THE BEGONIA FAMILY. 2O5 



monly grown as a decorative plant by the Parisian florists. It 

 is a seedling raised at Ascot by the late Mr J. Standish. 



The following little account of its introduction to French 

 gardens from the ' Revue Horticole ' may interest hybridists : 

 " This Begonia, so common and turned to such good account 

 with us, is scarcely known in England, although it originally 

 came from there, M. Keteleer having a few years ago bought it 

 of Mr Standish, of Ascot, for half-a-crown. Messrs Thibaut and 

 Keteleer sold such plants as they raised of it at an equally 

 reasonable rate ; and it was not until last year, when M. Duval 

 was awarded a prize for some fine specimens of it, that its 

 value became apparent. Plants of it, which at one time could 

 be bought for a shilling or little more, now realise as much as 

 twelve francs or half-a-sovereign." 



A race of hybrid fine-foliaged Begonias was raised a few years 

 ago by M. Boulard from B. stibpeltata fertilised with pollen 

 from the well-known B. Rex. M. Boulard also originated a 

 variety named B. smaragdina venulosa, this being the result of 

 a cross between B. smaragdina and B. dcedalea. These were 

 distributed by MM. Thibaut and Keteleer, of Sceaux, in 1870. 



A hybrid Begonia named B. Marshalli was raised and ex- 

 hibited by Mr Marshall at South Kensington a year or two 

 ago ; and it is a little singular to note that Mr Dominy also 

 had a hybrid at the same time exactly like it, the last being the 

 result of a cross between B. Rex and B. argentea, and in some 

 gardens this plant is grown as B. Dominiana. 



A double-flowered form of B. Sedeni made its appearance 

 in one of the public gardens of Lyons in 1873, and has been suc- 

 cessfully perpetuated. M. Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, originated 

 a double-flowered form a few years ago. The male flowers only 

 were double, each being the size of a florin, and of a bright 

 scarlet colour. This has been described, in the 'Revue 

 Horticole,' part iv., 1874, as B. monstrosa plena, and in the 

 'Garden,' vii. 323, as B. Lemoinei fl.-pl. The same raiser 

 has since originated a fine race of double-flowered forms, 

 and these will be a great gain from a decorative point of 

 view, as the single varieties are rather fugitive. We have 

 several times seen hermaphrodite flowers of B. Chelsoni 

 formed by the fusion of a male and female flower ; and W. E. 

 Gumbleton, Esq., has described a similar form of fasciation 

 between two flowers of B. Emeraude (Van Houtte), in which a 

 male and female flower having come into contact were fused 

 into one immense bloom, with both stamens and pistils dis- 

 tinctly visible in the centre, and the incipient seed-vessel fully 

 developed at the back of one of the halves of the flower. 



