212 MISCELLANY OF NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



Azalea squamata. Sciily-stalked Azalea. Greenhouse Shrub. (Heath- 

 worts.) China. From the mountains of Hong Kong, whence it was sent by 

 Mr. Fortune, as a fine and distinct species. With the habit common to all the 

 Chinese Azaleas, they present the following peculiarities: — In its natural slate 

 it blooms without leaves, producing at the end of every little shoot a large soli- 

 tary flower of a clear rose colour, distinctly spotted with crimson on one side, 

 and guarded at the base by a large sheath of bright brown scales (whence its 

 name). Its calyx, unlike that of the neighbouring species, is reduced to a mere 

 five-toothed rim. Its ovary, immediately after the fall of the corolla, projects in 

 the form of an oblong body quite covered with coarse brown hairs. The leaves, 

 when young, are somewhat like those of A. indica, and have nothing distinctive 

 in their sha] e or surface ; but when old they are oval, sharp at each end, perfectly 

 hairless, and as even on the upper surface as those of Rhododendron punctatum. 

 This plant has been long known from dried specimens and drawings sent from 

 China by Mr. Reeves, the latter of which are preserved in the library of the 

 Society: but it has never before been introduced alive. At present its flowers 

 have only been produced by plants out of health, and therefore they have given 

 no just idea of the beauty of the plant, which is one of the finest in cultivation. 

 It will probably prove hardy. In a case, containing several plants, Mr. Fortune 

 sent home a portion of the soil, brown loam, in which this species was found 

 wild, and for the purpose of trying its effects one plant was potted in it ; but it 

 has by no means the healthy appearance of those potted in rough sandy peat. It 

 strikes freely from cuttings of young wood under ordinary treatment. The beau- 

 tiful spotted flowers (although not large) and the neat foliage, together with a 

 dwarf habit, will render this a plant of considerable importance either in a green- 

 house or in the shrubbery. 



Azalea ovata. Hardy Shrub. (Heathworts.) China. — From Chusan, 

 where Mr. Fortune found two varieties ; '* the one with white, the other with 

 pink or lilac flowers; both spotted and very beautiful." Among the early des- 

 patches from Mr. Fortune was received a drawing of this beautiful shrub, which, 

 according to the Chinese artist, has most delicate pink flowers of the size and 

 form of the Davurian rhododendron. The original plants did not survive the 

 voyage ; but a packet of seed has furnished an abundance of young plants, which 

 have been distributed extensively to the Fellows of the Society under the name 

 of "Azalea 274." The dried specimens received from Mr. Fortune enable the 

 species to be positively determined. It is entirely different in foliage from all 

 the other Chinese Azaleas ; for instead of the pale-green colour and abundant 

 hairs which characterise them all, this has perfectly hairless leaves, unless in the 

 seedling state, and they are of a very dark green. Their form, too, is quite dis- 

 tinct; for instead of tapering gradually to the stalk, they are abruptly ovate, or 

 even in some cases almost heart shaped. The plant has been too recently ac- 

 quired for any knowledge of its true habits to have been acquired : but seedlings 

 in the open air have borne the frost of last autumn, and it was considerable ou 

 two occasions, without having suffered in the least ; and if, as seems probable, 

 the plant should not be inclined to push early, it will not only be a hardy ever- 

 green, but one of the finest in the country. 



Achimenes alba. A dwarf variety, flowers tubular, dotted with black. The 

 limb only being white. At the Tooting Nursery. 



Achimenes patens. Spreading Achimenes. Greenhouse herbaceous plant 

 from Mexico. One of the first objects to which Mr. Hartweg directed his atten- 

 tion on his return to Mexico, in 1845, was the recovery of this beautiful plant, 

 which he had found in the course of his former researches, but which had not 

 been reared in the garden of the Society. Although the season was so far ad- 

 vanced that herbage had all become withered, he succeeded in discovering some 

 roots, which were immediately sent home by the post, and proved to be this plant. 

 Nor does it disappoint the expectations that had been formed of it ; for with the 

 habit and foliage of A. longifiora it bears flowers of so intense a violet that no 

 artificial colours can imitate them. This most remarkable tint fades away on the 

 outside of the corolla into a clear bright purple, and is renewed on the tube of 

 the corolla in an intermediate tint. The border of the corolla is slightly notched, 



