596 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



|Novembeb 24, 1888. 



enough to make the attempt. I have been told 

 that seeds cannot be obtained. Probably not, in 

 this country ; but there are other things besides 

 Chrysanthemums of which no seeds can be ob- 

 tained in England. They can, however, be 

 obtained on the northern or southern shores of 

 the Mediterranean. There is yet ample room in 

 incurved flowers for greater diversity of colour, 

 on the lines of more brilliancy, and, moreover, 

 decided shades of crimson, pink, and rich purple 

 are required, with the size and the form of 

 Empress of India. Such flowers should be worth 

 years of patient hybridising to obtain. 



Mr. Holmes, with his keen insight into the fitness 

 of things, has reminded us that for all practical pur- 

 poses the year 1889 marks the centenary of the 

 introduction of the Chrysanthemum into Europe. 

 It had been introduced two centuries ago, and was 

 also cultivated about the middle of the last century 

 by Miller, of the Botanic Gardens, Chelsea. The 

 plant was evidently lost to cultivation until it was 

 re-introduced by a certain Blanchard, of Marseilles, 

 in the year 1789. When it was introduced to Eng- 

 land, I am unable to say — probably very soon after, 

 for we find it was cultivated by Colvill, nurseryman, 

 King's Road, Chelsea, in 1795: a purple- flowered 

 variety flowered with him in November of that year, 

 and it was figured in the Botanical Magazine for 

 1796. It has no distinctive name, and is merely 

 designated C. indicum. 



Mr. E. W. Burbidge, in his excellent treatise on 

 the Chrysanthemum, states, in a note at p. 3, that the 

 Botanical Magazine figure resembles in all respects 

 very closely the variety named Dr. Sharpe. I have 

 Dr. Sbarpe now in flower, and have compared it with 

 the plate, and the resemblance is very striking, and is 

 equally marked in the half-opened buds. No other 

 variety was known to Curtis as being cultivated in 

 England. His remark, that " We rejoice in the 

 opportunity afforded us of presenting our readers 

 with a coloured engraving of a plant recently intro- 

 duced to this country, which, as an ornamental 

 one, promises to become an acquisition highly valu- 

 able," were prophetic. 



If it is intended to commemorate the introduction 

 of this plant by a centenary celebration, no doubt 

 the united wisdom of those best able to judge will 

 be called into requisition, and something be done 

 worthy of the occasion. The probability is, that 

 some extension of the ordinary flower-shows might 

 be suggested ; this is all very well in its way, and 

 may be a good adjunct to something else. A 

 Conference might be attempted, and a complete 

 collection of varieties might be grown in one place. 

 At a preliminary meeting held at the Crystal Palace, 

 at which Mr. Sanderson presided, it was thought that 

 sufficient time would not be available to organise 

 the whole thing in one year, and that it would be 

 better to celebrate the centenary in 1890. It was 

 stated at the meeting that the plant was intro- 

 duced from France to England in that year, con- 

 sequently it would be even more suitable than the 

 earlier date. 



At some shows where I have acted as judge, the 

 specimen plants have not been of such good quality 

 as they were about fifteen years ago. Some varieties 

 do not make very strong growth, and yet when well 

 managed they make excellent specimens. A pretty 

 variety named Little Pet, with blush coloured in- 

 curved flowers ; Aurea multiflora, yellow ; Lady 

 Hardinge, peach colour ; Antonelli, Dr. Sharpe 

 (reflexed), and one or two others are of this 

 class, and should be grown from old roots. The plan 

 is to grow the varieties required with tall stems to 

 produce large blooms, and at this season of the 

 year they will sometimes produce shoots from the 

 old stems, an inch or two above the surface of the 

 ground. The old stem should be cut over close 

 to the top growth, the plant dug out of the pot 

 with a trowel, and the shoots that are pushing 

 from the base of the plant removed. It should be 

 potted in a 7-inch pot, in good soil and be placed 

 near the glass in a greenhouse. The plants should 



be kept from frost during the winter, so that they 

 may be kept growing in what may be termed a cool 

 greenhouse temperature. They should be put into 

 9-inch pots, and about the end of May into 11-inch 

 pots, and in these they will produce their flowers. 

