Pines and Tlomering Plants at Dropmoi^e. 561 



This might be done in various parts of the kingdom, and 

 would add greatly to the beauty of every place. 



Clumps of Plants of the Tuberose I have this year planted 

 clumps of bulbs of the tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.)i 

 which are now remarkably fine, and are delightfully fragrant. 

 In planting them, I prepared a hole four feet deep, and filled 

 it up three feet with well decomposed manure, and one foot 

 of turfy loam, with a small portion of sand. They are ad- 

 mired by every observer, as being the finest they have ever 

 seen. 



If my observations prove of any service to you, I shall feel 

 much pleasure in having forwarded them. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c. 



Philip Frost. 

 Dropmore, September 2. 1833. 



Botanists are not agreed upon either the generic or specific relations 

 of the beautiful plant called, above, Nierembergia phoenicea ; and, con- 

 sequently, are not agreed upon either its generic or specific name. Dr. 

 Hooker, in the number of Curtis's Botanical Magazine for Dec. 1831 

 (see Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 21.), has, in t. 3113., where he has given a 

 figure and description of the plant, denominated it Salpiglossis integri- 

 folia. No plant can, in habit, be vi^ell more unlike any species of Sal- 

 piglossis under present cultivation in our gardens ; and if the characters 

 of habit are of that value which Dr. Lindley's separation of the genus 

 Lowea from the genus i26sa, by means of them alone, assigns to them, 

 Salpiglossis integrifolia Hooker can hardly be deemed a Salpiglossis at all. 

 In Sweet's British Flower-Garden for December, 1832, t. 172., there is pub- 

 lished a figure of that elegant little green-house plant, Nierembergia gra- 

 cilis, with a description of it by David Don, Esq., who appends to the 

 description a notice of the close relationship subsisting between the genera 

 Salpiglossis, Nierembergza, and Petunia, more particularly between the 

 latter two, and remarks to the effect that the plant which Dr. Hooker has 

 denominated Salpiglossis integrifolia is rather a species of Petunia ; and he 

 there proposes to call it Petunia phoenicea. As the plant, in habit of 

 growth, foliage, inflorescence, calyx, seed-vessel, and punctulate seeds, 

 closely resembles the Petunia nyctaginiflora, although it has not, like tliat, 

 a long slender tube to its corolla, it would seem natural to deem it a species 

 of Petunia ; and, were this determined on, the epithet phoenicea, express- 

 ive of the rich colour of the plant's blossoms, would seem to be a not 

 unsuitable one. In some gardens the plant is designated by the name of 

 Petunia integrifolia ; but, if the plant be received as a Petunia, the epithet 

 integrifolia does not distinguish it from the P. nyctaginiflora, which has 

 also entii'e leaves ; although, while the plant was considered a species of 

 Salpiglossis, the term integrifolia did sufficiently express the plant's dis- 

 tinctness from the species of Salpiglossis previously in cultivation, whose 

 leaves have margins more or less divided. However, in Sweet's British 

 Flower-Garden for June, 1833, t. 193., Mr. D.Don, who has there supplied 

 a figure and description of this plant, has proposed to include the genus 

 Petuma in the genus NierembergM, and has accordingly published the 

 present plant under the name of Nierembergz^ phoenicea; a name indi- 

 VoL. IX. — No. 46. 



