122 NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



Aponogete distachyon. — This is a handsome, sweet-scented water 

 plant, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It flourishes in our own 

 country as a hardy plant. Some blooming specimens liave been for- 

 warded by the Rev. Charles Osmond, of Loddiswell, near Kingsbridge, 

 in Devonshire. In a pond at that place the plants thrive most luxu- 

 riantly, producing thousands of most deliciously fragrant flowers 

 throughout the summer, and even in January there were three hundred 

 fine blossoms. The appearance of the plant is much like the Pond- 

 weed (Potamogetou natans). Mr. Osmond states, " About three 

 years since a root was given me the size of a shot, which I planted in 

 a small pan, and sunk it in the pond ; it grew rapidly, and in a few 

 months produced flowers, and, unobserved by me, seed also, from which 

 have sprung up to the surface of the water hundreds of plants. The 

 spring which supplies the pond is peculiarly clear, always running, and 

 in the severest winter rarely freezes. 



Azalea vittata. The Ribbon-flowered. — White, with Car- 

 nation-like stripes. A plant was exhibited at the Horticultural Society's 

 Show by Messrs. Standish and Noble. 



Berberis Darwinni. — A very handsome evergreen, hardy, shrubby 

 Barberry, with thick leathery (somewhat holly-like) small leaves. The 

 flowers are borne in profusion in long spikes ; the racemes are droop- 

 ing, each having eight to ten blossoms, of a bright orange colour, and 

 a single flower is the size of a small pea. The bush grows three to 

 four feet high, and when in bloom is literally covered with flowers, and 

 highly ornamental. Mr. Lobb found it in South America, and sent it 

 to Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter. It deserves to be in every shrubbery. 

 (Figured in Gardeners' Mag. of Hot.) 



Berberis pallida. — This very pretty evergreen species is too 

 tender to succeed in the open air in our own country, except in the 

 warmer parts of Devonshire, &c. ; it, however, does well in the green- 

 house, potted in a compost of equal parts of sandy-loam and leaf-mould, 

 to which is added a portion of bone-dust. The leaves are somewhat 

 holly-like, and the flowers of a pale yellow colour, which are succeeded 

 by large panicles of deep purple berries. A fine species for the green- 

 house, or probably would succeed trained against a south-aspected wall, 

 with a slight protection in the severest winter weather. 



Daphne purpurea." — This pretty hardy shrub was recommended to 

 ns, the leaves being of a dark purple, excepting the young ones at the 

 ends of the shoots. ~SVe obtained it from Belgium, and recommend it 

 to our readers. The old Mezereum blossoms before the leaves appear, 

 but this kind blooms after the leaves are expanded. 



Dombeya mollis (Syn. Astrapaea mollis). — In the palm stove at 

 the Royal Gardens of Kew, it has readied the height of a tree thirty 

 feet high, with a branching head. The small flowers are produced in 

 terminal umbels of a pretty rose colour, having the scent of the Haw- 

 thorn. (Figured in Bot. Mag., 4578.) 



