204 EXTRACTS. 



Edwardss Botanical Register. Edited by John Lindley, Esq., 

 Professor of Botany, in the London University. Coloured 

 4s., plain 3s. 



1. Gmiflora macuUta, spotted. Gynandria, Monandria. Orchideae. This 

 most curious species was iutroduced from Demerara, iii 1832, by Air. Thomas 

 Moss, of Otterspool, and is cultivated in the hothouse of Richard Harrison, 

 Esq., Liverpool, where it bloomed in May, 1833. Its bunches of flowers were 

 two feet and a half long, and hung down most gracefully from the pot in 

 which the plant was suspended. Flowers : petals, pale purple, with darker 

 spots; column, green, with dark spots; sepals, brown and purple spots. 



Many a strauge figure has been met with among Orchideous plants, and 

 numerous are the animal forms which botanists have fancied they could re- 

 cognise among their singular flowers. Some are said to bear little men and 

 women swinging below their canopy of petals. Others have appeared to carry 

 the likeness of lizards, frogs, and other reptiles, crouching among their leaves; 

 while some have been compared to Oberons and Tilians hanging by their tidy 

 arms from the bells, where they have concealed themselves. To what the 

 flowers of the plant above-named can be likened we profess not to know, 

 unless to some of the fantastic animals of heraldry. A griffin segrcant, as 

 they term it, would do as well as any other for a comparison. — J. Lindley. 



Gongora, in honour of D. Antomo Caballero y Gongora, Bishop of 

 Cordova. 



2. Eri/thrina poianlhus ; var subinermis. Thoniless naked-flowering Coral 

 Tree. Diadelphia, Decandria. Leguminosae. According to Mr. Lowe, this 

 plant is a great ornament of the gardens of Madeira, where it is cultivated, 

 and where it becomes a low tree 15 or 20 feet high, with a trunk sometimes 

 four feet in circumference, and so soft that its wood resembles cork. Its 

 branches aro said to strike root with sreat readiness; so that a piece, however 

 rudely broken ofl', will grow when stuck into the ground. The plant has 

 bloomed in this country in the stove of his Grace the Duke of Northiuiber- 

 LAND, at Sion ; it was six feet high, had a richly streaked bark, and was 

 crowned by a thick cluster of leaves and deep scarlet flowers. Erythrina, see 

 page 58. 



3. Sauro/jUssum elMmn, Tall Lizard's Tongue. Gynandria, Monandria. 

 OrchideK. A stove plant, requiring to be cultivated in earth, like other 

 terrestrial Orchidea" of the Keottia tribe, to some of which, such as Spiranthes 

 grandirtora and Pelexia spiranthoides. it bears a good deal of resemblance. 

 Its structure is, however, distinctly diflerent from that of any published genus. 

 The present plant is a native of the woods of Brazil, wlieuce it was sent by 

 Mr. Henry Harrison. Flowers: sepals, green; labellum, white. Sauro- 

 glossum, so named fiom sanga, a lizard; because many of the parts of this 

 aerious plant may be likened to the tongue of some reptile. 



4. Aslcr conchmus. Neat Aster. Syngenesia, Supertlua. Compositie. A 

 native of the plains and woodland of North America, from New York to 

 Peusylvania, according to PrRSH. In the gardens in this country it is a 

 common hardy perennial, growing about three feet high, and flowering in 

 September and October. Flowers : lilac. For those who have gardens, this 

 is one of the most worthy of cultivation, because of the gay colour of its 

 flowers, and its neat appearance. The stem is generally tinged more or less 

 with purple. Aster, see page 138. 



5. Calceolaria purpurea, purple flowering. Diandria Monogynia. Schro- 

 phularina;. An herbaceous species, but seldom seen in collections, being of 

 little interest to the florist, on account of its delicate constitution and want 

 of beaut}-. It is probably in its native soil a perennial; but it is scarcely 

 better than a biennial when cultivated, from the great difficulty of preserving 

 it ali\e through the winter. It succeeds bost in a pit or cold greenhouse, but 

 not so well in the open air; and is increased by seeds or ofl'sets. This species 

 is a native of Chile, where it was found near Valparaiso, by Mr. Clmino; 

 and in the Cordillera, by Mr. Crvcksiiank, to whom we arc indebted for its 

 introduction. Calceolaria, see page 60. 



