156 



PAXTON'S FLO WEE GAEDEN. 



finely and equally serrated from near their base to near the point. At the ends of the shoots come 

 the flowers, in a retrograde manner, the uppermost flower appearing first, and others afterwards in 

 succession downwards, so that the lowest flower opens last, the inflorescence therefore being what 

 Botanists called centrifugal. Each flower is seated on a round glaucous stalk, terminated by a 

 smooth hemispherical ovary, bearing 5 upright narrowly triangular teeth. The corolla varies in size 

 from 1| inch across in ill-grown specimens, to nearly 3 inches in the most vigorous flowers ; it is 

 of a deep rich violet-blue, shaped like a balloon before expansion, and like a basin cut half way down 

 into 5 regular sharp triangular lobes when expanded. The capsule opens at the point into 5 loculi- 

 cidal valves, which are opposite the lobes of the calyx, the cells being consequently alternate with 

 the lobes. The seeds are largish, black, oblong, smooth, and winged on one side. 



The first knowledge we had of this plant was from finding it among some dried specimens 

 collected by the Rev. G. H. Yachell, about the neighbourhood of Macao, and the islands adjacent, 

 in December, 1829. Mr. Fortune brought it from Chamoo. At first we took it for a mere variety 

 of the large-flowered Platycode, originally figured by Gmelin, from Siberia, under the name of 

 u Campanula foliis lanceolatis glabris, insequaliter dentatis, utroque extremo integris, ramis uni- 

 floris terminantibus ; " and under that name it has become dispersed through our Gardens. But a 

 further acquaintance with the Chinese plant, and a comparison of it with a wild Dahurian specimen, 

 has satisfied us that it is really quite distinct. The Russian plant is described as having a weak stem, 

 unable to sustain itself erect (" caule surgit simplici pro ratione tenui, hinc inde flexuoso " — Gmelin), 

 which is exactly what was found when it was formerly cultivated in our Gardens ; this, on the 

 contrary, has stiff stems, with almost a woody texture. Then the large-flowered Platycode has but 

 one flower at the end of the stem ("in summitate flos insistit speciosissimus ") or at the most two ; 

 on the contrary our species always has a long raceme, and will even sometimes branch, as is apparent 

 from Mr. Yachell's evidence. Moreover, in the first, the capsule has the form of an inverted cone, 

 in the last it resembles a hemisphere or half egg. We are therefore obliged to distinguish it by a 

 new' name. 



There is a semi-double white variety, figured in the Journal of the Horticultural Society. Both 

 produce seed, by which they may be propagated. 



