BEIEF NOTICES OF NEW OE EAEE PLANTS. 127 



The July bulbs of the Endogenous class must be dismissed with only a brief notice. Of one 

 interesting plant, the Cyclobothra alba, a lengthened description has been given in the present number. 

 To that we may add, the pretty Calliprora lutea, with an umbel of yellow blossoms, easily grown and 

 increased ; the two Brodiceas, congesta, with purplish, and grandiflora, with blue flowers, similar in 

 form to those of the Calliprora ; the handsome Hemerocallis flava, with delicately scented, bright 

 yellow blossoms ; and, above all, the splendid early Gladioli of the Blandus and Cardinalis section ; 

 they are the dwarfest of the tribe, and are excellent as cut flowers. The Gladioli are increased so 

 readily by seed, that it is surprising that both the early and late sections of this genus are not more 

 extensively grown. The Alstrbmerias are in their greatest beauty this month ; the species aurea, 

 hamantha, Van Eoutteii, and the little dwarf Chilian varieties being now fully in bloom. And 

 lastly, we have a fitting pendant to our list of July flowers in the noble genus Lilium, of which the 

 greater part of the species are now in bloom. 



BRIEF NOTICES OF NEW OE RARE PLANTS. 



Geranium Argentettm. ( Geramacete).— This species was recently referred to by a correspondent 

 as an interesting plant, and as it is not generally known, a brief description of it may therefore be 

 acceptable to some of our readers. It is a dwarf plant, scarcely exceeding four inches in height, of 

 herbaceous character, with leaves about an inch and-a-half in diameter, of a circular form, very 

 much cut and lobed as in the common Geranium molle ; the footstalk and both surfaces of the leaf 

 are clothed with short silky hairs, which communicate to them a silvery tint. The flowers are borne 

 in pairs on peduncles as long as the leafstalk, and are about an inch across, of a pale flesh colour, 

 veined with red, as in G. striatum; and are produced for a month or two in the middle of the year, 

 A large clump would, we have no doubt, have a pretty effect ; still it can hardly be termed with pro- 

 priety a showy plant. It is usually supposed to be but half-hardy, but as it endures the winters of 

 Edinburgh, it will certainly suffer little or no injury from those of England proper. It is a native 



of the south of Europe. 



Lychnis dioica alba plena. Double White Campion. (Caryophyllacea).— This pretty variety 

 of one of our indigenous plants is, we suspect, but little known, and as good white flowers, especially 

 double ones, are desiderata, we give it a place here among our desirable subjects. It differs in 

 nothing from the white L. dioica of our hedges (the L. vespertina of some Botanists), but in its very 

 double white blossoms, which resemble a white Pink, or a smaUBose. It is perfectly hardy, and 

 flowers for a considerable period of the summer. It succeeds in any ordinary soil, and may be easily 

 increased by division of the roots ; should be replanted every second year, or they are apt to dwindle. 



Pittosporum Tobira. ( Pittosporace<e).-k beautiful evergreen shrub, deserving of the highest 

 commendation as a wall-plant, and will probably succeed as a standard in the southern counties It 

 endured the last winter, in a locality north of London, against a wall. The foliage is of a dark glossy 

 green, and of leathery texture ; the flowers are white or cream-coloured, in umbels, exhaling an odour 

 resembling that of the Orange blossom ; they are produced for several months in summer. There is 

 another species little less valuable-the P. undulatum, with oblong wavy foliage, which gives out. 

 When rubbed, an aromatic odour ; the flowers are of the same colour as in Tobira, and also fragrant 

 but are produced earlier in the season. Both species strongly merit the attention of amateurs. Of 

 Tobira, there is a pretty variety with variegated foliage ; it is a native of China; undulatum* 

 of Australian origin. 



