246 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Sweetser being the most complete. Cactus tri- 

 angularis had flowered in the collections of John P. 

 Gushing and J. W. Boott, and was of so rare occur- 

 rence as to be considered worthy of note. Cape heaths 

 were represented by an extensive and beautiful collec- 

 tion of eighty-four species and varieties belonging to 

 John Towne, besides well grown plants at Mr. Wilder 's. 

 J. D. W. Williams possessed a specimen of Erica bac- 

 cans five or six feet high, and several others of beauty. 

 The taste for Pelargoniums had continued for several 

 years, and each season brought into cultivation many 

 new and superb varieties. 



Among plants of rare occurrence Professor Russell 

 mentioned the accession of many of the more curious 

 tropical Orchidese, of which a dozen or more species 

 might be found at Mr. Wilder's. Some of the finest of 

 these had flowered, among* which the Stanhopea insignis 

 excited universal admiration. John Lowell had also 

 lately collected a series. At John P. Cushing's con- 

 servatory, Passiflora kermesina and P. Phcenicea had 

 flowered. At the same place Alpinia (Globba) nutans, 

 Primula cortusioides (of rare occurrence), Dionsea musci- 

 pula, and Tropaeolum tuberosum, were worthy of notice. 



Some attention had been given to the calceolaria, and 

 beautiful seedling varieties were common. Clematis 

 Sieboldii flowered at Mr. Lowell's the previous summer. 

 Enkianthus quinqueflorus had blossomed for several sea- 

 sons at Thomas H. Perkins's. Portulaca Gilliesii, it had 

 been ascertained, did best as a border plant in a situa- 

 tion exposed to great heat. Some of the tree paeonies 

 had given superb inflorescence, an instance of which 

 was a plant of var. Banksii, in possession of Samuel 

 Sweetser, bearing at once upwards of fifteen flowers, 



