52 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



alias Cestrinus carthanioides, Cassini). A fragrant tap-rooted perennial ; native of Barbary, 

 belonging to the Cynaraceous division of Composites, and said to have been introduced in 

 the year 1799. (Fig. 39.) 



Iris cretensis. This is a hardy plant from the shores of the Mediterranean, where 

 it was found growing on the hills, at an elevation of 5,000 feet above the sea-level. 

 Mr. Elwes introduced it to cultivation, and bloomed it at Cirencester in November ; its 

 proper season of flowering is said to be in April or May. 



Rhizome, short-creeping, a quarter or a third of an inch in diameter ; tufts crowded, consisting of many leaves 

 and a single central flower. Leaves linear erect, firm in texture, acute, finely striated, not more than a twelfth 

 or an eighth of an inch in breadth, the most developed reaching a length of six or nine inches. Spathe of two 

 lanceolate, acuminate, pale green valves, sometimes as long or longer than the tube. Ovary oblong, sub-sessile within 

 the spathe ; perianth tube green, cylindrical, three or four inches long ; limb bright lilac-purple, two and a half 

 to three inches long ; the segments nearly equal in length, and all furnished with long claws ; the blade of the 

 three outer ones reflexing from its base, veined in the lower half with bright yellow, and furnished with many 

 oblique lines of lilac-purple on a white ground, the blade of the three inner ones rather narrower and permanently 

 erect ; blade of the stigmas an inch and a half long ; crests linear, serrulate on the outer borders. Anthers white, 

 above half an inch long, shorter than the flattened filaments. — Botanical Magazine, 6343. 



Ixora Duffii. A fine and distinct species, discovered by and named after Mr. Duff, 

 of the Sydney Botanic Garden. It has been introduced to this country by Messrs. Veitch. 

 It differs in appearance from all others ; the habit of the plant is stout and bold, particularly 

 the leaves, which are not unlike those of I. Griffithii, a now seldom-met-with kind, which we 

 have seen well grown and grandly bloomed. The flowers are produced in large heads j one we 

 measured on quite a small plant was inches through. Like the other sorts, both species 

 and garden hybrids, of which there are a good many strikingly handsome varieties, I. Duffii 

 will no doubt need to be grown in a high temperature to do justice to it, without which it is 

 not much use attempting their cultivationj- Good fibrous peat, to which has been added a 

 fair quantity of sand, suits them, with a moderately humid atmosphere, as well as plenty of 

 moisture to the roots • a full volume of light, but a thin shade when the sun is powerful. 



Leaves large, upwards of a foot in length. The flowers more nearly resemble those of I. salicifolia than those of 

 any other known species. They grow in large globular cymose heads, six inches or more in diameter, and are of the 

 richest vermilion -red, shaded with crimson. The tube of the corolla is slender, and as finely coloured as the limb, the 

 lobes of which are ellipsoid and slightly reflexed. It is reported to be a native of Ualan, or Strong Island, one of the 

 Caroline group, in the Pacific— Florist and Pomologist, 1878, p. 76. 



Galphimia glauca. Cavanilles. A Mexican hothouse Malpighiad, with handsome 

 glaucous foliage, and an abundance of gay yellow blossoms. Introduced by the Horticultural 

 Society. Flowers in the autumn and early winter. 



A beautiful shrub, easily kept in the form of a bush. The leaves are a deep bluish-green, ovate, obtuse, glaucous 

 on the under side, and furnished with a pair of glands on the edge near the base. The flowers, which are golden-yellow, 

 appear in close terminal racemes, between three and four inches long in strong plants. Each has five distinct petals, 

 with almost exactly the form of a trowel. Grows freely in a mixture of loam and sandy peat, and is easily increased by 

 cuttings of the half -ripened young shoots. It requires to be kept rather dry for a few months, and afterwards, during 

 the growing season, to be freely supplied with moisture both to the roots and in the atmosphere. — Joiirn. Hort. Soc, 

 vol. v., p. 139. With a figure. 



TODEA INTERMEDIA. 



A New Zealand fern of great beauty. Intermediate in character between T. superba and T. hymenophylloides 

 (pellucida). It differs from the latter in the fronds being less abrupt below ; and the feathering down to the base with 

 the gradual shortening pinnae, present in T. superba, is absent in this plant. It is very handsome, requiring the same 

 conditions of shade and moisture, both at the roots and in the atmosphere, that the other species thrive under. — 

 Bull's Catalogue, 1875. 



