258 Notices of new and beautiful Plants 



a half feet long, which opened at Claremont in the month of 

 October, 1827, from which a drawing was taken for the Bot. 

 Reg., t. 1131. Mr. Paxton thinks, however, that "a mis- 

 take has arisen as to the real cause of its flowering; it having, 

 in collections where a great moisture is continually kept up, 

 rarely or never flowered." At Wentworth, under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. Cooper, it has flowered several successive years: 

 this experienced cultivator never washes his plants overhead, 

 nor keeps up a very moist heat. Mr. Paxton details his method 

 of cultivating the plant from which the present drawing was taken, 

 which is as follows: — " About April, 1836, we had a plant put 

 into a small house appropriated to the growth of a few stove 

 plants, in which the heat varied from 65° to 70°: it was kept 

 free from moisture, except what arose from watering and occa- 

 sionally syringing. Here the whole of the plant was exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun, and, as might be expected, this treat- 

 ment caused the leaves slightly to shrivel, as well as turn a little 

 yellow, but by occasionally washing them over in the afternoon, 

 with the syringe, the plant did not sufier much; after it had been 

 in this exposed situation for three months, we had the satisfaction 

 of seeing two fine spikes of flowers pushing forth, one of which 

 came to maturity. We have but little doubt, if proper attention 

 is paid to placing the plant near the glass, and without the use of 

 shade, that a flower-bud will soon make its appearance on a well 

 established plant: it is necessary here to observe, that the plant 

 ought to be six or eight feet high before this experiment is at- 

 tempted. " 



The plant may be described as having a long, round, leafy 

 stem, sometimes branched, sending out many long fleshy tortu- 

 ous roots, which cling firmly to a wall, the stem of a tree, or 

 any other object within its reach, and which take hold so firmly 

 as to be separated only with injury. The leaves are disposed 

 in two uniform opposite rows, of a dark gi'een color. The 

 flowers are very nuujerous, and produced on a loose panicle, the 

 stalks of which are hard and round. The sepals and petals are 

 of a pale scarlet, obscurely blotched with a deeper tint. It is a 

 native of Cochin China, where it grows on the branches of trees. 

 (Pax. Mag. Bot., April.) 



Mr. Wilder possesses a plant of the Renanthera coccinea, 

 which is yet, however, quite small; but as it is a rapid grower 

 when duly supplied with heat and moisture, it will probably ere 

 long display its splendid blossoms. 



Oncidium flexuosum, in the collection of Mr. Wilder, has 

 been, the past month, elegantly in bloom. A panicle or spike 

 was thrown out, twenty-seven inches in length, which was cover- 

 ed with upwards of ninety flowers; this is, we believe, the first 

 plant of this species which has ever flowered in the country. 



