February 18, 1S91.] 



Garden and Forest. 



77 



power to germinate. This has been proved this year at Kevv, 

 where seeds of Barbacenia squamata have been ripened. In- 

 deed, we have proof that seeds offer an easy means of intro- 

 ducing these plants, in the fact that some of what may be V. 

 compacta were sent to Kew by the ex-Emperor of Brazil in 



16. — Viola hastata.— See page 76 



1888, and that plants have been raised from them which 

 are now eighteen inches high. 



The mountains of south Brazil being the happy hunting- 

 grounds of the Orchid-collector, it ought not to be difficult to 

 obtain through him seeds of the most striking of these plants. 

 Even the stems may be sent a lon«- voyage with safety, for 

 at Kew and also in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris may now 

 be seen beautiful examples of a most striking species as yet 



undetermined, the stems many times branched, triquetrous, 

 and clothed at the tops with bright green plicate leaves. 

 These have been sent from Brazil within the last three years. 

 Mr. Sander also introduced two years ago a fine specimen, 

 four feet high, of Barbacenia squamata which is now at 



Kew, where it flowered freely all 

 last summer. 



According to Bentham and 

 Hooker there are eighteen species 

 of Barbacenia, all of them Brazilian, 

 and fifty species of Villozia, natives 

 of Brazil, Africa and Madagascar. 

 Some very fine species have lately 

 been found in this last country. 



The cultivated plants of these two 

 genera are as follow : 



Barbacenia purpurea. — This 

 was introduced accidentally, seeds 

 of it having been concealed in a 

 small quantity of soil adhering to 

 some epiphytes sent to Dean Her- 

 bert from Rio Janeiro. Some of 

 the seedlings were sent to Lord Mil- 

 ton, whose garden at Wentworth 

 House was at that time famous, 

 and they flowered in August, 1827. 

 This species is the only one that 

 is generally known in horticulture, 

 and even it is rare. It has a short 

 stem, elegant grassy-green leaves, 

 with spiny margins and tall, single- 

 flowered scapes. The flowers have 

 a trigonous tube, a flat, spreading 

 limb of six lanceolate segments, 

 colored a rich maroon-purple. What 

 is probably merely a large-flowered 

 variety of this is figured in Moore's 

 Magazine of Botany under the 

 name of B. Rogieri, which is said 

 to have been produced by crossing 

 B. purpurea with B. squamata. This 

 plant is cultivated now in conti- 

 nental gardens as B. hybrida. 



B. squamata was introduced 

 from theOrgan Mountains by Veitch 

 of Exeter in 1841. It has the foliage 

 of B. purpurea, but the stem attains 

 a length of several feet and branches. 

 The flowers are produced singly 

 upon thin, wiry scapes, each flower 

 being one and a half inches across 

 and colored bright scarlet. This is 

 almost certain to prove a most use- 

 ful garden plant. It appears to have 

 been lost from gardens until 'intro- 

 duced to Kew last year. 



B. schidigera was introduced 

 from Minas Geraes into Belgium 

 by the collector, De Jonghe, in 1849, 

 and was figured in Lemaire's Jar- 

 din Fleuriste, t. 198. It has a short 

 stem, leaves six inches long, clothed 

 with silky hairs, twisted and brown 

 when old. The scapes are erect, 

 one-flowered, and the flower is two 

 inches long, the limb spreading and 

 colored rich vermilion. 



B. macrantha was also described 

 and figured by Lemaire from plants 

 obtained through De Jonghe in 

 1853. It resembles the last-named 

 in foliage and habit, but differs in 

 having scarcely any flower-scape, 

 and in the flowers being nearly 

 twice as large. Neither this nor 

 the last is in cultivation in England 

 so far as I know. 

 The cultural requirements of Barbacenias are simple. They 

 prefer an airy, sunny position in a warm greenhouse, an open 

 soil such as suits Odontoglossum crispum, and a moderate 

 amount of water. They seed freely, and their seeds vegetate 

 readily if sown on peat in a warm house. 



Vellozia elegans is the only cultivated African speci- 

 men. It was introduced from the Cape or Madagascar in 

 1866, since when it has been in cultivation at Kew. It forms a 



