80 Domestic Notices : — England. 



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Watts in his last letter, dated Carthagena, May 1. 1830, says, "I have 

 five healthy plants of the Chontaduro palm, which, if they continue to 

 thrive, I intend sending you by the next packet." I have not since heard 

 from Mr. Watts • but, should the plants arrive in good condition, I have 

 promised one to my old friends, Messrs. Loddiges, for their magnificent 

 collection • the other four are also engaged. The remaining two palms of 

 Choco, noticed by Humboldt, are : — " Palma di mil pesos, oleifera ; et 

 Tapara, nana, vix 2 — 3 pedalis, fructibus trilocularibus magnitudine 

 cocoes, albumine eduli." * This last, as being particularly well suited by 

 its dwarf size to our stoves, as well as being nondescript, I am also endea- 

 vouring to procure. But there is a hardy palm growing along the Straits 

 of Magellan, and spoken of in Viage al Estrecha de Magellanes, p. 316., 

 which would, no doubt, answer in our pleasure-grounds, and deserves to 

 be introduced, as might be easily done by some of our men of war or mer- 

 chant ships coming from the west coast of America through those straits. 

 Humboldt enquires respecting this palm, which also is a dwarf, " Cujusnam 

 familiae planta tripedalis, frondibus pinnatis, Hispanis peregrinatoribus 

 Palma Magellanica dicta, latitudine australis 53° proveniens, Phcenici 

 dactyliferae similis ?" -f- By inserting this notice in your Magazine you may 

 perhaps call the attention of some of our travelling botanists to this imper- 

 fectly known plant, and secure its introduction as an embellishment to our 

 English landscape. It could hardly fail to thrive in our southern coun- 

 ties. — W. Hamilton. 15. Oxford Place, Plymouth, August 28. 1830. 



Exuberant Bloom of a Yucca gloriosa at Wanlip Hall. — This plant had 

 stood for some time in the gardens of Wanlip Hall, where it had attained 

 considerable size. In 1827 it flowered for the first time, and, as the 

 flower stem decayed, the old plant put forth four shoots, which have flou- 

 rished exceedingly since that period, and the bloom I am about to describe 

 is from one of them ; leaving three others which, to all appearance, will 

 flower another season. In the spring of this year I formed an artificial 

 rockwork around it of granite, which appeared to suit it extremely well, 

 and I have no doubt contributed to the extraordinary fine blooms it pro- 

 duced. It began to flower on the 20th of July ; the height of the flower 

 stem was 5 ft. 8 in. • the side panicles were 36 in number, each panicle 

 bearing on an average 24 blooms, making a total number of 864 flowers. 



A Cereus speciosissimus, which is now four years old, began to flower on 

 the 30th of May, and produced, in succession, eleven very large and splen- 

 did blossoms, nearly of a size. The dimensions were as follows : — The 

 stems of the plant, which are four in number, measure 5 ft. in height • the 

 petals of the flowers were 3 in. in length,* the circumference 1 ft. 6 in. It 

 had no other than green-house treatment, was planted in a wide-topped 

 32-sized pot, in a soil composed of sandy loam and lime rubbish in equal 

 parts. 



Pelargonium zondle var. Blucheri succeeds better with me than any other 

 of the scarlets. I planted one in the autumn in a wide-topped 48-sized 

 pot, in a common green-house. The circumference of the leaves of the 

 plant was 23 in. ; the flower stem 1 ft. in length, with an umbel of flowers 

 40 in number, of which 32 were expanded at one time; the petals averaged 

 in length 3 in. — William Matthews. Wanlip Gardens, Leicestershire, Oc- 

 tober 31. 1831. 



* " From 2 to 3 ft. in height, fruit three-celled, about the size of the 

 cocoa, albumen eatable." 



f " To what family belongs a plant 3 ft. high, with pinnate leaves, called 

 Palma Magellanica by Spanish travellers ? It is found in lat. 53° south, 

 and resembles the Phoenix dactylifera." 



