42 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



Codleum (Croton) Disraeli. One of the very best of the numerous new intro- 

 ductions of these plants that have taken place in recent years. The leaves are variable 

 and singular in shape,, beautiful in colour, and produced closely on the shoots, which gives 

 the plant a close, dense appearance — a property somewhat wanting in many of the newer 

 kinds. It was imported by Messrs. Veitch, from the South Sea Islands. 



It forms an erect-growing bush. Leaves about a foot in length, marked on a green ground-colour with golden 

 ribs and veins, broadish at the base, throwing out two side lobes of moderate development ; the middle lobe con- 

 tracted in the lower portion, and broader upwards, is considerably longer than the others, so that the leaves, when 

 fully developed, are more or less halberd-shaped. But the whole of the leaves are not thus regular in shape. — 

 Gardener's Chronicle, N.S., vol. iv., p. 420. 



Odontoglossum Londesborotjghianum. A very handsome Orchid from Mexico — we 

 believe one of Messrs Backhouse's (of York) importations. It was flowered by Mr. Denning, 

 in Lord Londesborouglrs famous collection, and exhibited at a meeting of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, where it received a first-class certificate. It is a very bright pleasing flower, 

 something in the way of O. Bictoneiise. 



Pseudo-bulbs, much rounded. Flowers racemose, individually large; frequently one and a half inches in diameter. 

 Sepals and petals broad, clear yellow, spotted and barred with brown. Lip shaped like O. citrosmum, but on each side 

 of the base is a small, blunt, narrow, retrorse auricle. A nearly triangular concave callus on the claw, and a tubercle 

 on each side before it. Claw yellow, blotched with brown. Column wingless, and curved. — Gardener's Chronicle, 

 N.S., vol. vi., p. 772. 



Vkiesia Reglna. This is no doubt not only one of the very finest species of Vriesia 

 ever introduced to Europe, but also ranks amongst the grandest of- the Bromeliaceous order. 

 When it first flowered, in the garden of the Emperor of Austria, at Vienna, it made quite a 

 sensation. The plant is of much larger proportions than most of the species with which we 

 are acquainted. The temperature of a warm* orchid-house, with soil such as is used for 

 Epiphytal Orchids, will suit it.- 



The leaves attain a length of four feet by seven inches in breadth. The flower-stalks- reach a height of seven feet. 

 The flowers are arranged in two-ranked curved spikes, forming a branched panicle, as in several other species ; white 

 issuing from rose-coloured bracts, giving a pleasing contrast': they are agreeably fragrant. It is a native of Rio Janeiro, 

 where it is said to grow in clefts of the rocks. — Gardener's' Chronicle, N.S., vol. iii., p. 234 (with Fig.). 



Rhodoleia Championi. Hooker. A greenhouse shrub from Hong Kong of exquisite 

 beauty, with heads of flowers surrounded by numerous large closely-packed floral leaves, of a 

 brilliant deep rose colour. 



Captain Champion, writing from Hong Kong, December, 1849, says : "This is admitted by all here to be the 

 handsomest of Hong Kong flowering trees, and new to Europeans till I discovered it in February last. It is a small 

 tree, but would probably, like the Camellia, blossom 'as a shrub profusely, each branch bearing six to eight flowers. 

 Flower-heads at its extremity, and these two and a half inches in diameter. Outer leaflets of involucre about twelve. 

 Inner leaflets of involucre, rose-coloured, about eighteen. Fruit- of five radiating capsules, each about the size of a 

 small hazel-nut, birostrate, two-celled, many-seeded ; in the young state crowned by two long filiform styles. Leaves 

 long, petiolated, bright green, glaucous beneath. Flowers in February, and the fruit only attains its full size and 

 ripens in September, splitting, when ripe, from the apex downwards. Conditions of growth exactly those of Camellia 

 Japonica, I should say, and the tree of about the same degree of hardihood. There was a tree of Camellia Japonica in 

 flower in the same wood, also'C. oleifera, and another probably new species, together with Dr. Siebold's Benthamia, a 

 new and very fine Pergularia, an Omus, six or seven Oaks, a Chestnut, a Liquid combar, and other rare trees." — 

 Botanical Magazine, t. 4509. 



The account given in the Botanical Magazine of this extraordinary genus is not sufficient to enable us to offer any 

 opinion upon its affinity ; but it appears to be the finest flowering shrub that has reached England since the arrival of 

 the Camellia itself. Mr. Bentham compares it to Sedgwickia, an Asiatic genus unknown in gardens ; and it must he 

 confessed that in the scaly buds of the two there is a very striking resemblance. We should, however, observe that 

 the leaves on the live plants received at the nursery of Messrs. Standish, of Bagshot, have not at all the texture or 

 appearance of those of Sedgivic'cia, but in those respects are similar to Viburnum Tinus. 



