328 THE FLOEIST AND 



branches, and dense, evergreen, coriaceous leaves. The flowers which are 

 tri-petalous, bright red, about 2 inches long, are borne at the ends of the 

 branchlets. It was brought from the neighborhood of the Straits of Magel- 

 lan and is hardy at Exeter, in England. Messrs. Veitch, for whom it was 

 collected, have flowered plants from four to eighteen inches high. 



Calyptraria h^mantha. — A melastomaceous plant, with leaves green 

 above, brown beneath sprinkled with red hairs. The flowers are borne in 

 panicles, are reddish purple and very large. It was obtained by M. Schlim, 

 collector for Mr. Linden of Brussels, on the Andes of New Grenada, grow- 

 ing at an altitude of 5000 to 7000 feet. 



Berberis darwinii. — This hardy shrub was discovered within a few 

 years in the island of Chiloe by Mr. Darwin the learned naturalist. Mr. 

 Wm. Lobb, the celebrated collector for Messrs. Veitch of Exeter, England, 

 sent the seeds to them. They exhibited a plant in April, 1851, not three 

 feet high, covered with flowers. The leaves are of a brilliant, shining green, 

 and the orange colored flowers in axillary racemes, make a beautiful contrast. 



Hydrangea japonica, fol. albo variegatis. — This is a variety obtained 

 in Italy by the Messrs. Rovelli, near Milan. The leaves are beautifully 

 variegated at the edges with white, with a light green blotching the darker 

 ground color. We have seen a young plant of this, in the house of Jas. 

 Dundas, Esquire, of this city, which although it had not entirely recovered 

 from the effects of a sea-voyage, yet showed the variegation very distinctly. 



Eriocnema ^nea. — In a former notice of this plant, we said that it had 

 " umbels of inconspicuous flowers." In this we were wrong, having judged 

 from the spike of buds just shooting up when we saw it. Since then we 

 have seen it in bloom. It bears a one-sided cyme of rosy pink flowers 

 very much resembling in size and color those of our native Rhexias, which 

 are the only representatives of the same order, Melastomacese, we have in 

 this part of the United States. 



SOME PRINCIPLES OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, BEARING 

 ON THE CULTURE OF PLANTS. 



(Translated from the Dutch.) 



The sleep of plants is that state of which we said a few words in the be- 

 ginning, and in which we see the parts of flowers or leaves, which are at 



