NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 51 



Banksia occtdentalis. — The Archbishop of Dublin received seeds 

 of this elegant plant from New Holland, and presented them to the 

 Dublin Botanic Garden. A plant (bush) has bloomed in that establish- 

 ment, which is only three feet high, and had half a dozen spikes of 

 handsome flowers, of a rosy crimson colour, in rows intersected with 

 brown. Each spike is about four inches long. The leaves are five or 

 six inches long, and a quarter of an inch broad. A very beautiful 

 species, suited for a conservatory, or large Greenhouse. 



Billbergia Morelliana. (Synoiiyme, Tillandsia Morelliana.) — 

 Mr. E. G. Henderson, of Wellington Road Nursery, obtained this 

 handsome flowering plant from the Continent. It is of the Pine- Apple 

 family. The flowering stalk is long, branched ; the stalk and bracts 

 (small leaves) are of a bright-pink colour, as are the tubes of the 

 flowers, each tube being two inches long. The petals are nearly an 

 inch long, each blossom having three, which gradually unfold and 

 bend backwards. They are of a rich violet-blue, and produce a charming 

 contrast with the bright pink of the other parts of the flower. They 

 require to be grown in a stove, and not to be over-potted, having 

 a season of rest in winter ; re-pot early in spring, and it will soon push 

 into bloom. 



Calceolaria alba. — This is a very neat shrubby plant, with very 

 narrow curving foliage. It grows two feet high. The flowers are 

 borne in terminal panicles, of a pure white. Each blossom is round, 

 about half an inch across. It is a valuable acquisition, and last summer 

 we found it to bloom profusely. Admirable for the open bed, or 

 growth in a pot. It is a neat plant for the greenhouse in summer, and 

 ought to be in every one. 



Cypripedium guttatum. Spotted Lady's Slipper. — This ex- 

 quisitely beautiful hardy terrestrial orchid is figured in Mr. Van 

 floutte's Flore. It is a dwarf plant, five inches high, having a pair of 

 broad leaves, and between them springs up a solitary flower, nearly 

 two inches across. The ground is a pure white, marked and spotted 

 with rich purple-crimson. It has bloomed in Mr. Van Houtte's col- 

 lection. It grows in bogs and marshes in Canada, and at Moscow. 



Echikocactus STREPTOCAULON. Spiral-stemmed. — Mr. Bridges 

 brought this singular species from Bolivia. It has recently bloomed 

 in the splendid collection at the Royal Gardens of Kew. The plant is 

 half a yard high, erect, column-like formed, broad and woolly at the 

 top. The sides are fluted with twelve to fourteen spirally twisted, 

 sharp ribs, the furrows also acute. The flowers are produced at the 

 woolly crown, three or four of them, sulphur yellow, each being about 

 in inch across. (Figured in Sot. Mag., 4562.) 



Erica. Turnbull's hybrids. — Three beautiful seedlings raised 

 by Mr. Turnbull, Gardener, at Bothwell Castle, in Scotland. E. 

 JJouglassice, was raised from E. Aitoniana, crossed with E. retorfa — 

 major ; tube, an inch long, flesh-pink colour, with a crimson ring 

 around the upper part of the tube ; the flat, four-parted end (limb) is 



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