 Mrs. George Rundle, and the sports from it do best 

 from cuttings put in at once. All the pompon sec- 

 tion succeed best from cuttings. J. Douglas. 



EUCALYPTUS VIMINALIS. 



The specimen figured at fig. 82 was obligingly 

 sent to us by Captain Brown and the Rev. D. 

 Landsborough, from the Island of Arran, under the 

 name of E. amygdalina. On referring the specimen, 

 however, to M. Naudin, of Antibes— who not only 

 has a special Eucalyptus herbarium, but also culti- 

 vates a large number of species in the open air — we 

 were informed by that eminent botanist that the 

 specimen in question was E. viminalis. Turning to 

 Baron von Mueller's Eucalyptographia, we find this 

 called the Manna Eucalypt, by reason of the manna- 

 like substance which exudes in drops from the stem 

 in consequence of the puncture of a kind of grass- 

 hopper (Cicada mcerens). The manna in question 

 is, however, of little medicinal value. The tree in a 

 wild state extends through New South Wales, Vic- 

 toria, and Tasmania, attaining a height in some 

 cases of 320 feet, with a base of 17 feet in diameter. 

 It grows in poor soil, and flowers when in a young 

 state. The branches are slender and pendulous. 

 The leaves are linear-lanceolate, and the flowers 

 are borne in axillary three-flowered shortly stalked 

 cymes. The flower-tube is obconical, the flower 

 whitish. The tree from which our figure was taken 

 was sown in 1872, and is now 30 feet in height and 

 16 inches in girth at 5 feet from the ground, and it 

 would probably have been larger, but that it was 

 transplanted ten years ago. 



New or Noteworthy Plants. 



L^ELIA PACHYSTELE, n. hyb. not. (?). 



Mr. R. H. Measures has kindly sent me an inflor- 

 escence, originally three, then two-flowered, of a plant 

 that is said to have the growth of a middle-sized Leelia 

 elegans. It was imported by Mr. Horsman, Colchester, 

 and appears to flower twice a year. " No one who has 

 seen it here can tell us what to call it." These are 

 the ipsissima verba of Mr. R. H. Measures. 



The flowers are equal to those of a rather good 

 Laelia elegans. The petals are broader than the 

 sepals, and wavy, wholly light rose. The lip is 

 very narrow. Side-lacinise long, narrow, nearly 

 rectangular, white, with light purple borders, broadest 

 on the projecting angles. Mid-line of the disc with a 

 purple line from the base of the mid-lacinia to the 

 base of the lip, then divided into two shanks. Mid- 

 lacinia narrow, oblong, acute, projected, rose, with 

 darker purple veins, which looks exceedingly pretty, 

 and which gives a peculiar aspect to the plant. 

 Column very plump, white, with purple on the back, 

 and with two broad ligulate marks running from the 

 stigma to the base. Pollinia very unequal. H. G. 

 Rchb.f. 



Cattleya CASSANDRA X , n. hyb. 



This is another of Mr. Seden's hybrids, for which 

 I am indebted to Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea, 

 from whom I have just received a three-flowered 

 peduncle. It was raised from Cattleya Loddigesii, 

 fertilised with the pollen of one of the forms of 

 Lifilia elegans ; itself a Lselia-Cattleya, that is, a 

 natural hybrid between the two genera. The seed 

 was sown in 1877 ; so that it has taken eleven years 

 to reach the flowering stage. 



