Foreign Notices : — North America. 575 



manure throughout the empire. (Madras Almanac for 1841, in Camb. Chron. 

 and Journ. May 14. 1842.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Strelilzxa regince. — There are several specimens of this beautiful plant in 

 this city. About two years since, Mr. Dreer, florist and seedsman, had one 

 in flower, and, as he was uninformed about its history, I gave it to him, and 

 having inserted it in a daily city paper, a purchaser was speedily found at ten 

 dollars. The British botanists and cultivators of plants know its locality and 

 discoverer, but may probably not know all I am about to write concerning the 

 latter, and therefore I send you the article alluded to. " The late dis- 

 tinguished friend and liberal patron of science, Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., 

 in early life was an ardent cultivator of botany and natural history, and, 

 although under an actual matrimonial engagement, applied for and obtained 

 the place of naturalist to the first expedition under Captain Cook, and at the 

 Cape of Good Hope met with the plant in question. Finding it to be a new 

 genus, he, with great tact, determined to name it after the queen of England, 

 a princess of the house of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and coined for it the classical 

 name of Strelitzio', adding reginae. A greater compliment could not have 

 been paid her. But you will ask, what became of Mr. Banks's betrothed ? I 

 heard several years since from M. Correa de Serra, that the suspension of 

 Mr. B's proceedings was not relished by the lady or her friends, and excited 

 some severe remarks; which, however, were soon quieted by the powerful 

 charm of a draft in her favour on his banker for 10,000/. ; not that he 

 loved her less, but that he loved " science more." M. Correa's standing 

 as a botanist is well known. It was he, as you know, who ascertained that 

 the Dorjanthes excelsa was a new genus, and gave it an appropriate name. 

 He resided eleven years in England, as secretary of the Portuguese legation ; 

 and afterwards in this city, first as a private man, and subsequently as 

 minister from the court of Brazil. — J. M. Philadelphia, August, 1842. 



Agave americdna. — Mr. B. Duke, the successor of B. M'Mahon, is now 

 exhibiting at the Masonic Hall an agave in flower. It is stated by him to be 

 one of the original plants grown by Mr. Hamilton, at the Woodlands, in 

 Blockley township, Philadelphia county ; and which, after his death, came 

 into the possession of Mr. M'Mahon's family, and thence to the present 

 owner. The plant first exhibited its flower-stem on the 17th of May, and 

 from that time to the 8th of July, it increased daily from 2 in. to* 9 in., 

 when it had attained the height of 20 ft. 1£ in. It then commenced 

 throwing out lateral branches and forming its buds, and continued to do so 

 the greater portion of the month ; on the 29th it expanded its first flower, 

 at which time the spread of the lateral branches, from tip to tip, was nearly 

 5 ft. The whole number of these is twenty-two. The probable number of 

 flowers which will be displayed on the plant cannot be less than from 1300 to 

 2000. The summit clusters expanded two days since, and now the plant 

 presents a magnificent spectacle. It is supposed to be ninety-five years 

 old. A sixth American specimen is said to be about to flower in the green- 

 house of Mr. Van Rensellaer, of Albany, New York. The editor of the 

 Saturday Courier, of Philadelphia, says that a few years since he sawone in 

 flower in the greenhouse of Mr. Peter C. Brook of Boston : this makes 

 seven specimens in the United States. — Idem. August 11. 1842. 



[For an account of the flowering of three plants of the Agave americana 

 in America, see Gardener's Magazine, vol. vii. p. 454.] 



Venerable Cactus. — In the beautiful greenhouse of Joshua Longstreth, 

 Turner's Lane, about two miles from the northern limit of Philadelphia, is a 

 specimen of Cactus triangularis, venerable in years, as it is lofty in stature. 

 It has been in possession of the present owner thirty years ; it was held by 

 the former one forty years, and he supposed it about ten years old when jt 

 came into his possession. It is 17 ft. high. — Idem. 



