268 NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



sent specimens of this very pretty flowering species to Ciiatsworth, 

 where it has bloomed. The habit of the plant is similar to our old 

 favourite Hoya carnosa ; the leaves are narrower, and six inches long. 

 The umbels (heads) of flowers are not quite so large as those of H. 

 carnosa, of a distinct yelloiu colour. (Figured in Paxton's Flower 

 Garden.^ 



Hoya pallida. — The leaves are about half tlie size of the former 

 species, the umbels of blossoms rather less too, and of a pale yellow or 

 straw colour. They are very fragrant. (Figured in Paxton's Flmoer 

 Garden^ Both kinds are interesting and handsome, well deserving a 

 place in every stove or warm greenhouse. 



Hyfocyrta gracilis. — A gesnerad plant from Brazil, introduced 

 by Messrs. Backhouse, of York. It is a creeper, and bears its flowers 

 singly or in pairs from the axils of the leaves, each bell-funnel tubular- 

 formed blossom being an inch long, of a creamy-white, spotted with 

 orange inside at the lower portion. Limb nearly an inch across. A 

 very pretty plant. 



LiLiUM Wallichianum. — An Himalayan Lily, sent, along with 

 many otiiers, by Major Madden to the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, 

 Dublin. Dr. Wallich's account of it is as follows : — " This is a very 

 distinct and noble species, tall (four feet high). The flowers are white, 

 frao-rant, extremely large (nine inches long). The tube widens 

 gradually into a wide-spreading limb, and in size they exceed those of 

 Lilium giganteum." 



Lycaste chrysoptera. — A stove orchid, from Mexico, introduced 

 into Belgium by the Government. The flowers are of a rich golden- 

 yellow, with the lip spotted with dark crimson-red. Very handsome. 



Malesherbia thyrsiflora. — Belonging to the Crownworts; intro- 

 duced by Messrs. Veitcii. The flowers are borne in long spikes, a dull 

 red and yellow colour, an inch and a half long. A greenhouse half- 

 shrubby plant. 



Metrosideras buxifolia. — A pretty shrub, said to be a climber, 

 from New Zealand, where it climbs up the trunks of trees in the damp 

 woods. The flowers are of yellowish-white. It has recently bloomed 

 at Kew. 



Medinilla Sieboldiana. — We have lately remarked on M. mag- 

 nificat and now another superb species is introduced from Java by 

 Mr. Van Houtte to his noble establishment in Belgium. It is much 

 like the M. magnifica in Iiabit. The flowers are of a waxy-white, 

 with a yellowish-brown calyx, and deep rose-coloured stamens. 



MoDSSONiA ELEGANS. — Introduced by Mr. Van Houtte from 

 Guatemala. It is a stove gesnerad, but being a native of the moun- 

 tains, it blooms in the open ground in Belgium in summer. The 

 flowers are produced in umbels of three or four in each. Corolla with 

 a tube an inch and a half long, with a spreading limb three-quarters of 

 an inch across. The tube is scarlet, and the limb yellow, spotted in 

 lines with purple. A very pretty species. 



