish-purple centres, the two colours stri- 

 kingly contrasting with each other ; a Banksian medal was awarded it. From 

 the nursery of Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, came Bifrenaria inodora, a rather 

 pretty Orchid, having much resemblance to Maxillaria Harrisoniae. Mr. Beck, 

 of Isleworth, again sent a handsome green slate basket — an improvement on 

 that produced at last meeting — containing two Orchids ; Trichopilia tortilis, 

 remarkable for its twisted petals, and Oucidium triquetrum, a rare East Indian 

 species, with small pink spotted flowers. Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., sent blooms 

 of a purple seedling Rhododendron from the open ground. From Messrs. 

 Keeling and Hunt, of Monument-yard, were two Yams, weighing respectively 

 10£ lbs. and 7£ lbs., and samples of unprepared Ginger in a fit state for 

 planting. Specimens in spirits received by Mr. Low, of Clapton, from his son, 

 who is now in Borneo, were exhibited. One of the plants was stated to be a 

 beautiful species of Hoya, with large white flowers with purple centres. All 

 colour had, however, been extracted by the fluid in which they were preserved, 

 and therefore little can be said about them in their present state. The other 

 was an Epiphyte, and was mentioned to be an object of extreme beauty. It was 

 found by Mr. Low, growing on old trunks of trees, producing long chains or 

 racemes of inflorescence, 9 or 10 feet in length. Living plants of these were 

 stated to be in England, and if we should succeed in flowering them in perfec- 

 tion, they cannot tail to be striking objects in cultivation. — Of miscellaneous 

 articles, Messrs. Edwards and Pell, of Southampton-street, Strand, sent two 

 glass milk-pans. — From the Garden of the Society were Corethrostylis bracteata, 

 a Swan River shrub, of which much was expected, but which has proved a 

 partial failure, its pink flowers, although produced in abundance, wanting bril- 

 liancy of colour to render them sufficiently attractive; Eriostemum buxifolium, 

 covered with delicate pink stars ; three Indian Azaleas, a Cape Heath, Gloxinia 

 caulescens, a Cineraria, a variety of Gesnera Douglasii, a rambling Oncidium 

 from Guatemala, something in the way of O. Wentworthianum ; a variety of 

 Gongora maculata, Cyrtochilum hastatum, and a plant named Mina lobata, 

 raised from seeds collected in Mexico by Mr. Hartweg, in his new expedition to 

 California. From the appearance of the foliage of this pretty little plant, 

 nobody could doubt its being a Convolvulus, which it certainly is, but the flowers 

 are very unlike those of that tribe; instead of growing singly and spreading, 

 they are contracted at the points, and produced in long one-sided racemes, of a 

 bright orange in an early stage, but becoming pale yellow when full blown. 

 From the same collection was also a bloom of the curious stove climber Aris 

 tolochia gigas, whose large concave helmet-like blossoms have attracted the 

 attention of everybody who has visited the gardens for some time back. Various 

 specimens of wood, exhibiting curious expansions of different forms, looking as 

 if they had been carved, were produced. These were, however, not carved, 

 except by the hand of nature ; they were the work of a parasite nearly related 

 to our Misletoe, which, insinuating itself among the ends of branches, and 

 increasing slowly, stops all growth in that direction. The tree, however, makes 



