320 Botanical Register. 



blue, and purple, and white, during the months of June and July." — Mau- 

 randia Bardaiana ; 14 and 2, and Scrophularineae. A beautiful climber 

 from Mexico to Robert Barclay, Esq., in whose garden it attained the 

 height of 6 ft. on some pea-sticks in the open border, flowering from 

 July until it was destroyed by frost. — Lupinus bicolor. A pretty annual, 

 not exceeding a foot in height. From the interior of the country, about 

 the Colombia river, by Mr, Douglas, the indefatigable and singularly suc- 

 cessful collector of the Horticultural Society. 



No. CIjIV. for December, contains 

 1110 to 1116. — Gesneria Douglasiz. An elegant deciduous herbaceous 

 plant from Rio Janeiro, in 1824. Its flowers are brick-coloured, with 

 brown spots ; they appear in abundance for about two months, and the 

 plant afterwards dies down to the root. " It requires the heat of the stove, 

 and is propagated with great difficulty by its leaves. It was named, in a 

 paper ^read before the Horticultural Society in October, 1826, and subse- 

 quently published in the Transactions of that body, in honour of its inde- 

 fatigable and intelligent discoverer, to whose single efforts in examining the 

 rich vegetation of the countries lying in the vicinity of the river Colombia, 

 amidst difficulties and dangers that would have appalled a less ardent mind, 

 our gardens are indebted for an immense store of new and beautiful hardy 

 plants." — Cyanella odOratissima ; ^sphodelea?. A Cape bulb, with pink 

 flowers in July and August, and of the usual culture. — Sinningk guttata; 

 Gesneriets. A herbaceous thick-stemmed plant from Brazil, with white 

 flowers, spotted with red, appearing nearly all the summer. Damp stove; 

 decayed vegetable earth ; division of the -roots. — Brachystelma spatu- 

 latum ; Asdepiaddce. A tuberous-rooted, fleshy-stalked plant, with singu- 

 lar-looking purplish flowers in June and July. Hot and dry stove ; old 

 rubbish ; and kept free from damp when not in a growing state. — Coto- 

 neaster microphylla.. A beautiful evergreen prostrate shrub, about a foot 

 high, from Nepal, "clothed with a deep glossy foliage, which no cold 

 will impair, and when in blossom, in June, strewed with snow-white 

 flowers, which, reposing on a rich couch of green, have so brilliant an 

 appearance, that a poet would compare them to diamonds lying on a bed 

 of emeralds. It is deserving of notice, that the peculiar flavour which, in 

 Drupaceae, is attributed to the presence of prussic acid," is so strong in this 

 plant, that, before flowering, it would be taken for a Prunus; a remarkable 

 fact in a tribe of plants which are reputed to possess, exclusively, malic, 

 instead of prussic acid." - — Acacia impressa. — Convolvulus albivenius. 

 Stove ; cuttings. " One of the most desirable of the convolvulus tribe." 

 According to our ideas of what a botanical periodical ought to be, this 

 number of the Botanical Register is more perfect than the corresponding 

 one of the Botanical Magazine; but still we should greatly prefer, in both ' 

 works, a regular set of heads, each commencing a paragraph, and, as sub- 

 sequently suggested (p. 327.), each head introduced, whether there was any 

 thing to say under it or not. These heads might be : 1 . Systematic name and 

 authority. 2. English name. 3. Synonyms, systematic and English, with the 

 French and German names, or the name of the plant in its native country, 

 if known. 4. Specific character. 5. Habit ; as whether tree, shrub, herb, 

 twiner, trailer, annual, &c. &c. 6. Native country, year of introduction, 

 and habitation in a natural state. 7. Habitation in the garden. 8. Height. 

 9. Time of flowering. 10. Colour of the flower. U. Propagation. 

 1.2. Soil a/id culture. 15. Popular character and miscellaneous inform- 

 ation. We do not give these heads as the best, but merely throw them 

 out as explanatory of our meaning for others to improve on. No man is 

 more fit than Mr. Lindley to make the Botanical Register what it ought 

 to be. . ,, ' . 



