106 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



capricida by Dr. "Wallich, and the latter is a very different plant. It is much to be regretted that Mons. Seringe should 

 not have been aware of Dr. Wallich's catalogue names when he published the Rosaceae in De Candolle's Prodromus, in 

 which case the present plant would have borne the name of C. glaucifolia, so much more appropriate than C. Nepalensis. 

 Dr. Wallich states that the present plant is found in both Nepal and Kamaon. 



Pyxidantiiera barbulata. Michaux {alias Diapcnsia barbulata,, Elliott ; alias Diapensia 

 cuneifolia, Salisbury) . A charming prostrate shrub, with small pink flowers. Native of the 

 United States. Belongs to the Order of Diapensiads. 



Early in the month of May I was gratified on the arrival of the royal mail steamer from New York, with tufts of this 

 charming little plant sent me by Mr. Evans of Radnor, Delaware, gathered in the pine-barrens of New Jersey, as fresh and 

 as full of perfect flowers as'if that day removed from the native soil. These have given me the means of publishing the 

 accompanying figure, of which, as far as we know, no other representation has been given than the very indifferent one of 

 Michaux. The genus we think correctly distinguished from Diapensia by the aristate anthers and few- seeded capsules and 

 habit. It is more difficult to determine the place of this little family. It clearly belongs to the " CoroUiflor^s," yet De 

 Candolle has hitherto passed it by. Brown removes it from Gonvolvulacete, where Jussieu was inclined to place it. 

 Salisbury referred it to Ericacece, but apparently with little reason; and Endlicher says of it, " Ericaceis affinis. " Dr. 

 Lindley places it between Loganiacece and Stilbacece. The rose-coloured buds are as pretty, nestling among the 

 foliage, as the fully expanded white flowers. A small, tufted, procumbent, creeping, and wide-spreading shrub, having a 

 long tap-root in the centre of the tuft : branches terete, slender, younger ones woolly. Leaves alternate, cuneato-oblong, 

 very acute, almost aristate, the young ones woolly at their base within, and hence the specific name of " barbulata." That 

 character disappears in the older portions of the plant. Flowers solitary sessile, from little branches with rosulate leaves. 

 Calyx of five, concave, reddish sepals, as long as the tube of the corolla. Corolla monopetalous, white : tube short : 

 limb of five, rounded-cuneate, spreading, slightly crenated lobes. Stamens in the sinuses of the corolla. Filaments 

 broad, white, almost petalloid, bearing a drooping yellow anther of two almost globose lobes, opening transversely, and 

 bearing an awn on the lower valve. Ovary ovate, with a thickened ring at the base, three-celled, few-seeded (four or 

 five in each cell) attached to a central placenta. Style as long as the tube of the corolla. Stigma of three small 

 spreading rays. We have several times received from the United States flowering tufts of this very small shrub; but 

 although they have been placed under different kinds of treatment, both in the open air and under protection, we have 

 not yet succeeded in keeping them long alive. Dr. Asa Gray informs us that the shrub grows in the warm " pine-barrens " 

 of New Jersey, in low but not wet places, generally on little knolls, fully exposed to the sun, in a soil of pure sand mixed 

 with vegetable mould. We have examined the soil 

 in which it grows, which we find no difficulty in imi- 

 tating, and by attention the proper degree of moisture 

 and temperature can be maintained; but as it has not 

 thriven under our care, we infer that the want of suc- 

 cess is owing to some peculiarity in its nature, together 

 with the difference between the climate of this coun- 

 try and that of its native locality. One thing to be 

 noticed is that our imported plants have certainly 

 been very old, having (comparatively) long wiry roots 

 like the old roots of a heath. It is probable that our 

 cultivation might meet with better success if young 

 plants could be procured, either from cuttings or from 

 seeds. — Bot. Mag., t. 4592. 



Dendrobium villosulum. Wallich. 

 A handsome Indian epiphyte, with rich 

 orange-coloured flowers and rough stems. 

 Flowers in June. Introduced by the Honour- 

 able the East India Company. (Fig. 166.) 



When Dr. Wallich's vast accumulation of botani- 

 cal records was, by the great and wise liberality of 

 the East India Company, dispersed through all civil- 

 ised lands, this plant was a mere fragment, without 

 any one thing to show that it was a Dendrobe at all, 

 beyond its peculiar habit. In the May of 1851 

 Mr. Loddiges produced it in flower ; and we are 



