22() AVl* or inlrresting Planfs 



2 ft. lii?h, funiiinjj a neat, brijlit green, very erect, herbaceous hush, which 



putfl forth iVoni its sununit beautiiul white blossoms of an unusually large 



size, tliat c\pund at the close of day, and fill the evening air with their mild 



fraj^rance." 



LIV. j\IcInsto))i(tcc(C. 



1181. OSBF/CK/.-* P'.CS ncpalensis //ooA-.' 



S albifl6ra 7.;W/. wliitc-Hwd. a. O or 1| nu W Nepal 1829. C p.I Bot. reg. 147.5 



This whitc-rtowcred variety is a very pretty plant, and was raised by 

 Messrs. Whitley and Co., with whom it flowered for the first tune in August 

 last. It grows freely in a mixture of peat, loam, and sand, and may be 

 increased, without diffieulty, by cuttings. {Bol. Beg., Feb.) 



» ARTHHOSTE'MMA. {Art/iron, a joint, sinnnia, a crown ; anthers jointed upon filaments.) 

 nllida GcaA. glossy./w/. a. i_J or iJ jl I'a. Li Uuen.Ay. 18J0. S p.I Hot mag. 3412 



From seeds sent to Mr. Neill, Canonmills, in 1829, by Mr. John Tweedie, 

 now of the Ketiro, ]iuenos Ayres. The packet was marked in Mr. 

 Tweedie's handwriting, " Herbaceous Melastoma, from dam|) woods of 

 the Banda Oriental." The plants came up freely in 1830, hut did not 

 blossom tiUJuly, 1831, when several flowered equally well in the cold frame 

 and in the green-house {Graham). Flowers collected at the cxtreniities of 

 the shoots; corolla pale lilac, petals distant, somewhat oval, and faintly 

 nerved. 



LX. Protcixcex. 



316 GRKVl'LI.E.f 

 8610a Calfevi R. Br. Caley's • i_J or 5 jn.g Brsh.K. N.S.W 1830.~ C p.l Bot. mag. 3153 



61echiufi)lia Cun. MSS. 



Leaves pinnated, with many alternate, linear-oblong, obtuse segments. 

 The young foliage and young branches are beautifully tinged with red, 

 giving the whole |)lant a great richness of colour. The flowers are of 

 a brownish red, and are semilateral or seeund on axillary racemes that 

 are somewhat shorter than the leaves. Styles very long and bright red. 

 This lovely plant is published from Kcw, whither it was sent by Mr. Cun- 

 ningham, in ]H2-\; under the appropriate name of G. ilechnilolia ; but 

 Brown, in his First Su}iplc)ncut (p. "22.), has applied to the species the 

 name Caley/, adding Mr. Cunningham's name as a synonynie, because, in 

 Caley's herbarium, Mr. Brown had discovered a specimen of the same 

 species gathered by Mr. Caley as early as 1805. {Bot. j\Ifig., Feb.) 



LXXIII. ll(i.sdce(e. § \. 'PotnitUlcw. Potentilla laciniOisa JT. o/k/ A', is 

 figiu-etl in the Bot. Beg. for March, t. 1478. A species with blossoms 

 yellow, and sufficiently large and showy to render the plant somewhat or- 

 namental : it is in affinity rather near P. stipidaris L. 



Ccrasus sph;croear|)a. This kind of cherry inhal)its Jamaica, St. Do- 

 mingo, and the Antilles generally. The drawing |)id)lished was made in the 

 Island of St. Vincent, and received from Mr. (iuilding. It is not so beau- 

 tiful in its blossoms, which are produced in axillary racemes, as our 

 English bird-cherry; but Dr. Hooker publishes the figiu"e because no good 

 one has yet been published, anil because of the economical merits of the 

 species. Mr. (iuilding ol)serves, "that the hark, leaves, and kernel [the 

 round drupe, or cherry, is blackish purple in coloiu', and about as large as 

 that of the connnon bird-cherry] have the smell and taste of those of the 

 peach, and are employed by the French colonists in the manufacture of 

 noyau." In the same article, these additional remarks on plants used for 

 flavoiaing noyau are also presented: — *' In the preparation of noyau, pro- 

 bably several different vegetables arc employed which contain prussic 

 acid. A species of bindweed, Ipomcc'a dissecta, abounds in prussic acid ; 

 and to that degree, as Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs Dr. Hooker, that 

 •if this medicine shall be found deserving of the high character which some 

 physicians have bestowed on it, the Ipoince'a dissecta may become valuable 

 m a country where the prussic ucid cannot be preserveil many days in a 

 pure state. Hence this plant is a frequent ingredient in the preparation 



