234 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 381. 



across, semi-double, elegant and charming, both in bud 

 and when fully expanded. I counted twenty and more 

 open flowers on each of many of the clusters. Another 

 new Rose of great promise is Paul's Carmine Pillar, of which 

 tine examples were shown. The flowers are liorne singly 

 on the ends of the branches, each flower being a cup 

 nearly five inches across, quite single and of a rich rose- 

 crimson color, with a large white eye. It was shown by 

 G. Paul & Son. Another attractive Rose was a new one of 

 last year, named Duke of York, a China bedder and winter 

 flowerer. Messrs. W. Paul & Son showed specimens of it 

 in pots, vi^hich were flowering for the second time this year, 

 the flowers being clustered, small, but pretty, both in bud 

 and when expanded, their color a bright rose-crimson. 



Among the many Rhododendrons shown, the most beau- 

 tiful by far was the Mollis hybrid named Anthony Koster, 

 the trusses being large and crowded, the flowers MoUis- 

 like in substance and form, and the color a glistening 

 lemon-yellow. There are hundreds of Ghent and Mollis 

 Azaleas in flower at Kew now, but not one that is so pleas- 

 ing in all respects as this. It was shown by Messrs. J. 

 Veitch & Sons. Magnolia Watsoni is not first-class as a 

 pot-plant, at any rate as shown by Messrs. Veitch. The 

 reverse may be said of the pretty hybrid shrubby Spira-a 

 named Van Houttei, which was shown in pots as bushes a 

 yard through and covered with elegant wands of May-like 

 flowers. It is the best of the Spirseas in flower in the open 

 at Kew now. It is a hybrid between S. trilobata and 

 another, probably S. confusa, and is often met with in gar- 

 dens under the latter name. 



Lilac, Souvenir de L. Spaih, was the best of all the varie- 

 ties of Lilac shown, its enormous racemes of large plum- 

 purple flowers being very much admired. The best of the 

 white varieties was Marie Legraye. New varieties of Tree 

 Pfeony, from Messrs. Kelway, of Langport, whose exhibit 

 of hardy plants generally was a great attraction ; some 

 splendid specimens of Streptosolen Jamesoni, from Mr. 

 Bennett-Poe, and a collection of fifty-six varieties of Darwin 

 Tulips, from Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, were among the 

 most noteworthy of the exhibits of hardy plants. 



Clerodendron ATriori, a variety of Clerodendron Bal- 

 fouri, with flecks of red in the white calyx, is likely to find 

 favor as a novelty with growers of stove climbers. Messrs. 

 Veitch's seedling Phyllocacti are an advance upon what we 

 have had hitherto among this beautiful but neglected sec- 

 tion of Cacti. Their improved races of Streptocarpi are 

 equally progressive, new colors as well as new shapes be- 

 ing observable among the large number of seedlings shown 

 this year. What they call S. gratus, however, is nothing 

 but S. Watsoni showing greater variety of color. These 

 are remarkable for their large clusters of flowers and their 

 large somewhat "floppy" leaves. 



Clematis. — Messrs. G. Jackman & Son showed a set of 

 six varieties of the new hybrid Clematis, raised from C. 

 coccinea and a large-flowered variety named Star of India. 

 I noted one of them last year when the variety named 

 Countess of Onslow was awarded a iirst-class certificate by 

 the Royal Horticultural Society. The other five are Duchess 

 of York, pink ; Duchess of Albany, rosy mauve ; Grace 

 Darling, mauve; Sir Trevor Lawrence, crimson, and Crim- 

 son Beauty, deep red, with a purplish shade. The flowers 

 of all these have the petals arranged so as to be almost 

 tubular at the base, and they are thick and fleshy, as in C. 

 coccinea, but twice or thrice as large. Messrs. R. Smith & 

 Sons again showed a grand group of specimens of the 

 large-flowered Clematis, which, if not quite equal to those 

 shown last year, were yet of such quality as to excite ad- 

 miration, if not envy. 



