368 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 8, 1877. 



tities of bedding plants, end who have hitherto provided no 

 additional means. 



NOVELTIES IN THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 

 The Fern collection has of late been largely enriched from 

 several English and foreign sources, and of the new kinds 

 there is nothing likely to be of greater horticultural value than 

 Adiantum cuneatum var. Lawsoni. It was raised from spores 

 by the Rev. W. L. Lawson of Lynton, who sent the plant to 

 Kew, whence it has been distributed to most of the leading 

 firms, whose representatives have considered it an extremely 

 fine plant, and even by some as superior to A. gracillimum. 

 The fronds are lighter, and for some purposes more elegant 

 than those of A. cuneatum ; the segments are more 6harply 

 wedge-shaped and more deeply divided into lobes. It grows 

 with great rapidity, though probably not faster than A. cune- 

 atum, the good-keeping properties of which it is found to 



Immediately within the door of the Succulent house are two 

 new Stapelias. The first is S. Sarpedon, a robust-growing 

 kind with fine purple-brown flowers more than 4 inches across 

 and ornamented round the margin by a fringe of hairs ; the 

 other is scarcely more than a quarter of an inch across and is 

 elevated on stalks 2J inches long, by which it is rendered 

 strikingly distinct. Directly the corolla expands the segments 

 are rolled up beneath, so that the flower assumes the form of 

 a little cushion with a depression above and below. The sur- 

 face appears hoary with a felt of white hairs, though beneath 

 these the colour is brown. It is now flowering for the first 

 time, and a name has not yet been applied. Paya grandiflora 

 is flowering in this house and presents a Btriking appearance. 

 The plant itself is about 7 feet high, and from a single stem 

 below it branches above in several Pine-apple-like crowns of 

 foliage, forming together a magnificent head. Below these are 

 the dried leaves of many past years, clothing the stem as with 

 the shred robe of some savage chief. Two immense panicles 

 are bearing flowers of unusual size in the order Bromeliaceas. 

 They are 5 inches in length and of peculiar livid hue. The 

 stems are densely covered with red-brown stellate hairs. A 

 plant of Crassula rubicunda is considerably ornamental. It 

 has several stems bearing large corymbs of red flowers, and 

 reaches to scarcely more than a foot high, while having the 

 same width. It flowers with much greater certainty than 

 Rochea falcata, and being equal in beauty is desirable in any 

 collection of greenhouse plants. 



In the Begonia house are suspended near the glass some pots 

 of the new Torenia Fournieri, bearing in one ease between 

 thirty and forty flowers, thus presenting a very charming 

 appearance. The rare Impatiens Jerdonise in the same posi- 

 tion has been flowering continuously during the summer, 

 attracting much attention from its peculiar Bcarlet-and-yellow 

 flowers. Cofiea travaneorensis is flowering profusely in the 

 Btove. It is a small-growing species, and this plant, though 

 several years old, is less than 3 feet high; the white flowers 

 are small but very numerous, and the perfume is delicious. 



The Orchid co'lection is enlivened with several fine varieties 

 of La?lia Perrini. One dark form in particular is noticeable 

 from its size, substance, and pure colouring. Cattleyaelegans, 

 in addition to its beauty, emits a sweet perfume peroeptible 

 at some distance. Of C. maxima there are two forms beauti- 

 fully veined, the one dark and the other light. A fine speci- 

 men of C. Leopoldi will shortly be in bloom. C. Lindleyana 

 is not as a rule very attractive, though worth mention as one 

 of a Bplendid genus. Liparis spathulata, though without colour, 

 is pleasing to the eye from its gracefully curving flower-spikes 

 in a way Bimilar to Dendrochilum filiforme. Burlingtonia 

 decora has long been in bloom, and is always welcome with 

 its deep lilac-and-white flowers. Saccolabium calceolare is an 

 interesting little plant, the cluster of yellow sweetly-scented 

 flowers nestling low down at the base, and meriting in the form 

 of the lip a well-applied name. Eria odoratissima, though not 

 showy, may have mention for its pleasingly scented flowers, 

 produced a few together on a Bingle spike. Pleione lagenaria 

 and P. maoulata are both pretty representatives of the Indian 

 Crocuses. A splendid specimen of Odontoglossum Bictonense 

 is throwing up eleven strong spikeB. 0. Uro-Skinneri and 

 0. cristatum are other species in flower. Oncidium veruco- 

 sum has a fine mass of dear yellow flowers, and one plant 

 appears equal to the true 0. Rogersi. Masdevallia Veitchi and 

 M. gibberosa flowering together are in strong contrast; the 

 first, as well known, bearing a magnificent flower, while the 



other is of the dullest colour and most eccentric structure. 

