26 NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS, 
others have irregular formed blotches, very distinct from the ground 
colour. We procured a number of these beautiful varieties last 
spring, which bloomed with us, and formed a very interesting group. 
All the Potentillas are easy of culture ; they must be in an open 
airy situation, and will then thrive in a good light loam upon a dry 
subsoil. ‘The weaker growing kinds must have a good proportion of 
well-rotted manure and leaf mould mixed with the loam, and by thus 
promoting their vigour there will be an increase of bloom. Some of 
the kinds, however, are of a vigorous robust habit, and, when grown in 
very rich soil, produce a vast proportion of large foliage, but do not 
bear a proper quantity of flowers. The soil must therefore be regu- 
lated according toe the habit of the plant in order to have a profuse 
bloom. Indry summers they should have a liberal supply of water. 
They are readily increased by division of the plant, which should be 
done early in autumn; they soon re-establish themselves, and flourish 
the following season; but, when the division is effected in spring, they 
do not succeed so well. Some of the kinds produce offsets freely, and 
if not rooted ones, pot them in a sandy loam in autumn, and place 
them in a worn-out cucumber or melon bed, having the frame, and 
they soon strike root. 
The entire tribe are pretty, but the following are the handsomest we 
have seen in addition to those above noticed, and all deserve a place in 
any flower-garden, however select the collection may be. P. Garneri- 
anum, primrose, with a large spot of rose at the bottom part of each 
petal, which unitedly form a circle round the disk (centre) of the 
flower; ‘Thomasii, rich yellow, large; Hopwoodiana, pink and white ; 
Russelliana, crimson-scarlet; MacNabbiana, crimson and _ white; 
Menziesii, rich crimson; Formosa, rose; Atrosanguinea, deep crim- 
‘son ; O’Brienii, orange; Rubra aurantia, red and orange. 
NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
Crrrvus LEEANUS— Mr. Ler’s Cereus. 
(Synonym. Melastoma strigosa.) 
A very pretty-flowering species of Cacte was received by Mr. Lee, 
of Hammersmith Nursery, from France as an unknown species, a 
native of Mexico. It is one of the stiff erect growing plants, is now a 
foot high, four inches in diameter at the bottom, and regularly tapering 
upward from a nearly circular base. It is deeply furrowed, and has 
sharp angles. At and near the summit, four or five large, handsome, 
brick-red, inclining to blood-coloured, flowers are produced ; the tube 
being about three inches long, and the flower about the same across. 
‘ 5 very pretty species, well worth growing. (Figured in Bot. Mag. 
CumToGASTRA STRIGOSA—THE STRIGOSE (SHORT HAIRS). 
Melastomacee. Decandria Monogynia. 
A. native of Guadeloupe, growing in beds of sphagnum moss on the 
top of the Sulphur Mountain, It is a dwarf greenhouse shrub, rising 
