REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 103 



-and James Nugent, vases of LUium avratum ; and Herbert Gleason, 

 a fine vase of Tritoma Uvaria. From Francis Parkman came 

 Hibiscus 2^('^ustris, and a seedling from tlie same ; the flower being 

 very large and white it will be valuable to grow by the side of its 

 parent. Two very nice collections of native plants were from Mrs. 

 Horner and Miss Carter ; a collection of fine named varieties of 

 Gladioli from W. C. Strong ; from Waldo O. Ross, a fine plant 

 of JRochea falcata; and a very fine display of bouquets, baskets of 

 flowers and cut flowers from Miss A. C. Wheeler, Miss S. W. 

 Story. J. A. Black, James Comley and others. 



September 5. 



The competition for the prizes for Zinnias, which has generally 

 been quite spirited, was much less than usual ; the only exhibitors 

 were G. A. Law, Joseph Clark, and James Nugent, and the flowers 

 were not up to the usual standard. For the fifty named varieties 

 of Cut Flowers, C. M. Atkinson and .James O'Brien each showed 

 two fine stands. Native plants were exhibited by Mrs. Horner, 

 who has represented this depai-tment in a very faithful manner all 

 through the season, and on this occasion exhibited a very nice 

 collection, arranged in good taste, and neatly labelled. Joseph 

 Clark again exhibited a very handsome table design, arranged in 

 excellent taste, and E. S. Rand, Jr., Tcqninotes Carolinicc The 

 following notice of this plant from " The Garden," for November, 

 1873, will be of interest to all. " This is one of the most beautiful 

 of all stove flowering and foliage plants, and it deserves to be more 

 generally cultivated than it is. It has also an interesting and melan- 

 choly history connected with it, having been discovered and named 

 by the late Emperor Maximilian, an accomplished botanist, who, 

 being struck by the beauty of the plant, named it in honor of his 

 unfortunate consort, the Empress Caroline. Its foliage is olive 

 green above, slightly hairy, and shining as if varnished, while below 

 the leaves are vivid purple. It flowers nearly all the j'ear round, and 

 bears blossoms of snowy whiteness, not unlike those of a glox- 

 inia in shape, but with the mouth curved upwards. It grows very 

 freely in an ordinary plant stove and delights in a fresh, open, 

 peaty compost, and a humid atmosphere. When not in flower it is 

 highly ornamental on account of its foliage, which has a metallic 

 lustre not found in any gesneraceous plant with which we are 



