344 Notes and Gleanings. 



Manilla, which received, and deservedly so, the highest encomiums from all 

 leading horticulturists at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society at 

 Kensington, on the sixth of September. Whether it is a distinct species or not, 

 Vi^e cannot at present say ; but that it is entirely different from anything we know, 

 and singularly beautiful, we can unhesitatingly affirm. Its habit and general 

 character have been well represented by our engraver. It is impossible to con- 

 ceive anything more graceful than the appearance of the plants shown at Ken- 

 sington, for they looked like so many fountains weeping their waters, and it is 

 equally impossible to give an adequate idea of the beauty of the colors of the 

 foliage. The plants were about three feet high, and we described them as hav- 

 ing long, narrow, graceful, weeping leaves, most of them purplish rose with an 

 orange tinge, others bronzed metallic green. The plants exhibited were lifted 

 from the open ground. Messrs. Veitch add, that it is grown from seed sown in 

 February, and is treated as a half-hardy annual, being gradually hardened off, 

 and planted out in the borders in June. We have only to add, in the words 

 with which we concluded our notice last week — it is quite certain that this Am- 

 aranthus will prove a great acquisition ; and further, that it will be so, both for 

 in-door and out-door decoration. We need scarcely remark that a first-class 

 certificate was unanimously voted for it by the Floral Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. English Joiu-nal of Horticulture. 



The Delphinium nudicaule, recently introduced by Mr. Thompson, of 

 Ipswich, proves to be a much finer garden plant than was at first supposed. It 

 is a tuberous-rooted and hardy species, with the usual finger-lobed leaves ; but 

 what is most remarkable about it are the brilhant scarlet flowers which contrast 

 so strongly with the usual blue tint which pervades the genus. We have, in- 

 deed, already had a scarlet larkspur in the D. cardinale, but in that the flowers 

 were of a dull red only, and the plant itself seemed unmanageable. Here, on 

 the contrary, the color is bright and effective, and the plant appears to grow 

 freely enough, planted out in moderately light soil. The flowers with these rosy 

 spurs are very suggestive of some brilliant Tropasolum, such as T. iricolorum, 

 only that the mouth of the calyx is more widely spreading than in the flowers 

 of that plant, approaching in size and form very nearly to those of D. sinense. 

 Every one should try whether this fine novelty will thrive under the conditions 

 which his garden affords ; and those who find that it will do so, will discover 

 that they have added a gem to their collection. There is an opinion abroad, 

 formed possibly f^om the exhibition of indifferent examples, that the plant is 

 Less meritorious than it really is seen to be when growing in the garden, and 

 Mr. Thompson informs us that he has himself been surprised at the different 

 effect produced by bringing the plant into an ordinary sitting-room. In the 

 open ground, whether in strong or weak light, the color is glowing, and in a 

 mass very striking, but in a room it is dull. Our own opinion, formed from 

 watching the development of the jDlant in the open ground, is, that it is a really 

 good plant. Gardener'' s Chronicle. 



Distribution of Bedding Plants. — The surplus bedding plants in the 

 parks of London are to be distributed among the poor inhabitants of that city. 



