6 NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



the last simmer. It will probably require a slight protection during 

 winter. It is a fine plant, and deserves to be against every conservatory 

 wall. The numerous stamens are nearly four inches long, a rich 

 crimson colour, and add to the beauty of the plant. (Figured in Pax- 

 ton's Flower Garden, 28.) 



Gladiolus Gandavensis, var. citrinus. — This variety is in form 

 and size similar to the species, but the flowers are of a full citron- 

 yellow colour, with a red stripe down the middle of each of the three 

 lower segments of the flower. It is a vigorous grower, and blooms 

 profusely. It is in M. Van Houtte's fine collection of this tribe of 

 flowers. 



Gladiolus Natalensis, var. Oldfordiensis. — The flowers are 

 large, of a delicate salmony flesh colour, marked with purple. A superb 

 variety, raised by Mr. Cole, of Oldford. 



Gladiolus Natalensis, var. rosea-purfureus.' — The flowers 

 medium size, of a deep rosy-red, marked with deep purple-red. Very 

 showy. Also raised by Mr. Cole. 



Monarda albiflora. White-flowered — A handsome, luutly, 

 herbaceous perennial plant ; grows three feet high. The floral leaves 

 (bracts) are long, of a greenish-white in the middle. The flowers are 

 in verticillate heads, white, with greenish-white calyxes. In the 

 Botanic garden at Leige. A very desirable species, also fragrant. 



Monarda amplexicaulis. — A beautiful, hardy, herbaceous peren- 

 nial, growing two feet high. The upper leaves have the nerves and 

 veins of a beautiful purple-red. The floral leaves are pale-green tinged 

 with red. The flowers are produced round a terminal head. Each 

 blossom is about an inch long, tubular, white tinged with rose, and the 

 lower lip beautifully marked with four rows of purple spots. Blooms 

 freely from May to September, and like others of this genus, if a por- 

 tion of the stems be cut back early in May, they push fresh shoots, 

 which bloom to the end of the summer. It is grown in the Botanic 

 garden at Leige, in Belgium. A very desirable plant for every flower 

 garden. 



Monarda contorta. Twisted-flowered. — An herbaceous 

 hardy perennial, grows three feet high. The floral leaves (bracts just 

 under the flowers) are of a reddish-purple, or violet with green tips. 

 The flowers are produced in whorls, two or three on a stem. The calyx 

 is red, and the corolla, which is two-lipped, is of a deep rosy-purple. 

 The plant is fragrant. A handsome species, in the Botanic garden at 

 Leige. 



Oxyspora vagans (Syn., Melastoma rugosa). — Dr. Hooker col- 

 lected seeds of this beautiful flowering shrub in the hilly country bor- 

 dering on Darjeerling. The plant grows from three to five feet high, 

 having long bending branches. The flowers are produced in large, 

 branching, terminal panicles. Each blossom is about an inch across, 

 of a very bright rosy-red colour. It has bloomed beautifully in the 

 Royal Gardens of Kevv, in a medium stove temperature: it deserves a 



