Domestic J^otices. 389 



a^o, when several of our large and splendid heaths, in full flower, were 

 broke to pieces. Eleven large plants of the £rica australis, growing 

 out of doors, and also covered with flowers, were smashed to pieces. 

 During the same night, and, in all probability, by the same individual, 

 the Experimental garden suffered much : most of their peach trees have 

 been cut off" the wall, besides other trees and flowering shrubs. Their 

 green-house was also broke into, and much damage done. I am sorry 

 to add, that as yet we have no clue to the detection of the wicked mon- 

 ster, although diligent research is making." — Conds. 



IpomcB^a riibro ccerulea. — We had but just finished the paragraph in 

 our last, and sent it to press, in which we mentioned this plant as figured 

 in Paxton's Magazine of Botany, and stated that it would probably suc- 

 ceed in the open air, treated in the same manner as the Cohce^a, when, 

 in looking over a late number of Loudon's Magazine, the following met 

 our eye: — " Many persons are deterred from cultivating this beautiful 

 plant, from the idea that it requires a stove to bring it to perfection. 

 This, however, is not the case, as nothing could be more splendid than 

 the blossoms on a plant which I had last summer, in a pot in the open 

 air. Three or four large magnificent blossoms, of a most brilliant ul- 

 tramarine blue, expanded every morning for three weeks, dying off a 

 pale pink; and in the end the plant produced several pods of ripe seeds. 

 It was raised in heat, and trained up a slight frame, but received no far- 

 ther culture, except occasional watermg." — We certainly hope that it 

 will soon be introduced. — lb. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 



Rediscovery of the Scolopendrium offi.cinm-uni. — We have the pleas- 

 ure to announce to you the rediscovery of this fine fern, first described 

 as being found in North America by Pursh, who gave as his locality 

 Onondago, N. Y. Never having been seen since by any later botanist 

 in any part of the Union, it was doubted by some whether that distin- 

 guished collector had himself found it: though from his accuracy and 

 the peculiar distinctness of S. oflicinarum, such a doubt was scarcely 

 justifiable. The matter is now, however, quite set at rest by Professor 

 Torrey, who has had the good fortune, a short time since, to find it in 

 considerable abundance at Chittengo Falls, N. Y., probably in the 

 neighborhood, if not in the same locality, where it was found by Pursh 

 himself. Professor Torrey found it growing in small tufts on the pre- 

 cipitous sides of lime-rocks, in secluded situations, and, through his 

 kindness, we have been favored with a number of the living jplants, 

 which we shall be happy to produce for the satisfaction of any natural- 

 ist who may be desirous of convincing himself of its genuineness as a 

 native of North America. Having been only found at one locality on 

 the continent, it may still be considered with the beautiful Lygodium 

 palmatum, and the delicate Schizse'a pusilla of Quaker's Bridge, N. J., 

 as one of the rarest of our indigenous plants. — A. J. Downing, Botanic 

 Garden and Nurseries, Newburgh, N. Y. 



Poinstttia. pulcherrima, Dr. Graham's new name for our splendid 

 euphorbia, which he has lately published in the Edinburgh Philoso- 

 phical Journal, is a just and well merited compliment to our esteemed 

 minister to Mexico, Mr. Poinsett, through whose exertions it was first 

 placed m the hands of our cultivators. In strict justice, however, we 



