164 



Garden and t^orest. 



[NOMiER 268. 



received from Sir Mount-Stuart Grant-Duff when Governor at 

 Madras in 1883. Tliere are not many Bauhinias of garden 

 fame, beautiful though the majority of them are in tropical 

 countries. B. Candida is far and away the best of those I 

 have seen, and should it prove floriferous under cultiva- 

 tion, it can hardly fail to become a popular stove-plant. 

 According to botanists, B. Candida is only a form of B. 

 variegata, which is described by Sir Joseph Hooker as "an 

 exceedingly common plant throughout India, but more 

 often seen planted than indigenous ; it forms a small tree, 

 six to twenty feet high, and when covered with blossoms, 

 \vhich appear in March, it resembles a gigantic Pelargo- 

 nium, and is, indeed, a glorious object. . . . The flowers 

 vary greatly in color, from white, variegated with yellow- 

 ish green, to rose, variegated with crimson, cream color 

 and purple." I quote this from the Botanical Magazine, 

 t. 6818, where B. variegata is figured from a plant which 

 flowered in the Palm-house at Kew in March of 1884. B. 

 Candida is recorded to have been cultivated at Kew in 1777, 

 but it does not appear to have flowered or attracted the at- 

 tention of horticulturists then. 



• Senecio sagittifolius. — This plant is described in my 

 notes on the foreign new plants of last year (see page 90). 

 It' is' now flowering in a greenhouse at Kew, and is a most 

 beautiful plant, even as represented by the Kew specimen, 

 which is small compared with what this species becomes. 

 The bold leaves are of a rich deep green, and the flowers 

 are creamy white, with golden disks, and of good form 

 dhd substance. It is a plant of the greatest interest and 

 promise for the garden. 



■ 'BoMAREA FRONDEA is a haudsome climber for the warm 

 greenhouse. There are two specimens of it trained against 

 the roof of the succulent-house at Kew, their stems ten or 

 twelve feet long, being now terminated by elegant clusters 

 of orange-red Alstroemeria-like flowers. Bomareas, when 

 happy, are of first-rate value for the conservatory. They 

 are in flower with us almost all the year round. 



Caraguata cardinalis was shown and certificated last 

 week as a new plant, although it is really an introduction 

 of 1880, when a figure and description of it were published 

 by Monsieur Andre, in Illustration Horticole. In 1882 a 

 plant of it flowered at Kew, having been obtained from 

 Monsieur Linden, who distributed it. Mr. Baker reduces 

 it to a form of C. lingulata, an old garden-plant which is 

 in the West Indies and some parts of South America. Cara- 

 guatas are very similar to TiUandsias in habit and foliage, 

 differing only in having a gamopetalous corolla. The 

 charm of the cultivated species of Caraguata is in their 

 large imbricating leaf-like bracts on the flower-scape and 

 which are colored brfght red. In well-grown plants of 

 some of the kinds, such as, for instance, that called C. car- 

 dinalis, the bracts are six inches long and nearly two inches 

 broad, and they extend up the flower-scape nearly a foot. 

 These plants are among the most ornamental of Brome- 

 liads. 



' Clivia Scarlet Gem. — This is an exceptionally fine va- 

 riety, large in truss and with well-formed, large flowers, 

 colored rich, deep orange, very nearly dark enough to be 

 called red. It was exhibited last week by Messrs. B. S. 

 Williams & Son, and was certificated by the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society. The value of the Clivias as spring-flower- 

 ing, greenhouse or stove plants is now almost universally 

 recognized. The great desideratum is some variety of 

 color in their flowers, for, notwithstanding the many names 

 and glowing descriptions of them, we have not yet anything 

 very different in color from the sole progenitor of the whole 

 of them, namely C. miniata, which was introduced from 

 Natal by Messrs. Backhouse, of York, in 1854. The type, 

 as well as the varieties, are most accommodating in the 

 garden, thriving almost equally well in a hot stove, a warm 

 greenhouse, or even an ordinary conservatory. Good cul- 

 tivation has a most marked effect on the size and color of 

 the flowers of these plants. 