 Restrepia antennifera, to which we have often called attention, 

 and Gongora odoratissima, are two very curious plants growing 

 near together. Other ornamental Orchids we find in Miltonia 

 Glowesi, Mesospinidium vulcanicum, and the Cypripediums 

 now represented by C. purpuratum and C. Sedeni as the 

 prettiest in colour. A large plant of C. Harrisoni is imposing 

 with several fine glossy flowers. These are accompanied by 

 C. Roezli and C. longifolium. 



STRAY NOTES. 



The roof of our stove is now (October) resplendent with the 

 bright rose flowers of Passiflora princeps ; the sprays 2 feet and 

 more in length huve a telling effect. The individual flowers are 

 of short duration, but the unexpanded buds are very attractive. 

 The flowers are produced most freely from the old wood, the 

 wood requiring to bo two or three years old before the flowers 

 are freely produced. It flowers continuously all the year 

 round, being most giy in late summer and spring. Alter- 

 nating with it we have Clerodendron Balfourianum, which never 

 fails to flower in early summer and again in autumn, its 

 branched cymes of creamy white bracts with the peeping star- 

 like corolla have a beautiful effect; indeed, I know not which 

 (the Passiflora princeps or this) is the more beautiful. Associated 

 with those on the same roof is Ipomcea, Horsfalliae, with its 

 great clusters of buds and flowers, successionally produced, of 

 the loveliest satiny crimson. It commences flowering in Sep- 

 tember, and continues through the winter. It flowers from the 

 stem of the old wood like, Passiflora princeps. Bougainvillea 

 glabra gives its mauve- coloured bracts, and these have a very 

 graceful effect when the plant is trained on the roof. The 

 flowering sprays are in higher luxuriance than from plants 

 grown in pots. The four plants named flower early and late, 

 and are remarkable for cleanliness, not having given us the 

 trouble of applying an insecticide for many years. I strongly 

 recommend them for clothing the rafters of a stove. Another 

 plant well worthy of note is Jasniinum Sambac flore-pleno, 

 which does equally well planted out or grown in pots, and is of 

 the easiest culture. It is very lovely and highly perfumed. 



Stove wall-plants are not difficult to find. When the wall 

 is not shaded, or only Blightly, none are finer than the fiery 

 scarlet Euphorbia j acquiniasflora. Plants in pots afford no idea 

 of the great beauty and usefulness of this plant when planted 

 out in good turfy loam and encouraged during growth with 

 liquid manure. Beautiful ae this is it cannot bear comparison 

 with the scarlet-bracted heads of Poinsettia puleherrima. A 

 wall covered with it and the white variety P. puleherrima alba, 

 trained so as to have the floral heads interspersed, has a charm- 

 ing effect. Still more graceful covering for a wall are the Be- 

 gonias nitida and fuohsioides, waxy white and the richest of 

 waxy scarlets, the plants growing and flowering all the year 

 round, giving more sprays than any other plants I know. The 

 spray of the scarlet (fuchsioides), depending over the edges of 

 an epergne, are inimitable. For a shaded back wall in a stove 

 Cissus discolor is admirable, clothing the space as no other 

 plant can with the richest and most lovely of leaf beauty. I 

 may mention that this plant trained to a flat trellis forms one 

 of the richest of live screens for house decoration on "great 

 occasions," having a peculiar richness and lustre, especially its 

 young growths, in artificial light. 



Primula intermedia is now throwing-up fine trusses of 

 flowers, two and three from a crown ; one truss only just clear 

 of the crown is flowering, bright rosy purple in colour, deeper 

 than when the plants flower at their usual time in spring. It 

 was kept in a cold frame in summer, shaded from bright sun, 

 and well supplied with water. It appears to like strong loam 

 and plenty of moisture, but not over the foliage. The truss 

 now flowering showed itself last spring and remained dormant 

 through the summer ; this I attribute to the plant being kept 

 too dry and warm during the winter previously. The other 

 trusses will no doubt remain stationary over the winter and 

 bloom strongly, as is not infrequent with Auriculas, in spring. 



My seedling Cyclamen peraicnms, the seed of which was sown 

 in March and the plants grown in a frame, have done remark- 

 ably well, quite as well as I have usually had them from autumn 

 and early spring sowing and growing in heat until midsummer. 

 I have several plants in flower of a very serviceable size for 

 decorative purposes. The old plants have been kept in cold 

 frames and shaded from bright sun. They were kept moist and 

 were not repotted when recommencing growth, but a little of 

 the surface soil was removed and replaced with fresh turfy loam 



