?28 



TEE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 22, 



So often met with as might be expected. It is a 

 plant easily grown, and is well adapted for training 

 up a rafter or similar position in the stove. To grow 

 it freely it should be planted out in the usual way in well 

 drained rich soil, in a sunny position. A specimen 

 $8 now flowering freely in the aquatic-house here, 

 Which is planted out in the ordinary way, behind the 

 hot-water pipes, and trained on strings along the roof. 

 During the time of growth the growing points should 

 be trained a little to prevent confusion ; but as the 

 flowering period approaches the points should be 

 allowed to hang down for the sake of a better effect. 

 Care must be taken not to injure the 'points of the 

 shoots when the plant is growing early in the year. 

 After flowering it should be pruned. F. Boss, Pen- 

 dell Court. 



MONSTERA DELICIOSA. 



The large dark green leaves of this plant are ren- 

 dered very attractive by the way in which they are 

 perforated, and many curious remarks are made by 

 those who see them for the first time. In looking 

 at these perforations one naturally wants to know of 

 what advantage or use they are to the plant ? Can 

 It be for the purpose of allowing light to pass through 

 on to the leaf or leaves below? The spathes are 

 very conspicuous ; in colour they are of a creamy 

 whiteness, shaped like a boat with the spadix passing 

 up the centre ; a spathe we measured a short 

 while ago was from 11 to 12 inches in length and 

 8 inches in diameter. The fruit, when ripe, 

 gives off an agreeable odour, and its flavour 

 would be very good were it not for the 

 raphides, which are very abundant in the fruit 

 (also the leaves), and these leave a painful stinging 

 sensation in the mouth, especially when one eats 

 without knowing the consequence. It flowers and 

 fruits in a temperature which does not fall lower 

 than 45° in winter. It requires to be grown on a 

 wall, or can be made to cover the stumps or stems of 

 old trees ; and these, if covered with the small creeping 

 kinds of Reuses, give it a much more ornamental 

 effect. Wherever planted the places should be 

 syringed occasionally until the plants become 

 attached. W. H. 



PLANTS IN FLOWER AT KEW. 



Alfinia mutica. — Apparently this species flowers 

 more freely than the older A. nutans, which it re- 

 sembles in foliage, size, and habit, but differs in 

 having an erect instead of nodding raceme of flowers. 

 The first-mentioned was introduced from Borneo, by 

 Mr. Bull, in 1882. The Kew specimen is a large one, 

 having many stems, 8 feet high, leafy to the base 

 and evergreen. The racemes attain a length of 

 8 inches, and bear about a score of flowers, which 

 open in pairs ; the calyx is half an inch long, tubular, 

 and toothed ; the corolla is composed of three oblong 

 petals, 1J inch long, and a fourth one, large, and 

 lip-like, folded like the labellum of a Phaius, and 

 coloured yellow, with numerous spots and lines of 

 crimson. The flowers, as well as the leaves, exhale 

 a strong, aromatic odour. These strong growing 

 Alpinias are first-rate plants for large, moist stoves, 

 or aquaria. 



Phaleria laurifolia is a robust Laurel-like stove 

 shrub, which was introduced from Ceylon many 

 years ago. The genus is related to Daphne, the 

 flowers being very similar to those ofD. indica. but 

 pure white. They are produced in terminal heads 

 on the principal branches, remaining fresh a long 

 while. Like the flowers of Daphne too, they are also 

 deliciously fragrant. The leaves are lanceolate, 

 6 inches long, and shining green. The Kew plant 

 now flowering is in the Palm-house ; it is about a 

 yard high. Although not so good a plant as Daphne 

 indica, yet this Phaleria is worth growing in good 

 collections. It is figured in the Botanical Magazine, 

 t. 6787. 



Greyia Sutherland.— The Kew "plant is flowering 

 exceptionally early this season, and it has been excep- 

 tional also in not losing its leaves as usual in the 

 autumn. It is a shrub 7 feet high, freely branched, 



with shining green kidney-shaped leaves and terminal 

 racemes of crimson flowers, like those of Melianthus. 

 The genus is monotypic, and is a native of Natal, 

 where it flowers in February, and makes a brilliant 

 display, but it does not flower freely nor regularly 

 in England. 



Agave dasylirioides. — This is one of the hand- 

 somest and most distinct of Agaves, considered as 

 greenhouse.plants. It is more like a Yucca than 

 such species as A. americana, the leaves being 3 feet 

 long, 1 inch broad, rigid, with a long pungent tip, 

 and very glaucous, almost silvery in colour. A 

 healthy, full-sized plant bears about eighty leaves, 

 and is 3 feet high. The spike is 8 feet long, arching, 

 almost drooping, so that if not supported it would 

 trail on the ground. The flowers are very numerous, 

 tubular, 1 inch long and half as broad, greenish- 

 yellow ; they expand in whorls from the base 

 onwards. This species is allied to A. striata, and is 

 sometimes cultivated under the name of A. dealbata. 

 It is figured in Botanical Magazine, t. 5716. 



Aloe ciliaris. — Many species of Aloe are in flower 

 or bud just now, but the most distinct and note- 

 worthy is that here named, which deserves to be a 

 popular garden plant. It has thin scandent stems, 

 scarcely half an inch in diameter, branching freely, 

 the upper foot or so clothed with lance-shaped leaves 

 5 inches long, 1 inch broad at the base, gradually 

 narrowing upwards; the margins are clothed with 

 small soft teeth, those at the base being white and 

 almost hair-like. The flowers are developed near 

 the top of the leafy shoots, each raceme being 

 10 inches long, the upper half bearing many tubular 

 flowors 1 inch long, yellow and pink, pale green at 

 the mouth. These flowers are quite as beautiful as 

 the best of Lachenalias, for which they might easily 

 be mistaken ; they also remain fresh a long time 

 when cut and placed in water. 



