HORTUS MORTOLENSIS 261 



catharticus described by Mr. Druce (Kep. Bot. Exch. Club, iii. 1, 

 16) in somewhat curious Latin as a new variety (var. Schroeteri) 

 but dismissed by Mr. Williams as " a farinose form." 



In matters of arrangement, nomenclature, spelling, and other 

 details, Mr. WilUams follows the course adopted in previous parts 

 of his work, which is not that pursued by most botanists and does 

 not, we think, tend to convenience. His notes on the species are 

 however always extremely interesting and show an amount of 

 literary and historical research which no other similar w^ork 

 presents ; and on this account alone his Frodrojnus is w^orthy of 

 consultation by all British botanists. 



Hortus Mortolensis : Alphabetical Catalogue of Plants groiuing in 

 the Garden of the late Sir Thomas Hanhury, K.C.V.O., 

 F.L.S., at La Mortola, Ventimiglia, Italy : compiled by 

 Alw^n Berger, Curator of the Garden. 8vo, cloth, pp. xxiv, 

 467. Plates and portraits. London: West, Newman & Co. 

 Price 5s. 

 In this well-printed volume we have an adequate account of 

 the celebrated Garden which has for many years been a place of 

 pilgrimage for the botanists of Europe, and has attained a world- 

 wide celebrity for the variety and interest of the plants of divers 

 countries which find a home therein. The work built up during 

 the last forty years of his hfe by Sir Thomas Hanbury has been 

 carried on with unabated interest since his death in 1907 by his 

 widow and son, aided by the competent botanist who acts as 

 curator of the garden and to whom we owe the volume under 

 notice, wherein for the first time is given a complete catalogue 

 of the treasures it contains. 



The book however is something more than a catalogue, as the 

 catalogue itself is more than a bare enumeration. Under each 

 genus is given a reference to its position in Engler & Prautl's 

 Pfia7izenfamiUen, and for each species is given in shortened form, 

 the interpretation of which is not always quite obvious but is duly 

 explained in the list of abbreviations, a similar reference to some 

 standard and fairly accessible w^ork. Following the catalogue 

 proper come nearly one hundred pages of notes, dealing w^ith the 

 origin and history of the plants in the garden, their position as 

 regards health and permanence, points relating to their culture, 

 and descriptive notes which include descriptions of some novelties 

 — Agave Frederici, A. mortolensis, n. hybr.. Aloe Straussii, Sphce- 

 ralcea speciosa — and two other new names — Agave calodonta (for 

 A. Scolymus Berger non Karwinski) and ''A. ingens nom. nov." 

 This latter is proposed for what Mr. Berger calls " the normal 

 green type of the species," first discovered by him " on rocks at 

 La Mortola, where it had grown from seeds of the variegated 

 form " described as A. picta by Salm-Dyck, who had not seen the 

 green plant ; we are inclined to doubt whether the new name can 

 stand, as it appears to us that A. picta must be retained for the 

 species, the recently discovered form standing as a variety. 

 Among the most interesting of the notes are those on the Cac- 



