Queries and Answers. 187 



persicum ; but my hopes have always been disappointed. I can discover very 

 little difference between C. coum and C. vernum, with the exception of the 

 leaf, which, in the latter, is marked something after the manner of the C. per- 

 sicum. With respect to the C. persicum, there are two varieties ; one marked 

 with red at the bottom of the corolla, the other perfectly white. I have raised 

 between forty and fifty seedlings from the latter ; all of which have come 

 with the red eye ; and out of as many seedlings which I had from the varie- 

 gated flower, I have never found one perfectly white. I therefore apprehend 

 that the white is merely a scarce variety. With respect to the C. coum and 

 C. vernum, I have always found the seedlings come true to their respective 

 characters. 



There are, I believe, six distinct species of this genus at present known ; 

 and three or four varieties of the C. /iederaefolium, and two of the G. persicum ; 

 but, if 1 mistake not, the Dutch, many years ago, possessed a greater number, 

 either as species or varieties. [Twelve varieties and species, more or less 

 distinct in flower, leaf, and habit, will be found figured in colours in Abraham 

 Munting's Naauivkeurige beschryving der Aadgewassen, commonly called Mun- 

 ting's Herbal; fol. Leyden, 1696.] Notwithstanding my want of success 

 hitherto, I do not intend to desist from my attempt to procure a variety of C. 

 persicum, C. coum, and C. repandum, unless some of your correspondents will 

 be good enough to state some satisfactory cause why these flowers should not 

 mule as well as many other genera. 



[Among the Primulaceae scarcely any hybrids are known. The varieties of 

 polyanthuses and auriculas, obtained by cross impregnations, are not direct 

 hybrids, as they are obtained from between previously extant varieties.] 



The species of Cyclamen are plants which no one having the least taste for 

 flowers, and having the convenience of a green-house or frames, should be . 

 without. The C. vernum begins to bloom in November, and the C. coum 

 about the end of December, and they continue in flower for some months; the 

 C. persicum can be made to bloom from October to June; about the latter 

 month the C. europae v um comes into flower, and this is succeeded by the 

 C. Aederaefolium : so that one or other of this pretty genus is constantly in 

 bloom. I have known plants of the C. vernum and C. coum to produce up- 

 wards of forty flowers each ; thus enlivening the dreary months of winter 

 with their elegant bloom. — E. London, Jan. 18. 1834. 



Of the white-petaled variety of C. persicum there are, I believe, in cultiva- 

 tion a sub-variety with fragrant flowers, and one with flowers less or not at all 

 fragrant ; and of the red and white petaled variety, similar sub-varieties. A 

 memorandum lying by us (whence copied we know not) advises us of a 



C. persicum petalis pluribus. " Mr. H. Jackson of Old Lakenham ex- 

 hibited a fine double cyclamen, a seedling variety of the C. persicum, with the 

 mother plant." (Norfolk and Noriuich Horticultural Shoiv, April 28. 1830.) 



A rare kind of 6'yclamen is figured as C. europae v uin in Sweet's Floiver- 

 Garden, t. 176. (? 1st series), from the collection of Mr. Knight, Chelsea ; 

 where it has borne, and may still bear, the name of C. hungaricum. This kind 

 is a very interesting one, in its rarity, orbicular leaves, their redness on the 

 subface and marbling on their surface, pretty flowers (which are not, however, 

 that I know, prettier than those of any cyclamen), and the fragrance of these. 

 — J.D. 



A few Observations on the Odours of Flowers, -^Yris persica is delightfully 

 fragrant to me ; and, finding it not so to some, I, in February, ] 833, submitted 

 flowers of it to the testing of 54 individuals: 41 pronounced it delightful; 

 4 slightly scented; 8 devoid of scent; and 1 declared it fetid. A plant which 

 flowered in our stove in December, 1833, was declared agreeably scented by 

 17, and devoid of scent by 10. Plants flowering at this time (Feb. 1834) in 

 the borders have been pronounced fragrant by 9, and scentless by 14. 



Anemone nemorosa I find sweetly scented, and so do 23 out of 30 persons 

 to whose judgment I have submitted its flowers ; the remaining 7 persons 

 could not perceive the slightest fragrance, 