Laehenalia pendula. — The first species to bloom 

 this winter, and also one of the handsomest. A 

 group of plants in the Cape-house is a pretty picture 

 in brown-purple and yellow. This has much larger 

 flowers than any of the others, and it is easily grown. 

 The genus might be turned to good account by 

 hybridists ; certainly there are both variety and 

 elegance as well as bright colours sufficient to work 

 upon. 



Freesias. — A large, well-flowered group of these 

 delightful Cape bulbous plants in the conservatory 

 here, prove their value, if proof be needed, as winter- 

 flowering greenhouse plants. Nothing could he 

 prettier, and certainly nothing is more pleasantly 

 scented than the flowers, and they last a long while. 

 It has already been stated in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 that the best treatment for Freesias is not to rest 

 them, but keep them growing on all summer, shifting 

 them into larger pots if necessary, but without dis- 

 turbing the old ball of soil. Some of the Kew plants 

 were treated in this way, and they are much finer 

 than those which were rested. After what we were 

 told by Professor McOwan in regard to the natural 

 conditions of Freesias, it is extraordinary that the 

 no-rest treatment has been more successful than the 

 usual dry-rest treatment for Cape bulbs in general. 

 The large, white-flowered form known as F. refracta 

 alba, has proved by far the best garden plant. W. 



PLANT PORTRAITS. 



Acidanthera bicolor, Garden and Forest, Decem- 

 ber 5 ; woodcut. 



Alocasia Chantrieri, Illustration Horticole, t. 64. 



Androsace lanuginosa, Illustrierte Monatshcftc, 

 December. 



Angr;ecum Sanderianom, Bevuc Horticole, Novem- 

 ber 16. 



Apple Schuttee's Reinette, Bulletin d' Arboricul- 

 ture, §c, November. 



Chorisia speciosa, Le Jardin, December 5 ; wood- 

 cut. 



Cycnoches chlorocheilon, Illustration Horticole, 

 t. 65. 



Cypripedium Mastersianusi, Lindenia t. 159. 



Echinocactus texensis. Gartciifiora, December, 

 t. 1286. 



L.2ELIA cinnabarina, Orchidophile, November. 



Leptotes bicolor, Lindenia, t. 157. 



Odontoglossoti constrictum, Illustration Horti- 

 cole, t. 66. 



Odontoglossum Halli, Lindenia, t. 158. 



Vanda ccsrulea, Lindenia, t. 160. 



Ztgopetalum Sanderianum, Gartenflora, t. 1287. 



STAPELIA GIOANTEA. 



When I described this grand species in the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle for 1877, vol. vii., p. 684 and p. 693, 

 f. 112, it had not then flowered in this country 

 to my knowledge, nor does it appear to have done so 

 since until the present season, when, to my gratifica- 

 tion, it flower ed]last month in the garden of Sir George 

 Macleay, at Pendell Court, and has been drawn for 

 the Botanical Magazine. The flower was not as large 

 as that represented in the figure, which is here re- 

 peated (fig. 101), but measured about 11 inches in 

 diameter when the lobes are fully spread out. The 

 colour of the flower is pale yellow, marked with pale 

 reddish transverse lines, and thinly covered with 

 erect pale purple hairs, which are scarcely visible, 

 except when the flower is seen sideways. The bars 

 represented on the underside of the petals in the 

 engraving should have been omitted. The odour is 

 disagreeable, as in the other species of the genus, 

 although I have been told of one that is sweet scented 

 — about which I should like to have substantial 

 evidence, as all the species I have seen living, be- 

 longing to all the genera of the tribe Stapelieas, 

 have been either disagreeably scented or odourless. 

 Although S. gigantea was originally discovered in 

 Zululand by Mr. Plant, and introduced into Europe 

 by Mr. Cooper from the Botanic Garden, at Durban, 

 Natal, it has since been found in Namaqualand, which 

 is quite on the other side of the continent — an 

 interesting fact in the geographical distribution of 

 these plants, which are usually local, and, so far as I 

 can learn, do not exist in any great numbers in any 

 one locality. N. E. Brown, Herbarium, Kew. 



VIOLAS. 



The correspondence in your columns is most sea- 

 sonable. It is now that people are making up their 

 minds as to what they will have for spring and early 

 summer flowers next year. No doubt in the South, 

 Violas must bloom in April, May, and the first week 

 or two in June, to be of any use. After that, in an 

 ordinary year, their season is practically over in all 

 the southern counties. We would advise planting 

 early in March, if plants are sufficiently rooted and 

 the weather favourable. In Scotland, it is difficult 

 to get plants sufficiently welljrooted so early as that, 

 and it is always difficult for Scotch nurserymen to 

 execute orders for Pansies and Violas as early as 

 growers in the South of England would like, unless 

 they have batches of plants struck in August. 



In selecting a piece of ground to grow Violas, it 

 ought to be remembered that they cannot endure the 

 full blaze of the noonday sun. Choose, therefore, 

 a slightly shaded position, a border facing west or 

 east rather than due south, is preferable. We do not 

 mean to say Violas will not grow facing south ; the 

 fact is, many of the most useful varieties will grow 

 almost anywhere ; but we are advising planting where 

 the best all-round results are likely to be obtained. 

 In a border slightly shaded from the noonday sun in 

 July, plants after flowering, will grow well and 

 make clumps for the following y ear, from which it 

 will be possible to gather flowers, literally in bas- 

 ketfuls. 



Regarding manure, we would recommend that old 

 well-decomposed cow manure be dug into the ground 

 now, and that it be left in a rough state until plant- 

 ing time. We quite approve of autumn planting in 

 the South, but it is too late now to attempt this, and 

 it will be much better to defer until March. 



