THE 



FLORICULTURAL CABINET, 



JANUARY 1st, 1843. 



PART I. 



EMBELLISHMENTS. 



ARTICLE I. 



TROP.EOLUM AZUREU.U. (Blue-flowered In Han Cress.) 



TllOPJEOLEiE. OcTANDIUA MoNOGXNlA. 



The existence of a blue-flowered Nasturtium was first communicated 

 to this country by Mr. Miers, in the account given of his travels in 

 Chili. A few years ago the existence of a blue Nasturtium was con- 

 sidered impossible, from the fact of its being asserted, and the 

 generally-received opinion, that any genus of plants having in it a 

 pure yellow flower, no blue-flowered one could, by any possibility, be 

 produced ; and on the opposite, where a blue flower existed in a 

 genus there could not be a pure yellow. It is very uncommon that 

 a genus, that has bright-red, or orange-coloured flowers, has one with 

 blue. Leschenaultia was for some years only known in this country 

 with the fine scarlet flowers of L. formosa. At length, however, 

 Mr. Drummond discovered, in the Swan River settlement, the beau- 

 tiful blue-flowering L. biloba, which is now so deservedly esteemed, 

 and deserves a place in every greenhouse. In Nasturtium we have 

 long had flowers of the purest yellow, and now those of as fine a blue 

 as the Siberian Larkspur. We may now indulge the expectation of 

 having a blue flowered Dahlia or Ranunculus, or a yellow Pelar- 

 gonium, &c. 



The present interesting blue-flowered Tropaeolum was discovered 

 by Mr. William Lobb, a collector employed by Messrs. Vcitchs, 

 nurserymen, of Exeter, at a place called Cucsta Dormeda, about 

 sixteen leagues from Valparaiso, in February, 1842, who sent tubers 



Vol. XL No. 119. b 



