xxxii 



EOTAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



sand, and the pot as small as possible. The plant is shifted every 

 spring, and the smallest pot it can be got into is still used. 

 The bulb is three parts out of the ground. It will thrive thus, 

 and it is more easy to observe and detach the offsets. One of 

 these, however, will often start from the base of the mother bulb 

 and grow downwards, thus escaping notice ; this must be observed 

 at the time of shifting : the small size of the pot, however, and 

 poor soil will tend greatly to prevent the formation of offsets. If 

 increase is wanted, a free shift into rich soil will produce a forest 

 of them. In all other respects the habit and treatment are those 

 of Hippeastrum aulicum. The temperature must be that of the 

 stove at first, and that of the greenhouse after midsummer. 



Mr. "Wilson Saunders, however, stated that he grew his plants 

 somewhat differently from Major Clarke. He gave his plants 

 more pot room, and thus secured a great number of flowering 

 stems, taking care that the roots should never get too dry when at 

 rest, at which time they were kept in the greenhouse, but removed 

 to the stove when they were ready to make a new growth. 



A nice plant of Illiciwni religiosum was sent by Mr. Veitch, 

 which differed from the more ordinary form in the slightly broader 

 leaves. Mr. "Wilson Saunders remarked that this highly fragrant 

 plant is a great favourite of the Japanese, who place it round their 

 temples from a feeling analogous to that which causes Tews to be 

 planted in our churchyards. This plant may possibly succeed in 

 the open air on the coast in the south of England, where JPitto- 

 sporum Tobira, though in general considered a greenhouse plant, 

 is perfectly hardy and, as at Margate, forms large bushes. The 

 rare Lcelia furfur ace a, of which a figure was published in the ' Bo- 

 tanical Magazine ' in 1842, was exhibited with a single flower only, 

 and it was considered, to be perfectly distinct from L. autumnalis. 

 Cut specimens of Nut tall ia cerasiformis, Torr. and Gray, were ex- 

 hibited from the Society's Gardens, a plant which i3 figured at 

 t. 82 of Eeechey's Voyage. It is a plant of considerable interest 

 in a botanical point of view, from its j^ossessing the habit of a 

 Itibes, its bisexual flowers, the ten stamens in the male flower 

 being inserted in two rows (one attached to the calyx, the other to 

 the tube of the corolla), the fleshy drupes (from two to four to- 

 gether), and the convolute cotyledons. As a very early flowerer, 

 it was thought to be an acquisition to the shrubbery ; and it was 

 accordingly proposed to raise a quantity for distribution. 



A beautiful feathery mould {Botryosporium diffusum) on the 

 stem of some herbaceous plant having been sent up to the 



