231 

 PART II. 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS 



WHICH WE HAVE NOTICED SINCE OUR LAST. 



1. Arctostaphylos tomentosa, Downy Bearberry. (Bol. He/j. 1791.) Sy- 

 nonym, Arbutus tomentosa. A very pretty, hardy, evergreen shrub, from 

 North America, where it grows in rocky situations. Wm, Harrison, Esq. 

 Cheshunt, has had the plant growing in his collection for several years, 

 where it grows luxuriantly in a mixture of peat and loam. The plant has 

 been grown a few years in some other collections, and been treated as a 

 greenhouse plant, as at the Glasgow Botanic Garden, but it is perfectly 

 hardy. The flowers are produced in clustered racemes, about two inches 

 long; they are white. There are two varieties of this plant cultivated in this 

 country, viz. A. hispida, having the branches clothed with bristles, — the 

 other A. nuda; the plant is smooth, but tomentose. Class Decandria. Order 

 Monogynia. Natural order, Ericeffl. Arctostaphylos, — the English name 

 Bear-berry, or Bear Grape, is a literal translation of the Greek words, of 

 which the name of this plant is formed. Though a very considerable num- 

 ber of handsome flowering plants belonging to the natural order Ericeffi, such 

 as Ericas, Andromedas, Yacciniums, Azaleas, Kalmias, Rhododendrons, &c, 

 have been introduced into Ibis country, yet we are informed that some of 

 the most magnificent of this class of plants have not yet been sent, but 

 dried specimens of many splendid kinds are possessed by some of our Bota- 

 nists. Allusion is now made to the very noble genus Befaria, in which are 

 several 6pecies exceeding in beauty any of the Azaleas or Rhododendrons; 

 to Thibaudius, having very long tubular shaped crimson flowers; and to 

 (iaylussaccia. Mr. Matthews, a collector of plants, has lately sent a col- 

 lection of dried specimens from the Cinchona country, which contains a 

 large number of very beautiful flowering plants. Among the number is a 

 new genus named in compliment to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, 

 Cavendishia; the only species at present appears to be C. nobilis. The plant 

 is an evergreen shrub, having broad laurel like leaves and buds, which are 

 covered with imbricated scales, much like those of the Camellia. The 

 flowers are situated in close terminal capitate racemes, inclosed in an in- 

 volucre, the bracts of which are of a red colour at their edges, and in the 

 inside. The corolla is of a bright crimson, tubular, about one inch long. 



2. Azara denlala, toothed-leaved. {But. Reg. p. 1788.) A very neat ever 

 green shrubby plant, the leaves of which are of a shining bright green 

 colour, about an inch and a half long, and an inch broad. The flowers aro 

 very small, having no petals, but is composed of tin; stamens, which are 

 yellow ; they are wry fragrant. The plant is not hardy enough to bear the 

 winters of this country in an exposed situation, but will endure if trained 

 against a warm aspccted wall. The plant is a common shrub in tho woods 

 in Chile. Polyandria Monogynia. Bixhnee. Azara, so named after Jo- 

 ■•i in Nicolas Azara, a Spaniard. 



3. Caiotropit procera, tall. Synonyms, Asclepias procera, Asclepias gi- 

 gantiu. This plant is from Porto Praga, St. JagO, West Indies, seeds of 

 which were sent to Sir ChABLBS LEMON, Hart. M. P. Carclew, Cornwall, 

 in wln.su tin«- collection of plants it bloomed last April. The plant growl 



in. I,, ten to twenty feet high in its native soil. In the stove at Carolewj it 



forma mi upright growing deciduoui thrubj with leaves six inches long. 



The flowen are produced in panicle-, of about ten iii each. Each floVer is 



about mi i m 1 1 across, rather lull ihaped; the outside <>t the floweri is of ■ 



iv white eolour, th« Inside of a deep purple red. The (lowers are very 



