218 NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



very ornamental, vigorous as a common sort. The panicle of flowers is 

 equally so, and they areas double as those of the best Hyacinths, of a pale 

 blush, with a deeper-coloured centre. It well merits a place wherever 

 it can be admitted. Plants have been imported from the Continent. 



Allamanda neriifolia. Oleander-leaved. — Messrs. Lucombe 

 and Pince obtained this magnificent species from the Continent. Tt 

 forms a handsome erect evergreen shrub, and the original plant is now 

 but three feet hisrh. It commenced bloomina: when but half this 

 height, and the first panicle or cluster of flowers consisted of thirty 

 blossoms. The panicles are terminal. It blooms freely when treated 

 as a pot plant, and trained round a framework. A mixture of light 

 loam and leaf-mould, with a good drainage, suits it, and, when grow- 

 ing, it requires a liberal supply of water. It grows and blooms freely. 

 The flower is between funnel and bell shape, the tube being wide, an 

 inch long, and the expanded five-parted limb is nearly three inches 

 across, of a deep golden-yellow, elegantly streaked with orange. It is 

 one of the finest hot-house plants, taking up little room, and producing 

 an elegant display. It ought to be in every stove, and it probably 

 would succeed well in a warmish greenhouse. (Figured in JBot. Mag., 

 4594.) 



Arbutus mollis. Soft-leaved. — A handsome evergreen shrub, 

 or perhaps tree, a native of Mexico, which flourishes in a warm green- 

 house, but is tolerably hardy. The leaves are leathery, of the form of 

 our old Arbutus of the shrubbery. The flowers are borne in a ter- 

 minal panicle, each branching raceme of blossoms being about three 

 inches long, and each raceme bearing from fifteen to twenty blossoms. 

 Each blossom is about the size and form of the common Arbutus, white 

 or greenish-rose colour. A very neat shrub, well deserving to be in 

 our collections. Mr. Van Houtte sent the plant into this country, and 

 no doubt can supply it. (Figured in Sot. Mag., 4595.) 



Berberis umbellata. (Synonyme, B. gracilis; B. angulosa.) — 

 This very pretty hardy species of Berberry forms a bush about four feet 

 high. It is an evergreen, whose leaves are about half an inch broad 

 and two inches long, borne in clusters of five or six together. The 

 flowers are yellow, produced in drooping racemes, each having about 

 twelve blossoms. It is a good plant for the back of a rockwork or 

 bank. When done blooming, its profusion of purple berries render it 

 a pretty object for a long period. It is a native of the Himalayan 

 Mountains ; well deserving a place in the shrubbery. 



Cathcartia villosa. — In the recent travels of Dr. Hooker he 

 found this handsome plant in Sikkim-Himalaya, and named it, in com- 

 pliment to J. F. Cathcart, Esq., late Judge of Tirrhoot, who devoted 

 his time to the illustration of the botany of that neighbourhood, and 

 superintended the execution, by native artists, of upwards of seven hun- 

 dred folio coloured plates of Himalayan plants. The present plant is 

 of the Poppy tribe. It is a perennial rooted plant, and has bloomed 

 in an airy frame, in pots, in the Royal Gardens of Kew. The flower- 

 stem is nearly eighteen inches high. Each flower is about two inches 

 across, of a rich yellow colour, its numerous brown anthers contrasting 