At present the plant is said to have a stoutish 

 rhizome, as in L. elegans, with seven sub-clavate or 

 sub-cylindrical pseudobulbs, 7 — 9 inches long, and 

 diphyllous. Leaves oval-oblong, spreading, 5 — 6 

 inches long. The flowers measure 3| inches across, 



the sepals are acute, the petals twice as broad, and 

 more obtuse ; all of a delicate rosy-lilac. The lip is 

 very strongly three-lobed, and has much of the appear- 

 ance of the mother plant ; the side lobes Very large, 

 and the front one constricted at the base into a very 

 short and broad claw, broadly rounded in front, and 

 very much crisped. In colour this front lobe is 

 bright amethyst-purple, while the side-lobes are 

 nearly white ; the exceptions being a little rosy-lilac 

 at their apex, and more faintly along the margin 

 behind ; a little rosy-purple running down the centre 

 of the lip, principally along the minute keels ; and 

 the radiating veins of a very pale yellow. The column 

 is much like that of C. Loddigesii in shape, white, 

 with a little rose down the face. Four of the pollen- 

 masses are excessively rudimentary ; doubtless due 

 to the fact that it has three-fourths Cattleya blood 

 in it. Except the front lobe of the lip the flower is 

 very delicately coloured. S. A. Eolfe. 



Cycnoches versicolor, n. sp* 



Something very like this was known to me nearly 

 thirty years ago from a sketch. Much later came a 

 description of a similar plant. Finally Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, Bart., M.P., P.R.H.S., surprised me in the 

 most agreeable manner by sending me aseven-flowered 

 inflorescence, whose comparatively short green rachis 

 affords a fine contrast to the yellowish bracts. The 

 pedicels are erect, the ovaries bent in a retrorse 

 way. The sepals and petals are ligulate acute, petals 

 a little broader. The colour is exceedingly interest- 

 ing; it begins of a fine dark garlic-green, with 

 darker veins, and a certain texture of velvet ; finally, 

 the whole is of a deep brown. The lip is quite 

 characteristic ; it is oblong acute, having an excava- 

 tion between the middle and the base, and on each 

 side is an erect introrse tooth. The inner surface of 

 the lip is convex, the outside surface is quite flat ; 

 the colour is whitish, ultimately yellowish, with a 

 few purple spots on the anterior half inside. The 

 substance is very thick, and reminds me of ivory. 

 The thin curved column is clavate at the apex, with 

 three teeth at the apex behind. It is green, with 

 some small black spots at the base. Sir Trevor 

 received it from Brazil. The flowers are nearly 

 equal to those of Cycnoches Egertonianum, but are 

 in a stiff upright raceme. 



A Cycnoches Haagii has been described by Barbosa 

 Rodriguez (Genera et Species Orchidearum Novarum, 

 1882, p. 221). It is said to have a labellum obova- 

 tum acuminatum ventricosum. The sepals and petals 

 are said to be spotted at the upper margin and the 

 apex of the green column is stated to be white. Those 

 are very considerable differences provided the terms 

 are correctly used. 



My first acquaintance with a species of this 

 affinity was made by copying a sketch of Wallis', re- 

 presenting such a plant and with more than usual care 

 Wallis noted what follows: " Very fine epiphyte ; lip 

 exceedingly thick, like china, with red spots and two 

 processes. Sepals and petals reddish-green, shining 

 like velvet. Column very thin, green, with small 

 black spots. Not much smell. Bulbs and leaves of 

 Catasetum." 



Wallis represented a cross section of the lip, which 

 shows a longitudinal keel on the mid-line underneath, 

 and the two teeth on the inner surface are median. 

 There is no indication of a grove between the teeth 

 and the blade of the lip is almost circular and apicu- 

 late (not acute). There may thus be three nearly 

 allied species. H. G. Bchb. f. 



COLONIAL TOBACCO.— The London Chamber 

 of Commerce, Botolph House, Eastcheap, E.C., offers 

 a prize for the best specimen of colonial grown 

 Tobacco, of not less than 400 lb. 



* Cynockes versicolor, n. sp. — Racemo paucifloro stricto ; 

 bracteis pedicellos louge non requantibus flavis; pedicellis 

 cum ovariis genuflexis; sepalis tepalisque cuneato-ligulatis 

 acutis ; labello eboraceo oblongo acuto, extus pianissimo, intus 

 convexo cum callis dentiformibus conniventibus geminis, supra 

 excavationem antebasilarem ; columna gracillima et apiceni 

 versus ampliata, apice postice tridentata. Ex Brasilia imp. 

 ill. Eques Trevor Lawrence. H. G. Rchb.f. 