CoRYLOPSis pauciflora is a pretty addition to the culti- 

 vated Japanese Witch-hazels. It was shown in flower by 



Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons last week and was awarded a 

 first-class certificate. The leafless, twiggy branches were 

 laden with yellow flowers, the plants being quite effective 

 enough to be grown in pots for the conservatory in early 

 spring. It is quite hardy. [For an illustration of a fine 

 specimen of this plant, grown in the garden of Dr. Hall, 

 Bristol, Rhode Island, see Garden and Forest, vol. v.,-* p. 

 342.— Ed.] 



Fritillaria aurea, a dwarf species with handsome yel- 

 low flowers, spotted with black and sweet-scented, was 

 shown by Mr. T. S. Ware and obtained a certificate. The 

 forms of F. meleagris are represented by a delightful group 

 grown in pots in the conservatory at Kew, where, mixed 

 with yellow Narcissi, they are a great attraction. Fritilla- 

 rias are a much-neglected genus of hardy plants ; the forth- 

 coming paper on them, by Mr. D. Morris, of Kew, is there- 

 fore likely to win for the genus the attention from cultiva- 

 tors which it undoubtedly deserves. 



ScopoLiA Fladnichiana. — This is a new addition to the 

 genus, and it was shown in flower last week by Mr. George 

 Paul, who says it is a native of central Europe and that' it 

 is hardy on his rockery at Cheshunt. It is a robust-growing 

 plant, about a foot high, with petioled ovate-lanceolate 

 green leaves and axillary pendent bell-shaped flowers, half 

 an inch long and colored dull yellow. The flowers are not 

 hurt by frost. The genus is a small one of some three or 

 four species, one of which is Japanese, another Himalayan. 

 The latter, S. lurida, is an old garden-plant which has been 

 called a Physalis and also a Nicandra. The genus is closely 

 allied to Henbane (Hyoscyamus) and Atropa. There is 

 a figure of S. Fladnichiana in the Journal 0/ Horticulture, -^. 

 241. 



Blue Primroses are one of Mr. G. F. Wilson's hobbies, 

 and he has been so successful in breeding them that he has 

 now numerous varieties of P. acaulis and P. polyanthus 

 which are distinctly blue in shade. He showed a basket 

 of about fifty seedlings recently, all descendants of the one 

 called Scott Wilson, which was raised by him several years 

 ago. This fact is interesting as showing that the fixing of 

 the blue shade is so far accomplished as to repeat itself 

 from seed. A race of blue Primroses as hardy and easy to 

 manage as the common yellow Primroses is something to 

 look forward to, and it has very nearly been reached by 

 Mr. Wilson. 



SiSYRiNCHiuM GRANDiFLORUM is a beautiful hardy spring- 

 flowering Irid, for which we are indebted to North America, 

 but, beautiful and easily managed though it is, very few 

 cultivators here make any use of it. Patches of it in ai 

 sunny spot on the rockery or little beds of- it in sheltered 

 positions on the lawn are very pretty at this time ofyear. 

 The white variety, which, I believe, originated in the Edin- 

 burgh Botanic Gardens, is equally charming. '■ For cultiva- 

 tion in pots to decorate the conservatory in early spring 

 both of these plants may be recommended. I have lately 

 seen some most delightful tufts of them, which suggested 

 tufts of grass crowded with nodding blue Campanulas, the 

 flowers being purple or white and borne on slender stalks 

 a foot high. 



Rhododendron racemosum, or the plant shown by Messrs. 

 Veitch & Sons under this name last year, is now flowering 

 nicely in a cold house at Kew. It is a pretty little plant, 

 an excellent subject for the alpine garden, its height being 

 only about six inches audits flowers pretty little white and 

 rose bells, clothing the branches in racemose fashion. The 

 flowers are fragrant and lasting. There is a plant of it also 

 in flower in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. A figure of it 

 will shortly be published in the Botanical Magazine, when, 

 no doubt, the question of its name will be decided. 



A collection of flower-branches of hardy trees and shrubs, 

 which bloom in early spring at Kew, was a special attrac- 

 tion at the last exhibition held by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in conjunction with the fortnightly meeting. Kew 

 is exceptionally rich in hardy, spring-flowering plants of 

 all kinds, and so charming are these to visitors generally, 

 that special attention is now paid to this, one of -the most 



