NINETEENTH CENTURY 277 



which soon became popular in this country, such as Abutilon 

 striata, which came in 1837. The Poinsettias arrived about 

 the same time, and Dipladenias soon after. Eucharis ama- 

 zonica was brought in 1856, and Bougainvilleas a few years 

 later, and Tropceolum speciosum in 1846. Veitch, of Exeter, 

 was awarded a certificate of merit for this last at a Royal 

 Horticultural Show in 1847, and this " showy Indian Cress " 

 was welcomed as a great acquisition to green-house climbers. 

 How astonished would those who first rejoiced over it be at 

 the sight of a Scotch shooting-lodge or farm-house perfectly 

 smothered with its flaming blossoms ! 



Among enthusiastic discoverers of new plants during the 

 nineteenth century, Frederick W. Burbidge must not be for- 

 gotten, although his useful contributions to garden literature, 

 and his work for many years as Curator of the gardens of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, are perhaps better known than his 

 floral travels. 1 The journey he undertook to Borneo was 

 fruitful in new species, and besides bringing home a plentiful 

 supply of orchids and new Pitcher plants (Nepenthes Burbidgei, 

 N. Rajah, and N. bicalcarata), he added a beautiful genus to 

 hot-house plants named " Burbidgea." Not only the farthest 

 parts of the earth have been ransacked to fill English gardens, 

 but the wilder countries nearer home have contributed their 

 share. Asia Minor had proved a fruitful source in the sixteenth 

 century, but after three hundred years it still had something 

 to disclose, when Mr. Edward Whittall penetrated its more 

 mountainous districts. Some of the charming big snowdrops, 

 and the large-sized " Glory of the Snow " (Chionodoxa gigantea 

 and Alleni), and other spring-flowering bulbs, were found by 

 him on the high tableland of the interior about 1890, and are 

 already quite at home in England. 



The work of collecting in all countries continued with un- 

 abated vigour all through the nineteenth century, and it would 

 be impossible in a general history even to name all the botanists 

 who were engaged in the work, or to mention half the plants 

 this country owes to them. In addition to English workers, 



1 Cultivated Plants : Their Propagation and Improvement, by F. W. 

 Burbidge. Blackwood, 1877, etc. The Gardens of the Sun, 1879, gives 

 an account of his travels. 



