Notices of new and itiieresting Plants. 3£l 



which a second and similar species is said to be passing, nevertheless, at present under the same name ; Bar- 

 Itrja flftva, whose style and stigma are protruded before the corolla is expanded ; Justlcia plcta, calyc6tricha, 

 and specibsa ; Er4nthemum pulchellum, Ruelba brazilla, and Thunbergia coccinea. 



In ByttnerMcf<p, the Astrapae'^a Wallich^', magnificent in its foliage and large depending umbels of orange 

 and scarlet tubular blossoms, is flowering at the Chelsea Botanic Garden, and more abundantly at Colvill's, and 

 at the Comte de Vandes's. In iVyrsinea, Ardisia panieuljlta is flowering at Young's ; A. crenulJkta is splendid 

 in some stoves, with umbels of glossy bright red berries ; and A. pyramidata with its red berries, and A. 

 littor^lis with its almost black ones, are looking prettily at Colvill's. In BromeWnc^a", Billb^rgio amoeNia has 

 displayed its pleasing violet-tinted flowers, in various collections, through December and the early part of 

 January, but now is past. A scarlet Pitcairnia, perhaps staminea, is in flower at Colvill's. In Marantdc(?(S, 

 C&nna versicolor has for a month or more been, and still is, flowering in the stove in Chelsea Garden. It has 

 large discolorate leaves, a stem from 8 to 10 ft. high, which produces, from near its summit, successive 

 spikes of showy scarlet flowers. In Commelfneis, Aneilfema sinica is in flower at Young's; where i^ilices, or 

 ferns, are prettily in fruit. 



The Flowers of Spring. — These will shortly delight us with their welcome presence, and for them we all feel 

 a deep interest. This is warranted in their earliness and comparative scarcity, and in the countless pleasures 

 of hope to which they excite. On the floral splendour which may be produced from a copious multiplication 

 and contrasted interspersion of the winter aconite, the three kinds of snowdrop (thesingle, the double, and the 

 plaited), and the numerous kinds of vernal crocus, some remarks have been already ottered (Vol. VII. p. 564.). 

 To these will follow the rare but charming snowflake (/-euc6jum vernum), polyanthuses, primroses, violets, 

 anemones, Ficaria v^rna, '.'erna plena, and viJrna alba ; the gorgeous Adonis vernMis ; the sprightly hepaticas 

 in their varieties of white, blue, and red, and single and double; the Persian iris ; and then the fragrant and 

 beautiful narcissus, of which the British gardens boast more than a hundred kinds. In praise of vernal bloom- 

 ing bulbs too much cannot be said ; and for their perfectly successful culture but three things are requisite — 

 a soil not over stiff, a site not over bleak, and absolute exemption from disturbance while in a growing state. 



Thoughts on Flowers. — " Are not," asks the author of Atherton, " flowers the stars of earth, and are not 

 stars the flowers of heaven ? Flowers are the teachers of gentle thoughts, promoters of kindly emotion. One 

 cannot look closely at the structure of a flower without loving it. They are emblems and manifestations of God's 

 love to the creation, and they are the means and ministrations of man's love to his fellow-creatures ; for they 

 first awaken in the mind a sense of the beautiful and the good. Light is beautiful and good : but on its undi. 

 vided beauty, and on the glorious intensity of its '"uU strength, man cannot gaze ; he can comprehend it best 

 when prisniatically separated, and dispersed in the many-coloured beauty of flowers; and thus he reads the 

 elements of beauty, the alphabet of visible gracefulness. The very inutility of flowers is their excellence and 

 great beauty; for, by having a delightfulness in their very form and colour, they lead us to thoughts of gene- 

 rosity and moral beauty detached from, and superior to, all selfishness : so that they are pretty lessons in 

 Nature's book of instruction, teaching man that he liveth not by bread or for bread alone, but that he hath 

 another than an animal life." (A Chapter on Flowers, in the Aiiiulet for 1832.) 



Seasonable Hints on Floriculture. — Seeds of such flowering plants as have spindle-shaped roots. Or require to 

 have attained considerable growth and vigour before they can blossom satisfactorily, should be sown in the first 

 open weather. The frosts which will occur after they have germinated will destroy a much smaller proportion of 

 the young plants than may be commonly supposed. Hence, the most proper period of sowing seeds of plants 

 of the above description is the autumn, as soon as the seeds are perfectly ripe. Nature teaches us this rule by 

 the healthful and vigorous plants which almost invariably arise from seeds naturally sown. Those, however, 

 who did not sow in autumn will now do well to commit to the soil, with as little delay as possible, seeds of ranun. 

 culaceous plants, as Adbnis, larkspurs, pjponies, columbines; of papaveraceous plants, as poppies, Eschschi'dtzia 

 califurnica, Kosmkria hj'brida, glauciums ; fumariaceous plants, as Adliimia cirrhbsa, C'orydalis glaijca ; 

 plants in Compi'psitiE, as Calliopsis bicolor Rchb. (Coreopsis tinctSria A^«/.) ; scrophularineous plants, as the 

 pentstemons (see the remarks under Pentstfemon pulchellus, above) ; violaceous plants, as the varieties of hearts- 

 ease ; of balsaraineous plants, touch-me-not, &c. &c. Some of these, if sown early, will not vegetate for some 

 weeks afterwards ; but let not this discourage the hopeful sower : when they vegetate, they will do so more 

 vigorously, by virtue of a certain preparation which they derive from the soil. The nature of this preparation 

 I am not able to describe ; but the fact of such a preparation taking place is evinced by the satisfactory health 

 and vigour of plants which have sprung from naturally sown seeds, while not rarely the plants from artificially 

 preserved seeds are less healthy and vigorous, and, consequently, less satisfactory. These remarks, however, 

 scarcely at all apply to the tropical annual plants with branched fibrous roots. In these, the rate of growth is 

 so rapid, that the space of our summers is usually sufficient to enable thern to return their seeds commonly 

 with increase ; and were the seeds of such plants sown before the soil and climate of Britain are becoming 

 warm, they would not only not be benefited, but even rotted and destroyed. It may not be known to every 

 one, that seeds of the yellow everlasting (Helichrysum bracteltum) naturally shed in the autumn, lie unhurt 

 in the soil through the winter, and produce fine plants in the ensuing summer. As this plant is from New 

 Holland, it suggests that most New Holland annuals may endure autumnal sowing with us. 