MiLTONOPSis Bleuii virginalis would be better — that is, 

 more correctly — designated if called Miltonia vexillaria vir- 

 ginalis. Whatever its origin, it is simply a white-flowered 

 form of the last-named, a superb one, truly, but bearing no 

 evidences of its reputed hybrid origin. It was shown by 

 Monsieur Charles Vuysteke, of Belgium, and obtained a 

 first-class certificate. The flowers were four inches across, 



pure white, save a small dash of rose-purple at the base of 

 the petals and a star-like blotch of pale brown at the base 

 of the lip. 



Epidendrum Stamfordianum was shown in magnificent 

 condition by Sir Trevor Lawrence, a big plant bearing 

 about a dozen strong branching spikes of bloom, springing 

 from the bases, and not from the apices of the pseudo-bulbs, 

 a character peculiar to this one species in the large genus 

 Epidendrum. The flowers are colored pale yellow and red, 

 and are fragrant. Masdevallia n ycterina was shown by Baron 

 Schroeder with three hundred flowers arranged round the 

 bases of the leaves like a collar. It was a fine example of 

 cultural skill. The beautiful Cattleya Hippolyta was shown 

 by Monsieur Hye-Leysen with a spike two feet high bear- 

 ing eight flowers. Miltonia Phatenopsis, Princess of Wales, 

 a remarkable variety, with the lip almost wholly crimson, 

 was shown by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. 



Cypripedium Stonei platyt/enium was represented by a fine 

 plant bearing two scapes, each with two flowers. It is said 

 to be the largest of the very few plants of this rarity known 

 to be in cultivation, and the price it was valued at by deal- 

 ers was eight hundred guineas ! It was awarded a first- 

 class certificate, a superfluous distinction in this case. 



The group of new stove and greenhouse plants exhibited 

 by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. contained fine specimens of 

 their Dracaena Sanderiana, D. Godseftiana (awarded a first- 

 class certificate), Heliconia illustris rubricaulis, Ludovia 

 crenifolia. Begonia Rajah, Sarracenias, Darlingtonia, Ari- 

 saema fimbriata, etc. 



Altogether there was a marked absence of really new and 

 striking plants this year, compared with other years. I 

 think connoisseurs were attracted most by an indifferently 

 flowered plant of Incarvillea Delavayi, shown by Sir Tre- 

 vor Lawrence, I believe, for the first time in England, 

 although well known to Continental growers. It received 

 a first-class certificate. 



Leschenaultia biloba major. — A large group of this beau- 

 tiful blue-flowered Australian shrub was shown by Messrs. 

 Balchin, of Hassocks, in Sussex, now famous for the culti- 

 vation of this and other rare greenhouse plants. Nothing 

 could be more effective among blue-flowered plants than 

 this Leschenaultia as grown at Hassocks, and few plants 

 are more deplorable than it is when grown with the ordi- 

 nary greenhouse collection. We cannot grow a presenta- 

 ble specimen of it at Kew. 



Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums were exceptionally good as 

 shown by Mr. Jones, of the Ryecroft Nurseries, the plants 

 being dwarf and crowded with flowers, all double, and of 

 every shade of color between white and crimson. Show 

 Pelargoniums were also well represented by groups of 

 large specimens from Mr. Jones and Mr. Charles Turner, of 

 Slough. The plants from the latter establishment were 

 fully a yard across, and profusely flowered as only Mr. 

 Turner knows how to flower them. 



Messrs. T. Rivers & Sons, of Sawbridgeworth, maintained 

 their great reputation as cultivators of exhibition fruit by 

 contributing a group of Nectarines grown in twelve-inch 

 pots, each plant being about four feet high, covered with 

 fine healthy leaves and bearing about twenty large beauti- 

 fuU}' finished fruits. This exhibit deservedly won the only 

 gold medal awarded. 



There were great collections of fruit of all kinds, vegeta- 

 bles, herbaceous plants. Ferns, Caladiums, Pansies, Bego- 

 nias ; in fact, of every class of plant that flnds favor with 

 cultivators, and all first-class. The Roses were, however, 

 the feature of the exhibition. 



London. l^- WatSOn. 



Plant Notes. 



Iris macrantha. — This Iris, introduced by Max Leichtlin 

 two years since, is an I. Germanica with very broad foliage 

 and very bold flowers of the largest size, superior in the 

 latter respect to any Iris yet introduced. It is, of course, a 

 bearded Iris, and the large standards are light blue-purple. 



