542 GENERAL REVIEW. 



while others were covered with tubercles, or almost destitute of 

 spines : certain individuals bore fruit at the first fork, while 

 others were fertile only towards the last, and finally there were 

 some which set only a single fruit. On the whole, the 45 

 plants of the two sets constituted, so to speak, as many indi- 

 vidual varieties as if, the bond which ought to unite them to 

 the specific types being broken, their vegetation had wandered 

 in every direction." 



The shrubby or arboreous section of Datura is now referred 

 to Brugmansia, and, seeing what diverse results have been 

 attained by intercrossing the annual species, it would be inter- 

 esting to know what we may expect by intercrossing such noble 

 plants as Brugmansia arborea, B. suaveolens, B. arbuscula, B. 

 floribunda, B. lutea, B. sanguined, and other kinds. 



Franciscea (Francisceas). A small group of purple or lilac 

 flowered Brazilian shrubs, closely allied to Brunsfelsia, and re- 

 presented in our gardens by F. calycina, F. confertifolia, and 

 one or two other species. They are readily propagated by 

 cuttings of the young growth, inserted in a humid bottom-heat 

 in a close case. Some of the new varieties succeed well grafted 

 on cuttings of the common free-growing kinds as stocks, and 

 this operation is best performed in the spring in a close-heated 

 propagating case. Side splice-grafting is the best method. 

 Seeds are rarely produced unless the flowers are carefully cross- 

 fertilised. Messrs E. G. Henderson have distributed the fol- 

 lowing free-blooming hybrids : 



Franciscea rosea perfecta. A beautiful hybrid variety in the 

 large-flowered evergreen group intermediate between F. Lindeni 

 and F. eximia, being a great improvement upon both in its 

 much more stately growth and its much finer, laurel-like, oblong, 

 lanceolate leaves, tinted with bronzy red in their first expansion, 

 passing into a bright glossy verdure, and finally merging into a 

 rich green. Its large and finely-formed well-expanded flowers, 

 with converging lobes, are from two to three inches in width, 

 of a rich deep lilac flushed with rose. 



Franciscea magnified. This is intermediate between F. eximia 

 and F. calycina. Its comparatively large, laurel-like, oblong, 

 lanceolate, wavy-margined leaves partake of the latter in habit, 

 whilst the remarkably large, rich, lilac, salver-shaped blossoms 

 assimilate to the former, but, being nearly double the size of 

 F. eximia in bloom, prove the greater beauty of the plant. 



Franciscea violacea grandiflora. This is an equally fine 

 hybrid production between F. calycina and F. laiirifolia, 

 forming a very vigorous evergreen-leaved stove shrub, with 

 elliptically oblong leaves less wavy or glossy than the preceding 



