By Mr. William Beattie Booth. 



543 



vary a good deal both in its flowers and foliage, which has 

 given occasion to suppose there were two varieties of it in 

 cultivation, namely the Large Myrtle-leaved and Small 

 Myrtle-leaved. The latter name however is only applicable to 

 it when the plants are in a young state. They then have weak 

 shoots, with leaves not much larger than those of the com- 

 mon Myrtle, but afterwards they lose this character, become 

 more vigorous, and the supposed two varieties cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from one another. It seems to be rather tender, 

 and succeeds best when the plants are kept warm and for- 

 warded in their growth in the spring. 



The branches are numerous and spreading, with convex, ovate, acuminate, 

 sharply, serrated dark green leaves, generally about 2\ inches long, and rather 

 more than an inch broad, much twisted and recurved, with a strong prominent 

 pale green midrib. The petioles scarcely half an inch long, nearly round, and of 

 a brownish green on the exposed side. Flower-buds roundish oval, somewhat 

 pointed ; with large roundish pointed pale green slightly pubescent scales. The 

 flowers are very freely produced, and large in proportion to the size of the plant, 

 few of them being less than 3 inches in diameter. They are particularly hand- 

 some, and similar in their formation to those of the Double White. On first open- 

 ing they appear of a deep rose colour, but when expanded become paler. The 

 petals are numerous, and regularly arranged over one another, forming a pecu- 

 liarly nice, even, and compact flower, faintly veined with red. The exterior 

 petals are of a roundish form, always darker in colour than the interior ones. 

 They are each about an inch broad, and become recurved after the flower has 

 been sometime open. The interior petals are much smaller and pointed, and 

 of a pale rose colour ; at first they are erect, concave, and closely set together, so 

 that the centre of the flower is considerably elevated ; they afterwards expand 

 almost flat, and leave a little hollow space in the centre, which is very often hidden 

 by small, narrow, irregularly formed petals, with a yellowish tip, having the 

 appearance of stamina. The flowers continue a long time in perfection, and are 

 slightly fragrant. 



It is generally believed to have been first imported in 1808, 

 for the Royal Garden, Kew. A figure of it is given in the 

 Botanical Magazine, t. 1670, made from a plant which flow- 

 ered in the collection of Messrs. Chandler, at Vauxhall, in 

 1814. Another will be found in Curtis's Monograph, p. 5, 



