THE GESNERA FAMILY. 331 



this country by Mr W. Bull, who showed a flowering plant 

 (together with a double-flowered form of P. cucullatuni) at one 

 of the Regent Park exhibitions in 1875. 



Mr Grieve has succeeded in raising a strong-growing, free- 

 flowering cross between a seedling from Madame Vaucher 

 named Culford Rose and P. peltatum elegans. This cross-bred 

 form has been named Emperor, and is so luxuriant that in 

 favourable situations it will grow ten to twelve feet in a season. 



The same hybridist has obtained a distinct bronze ivy-leaved 

 Pelargonium named Dolly Varden. It was obtained by fertil- 

 ising an ivy-leaved variety by pollen of a bronze zonal, and the 

 result is a well-marked gold and bronze ivy-leaved variety, of 

 robust and compact habit. The flowers are crimson, and the 

 leaf of a rich golden tint, with a bronze zone, the older leaves 

 becoming tinted with red at the margin. 



It is to be regretted that both Mr Grieve's varieties, as well 

 as those raised in this section by Mr Wills, are nearly useless 

 for cross-breeding purposes, as they rarely produce either 

 perfect seeds or fertile pollen. 



THE GESNERA FAMILY (Gesneracecz}. 



A large and ornamental genus of South American plants; 

 part of which are shrubby in habit, as in Gesnera pardina, G. 

 elongata, or G. libanensis ; while another section is character- 

 ised by having catkin-like stolons, as in Achimenes, Tydcea, and 

 Gesnera zebrina ; and a third group has tuberous rhizomes, as 

 in Gloxinia. Nearly all the species may be propagated freely 

 by dividing the rhizomes or stolons. 



Achimenes. -A beautiful family of stove-flowering herbs, 

 conspicuous on account of their lovely blue, scarlet, or purple, 

 tubular, broad-limbed flowers, which are very freely produced. 

 They are principally South American. 



.Achime?ies cocrinea (see * Bot. Mag.,' t. 374). This pretty 

 little scarlet-flowered species is a native of Jamaica, whence it 

 was introduced in 1778. This was the first species grown in 

 our gardens. 



The numerous varieties are easily multiplied by dividing 

 the scaly underground tubers, and new forms may be readily 

 obtained from seed. Seeds of all Gesnerads germinate easily 

 if sown on the surface of a light, moist, and sandy compost, 

 covered with a sheet of brown paper to obscure the light and 

 to prevent the soil becoming dry by evaporation. The seeds, 

 like those of Calceolaria, Primula, and many other plants, are 



