92 



PAXTOX'S FLOWER GARDEX. 



Dr. Blume, and now before us, not being even a member of the genus, but having been separated by 

 Hie learned Dutchman himself as a Dactyliote. {Museum Bot. Lugcl. Bat., p. 18.) It is a poor 

 insignificant thing, not worth cultivation. This, on the contrary, is one of the most noble-looking 

 plants in India. Its massive leaves are nearly a foot long, and 4 or 5 inches broad, of a firm leathery 

 texture, and of the richest green. From the ends of the branches hang down panicles, from 15 to 18 

 inches long, of rich glossy rose-coloured flowers, with purple petals and large many-ribbed bracts of 

 the richest and clearest pink. Of the effect thus produced, the accompanying figure gives a correct, 

 and in no degree exaggerated, illustration ; it however only shows the lower part of a panicle — all 

 that the page can be made to contain. 



It is strange that so noble a form of vegetation should have escaped the acute eyes of the Dutch 

 botanists ; and yet we must conclude that it has done so, for no trace of it appears among the five 

 or six and twenty species they have published. It certainly belongs to the section to which Blume 

 gives the name of Sarcoplacuntia, well characterised by a short truncate calyx and fleshy placentas; 

 in fact is very nearly allied to the Showy Medinill (M. speciosa) itself. That such a plant as this 

 should have remained unnoticed in an island so much explored as Java, is one of the best illustrations 

 that could be produced of the inexhaustible richness of vegetation in the Malay forests. 



"What the true cultivation of this Medinill should be, can hardly be said to have been ascertained. 

 Messrs. Yeitch, we believe, have treated it as a hardy stove or warm green-house plant. According 

 to Dr. Blume the species are mostly mountain plants (Rump/da, vol. i. pp. 11. &c), and Reinwardt 

 places Melastomads srenerally in such places. Speaking of the forests above 3000 feet in 

 elevation above the sea, the latter author says : — "The singular Pitcher-plant here, hangs down from 

 the lofty branches, and the broad and elegantly divided fronds of a beautiful Fern, the Dipteris, rise 

 upon their slender stems. This elevated situation is more particularly characterised by the different 

 kinds of laurels which here predominate. Java is especially rich in laurels, as well as in figs ; these, 

 with some Eugenias and other Myrtaceous plants, with a very large Gardenia, perpetually in flower, 

 cover everywhere the highest spots in the mountains of India, associated with tall Melastomas, 

 Rhododendrons, Magnolias filling the air with their fragrant perfume, and several sorts of oak. 

 Intermixed with these, Orchids constantly prevail, and in great variety. It is only where the forest of 

 laurels ceases, and the summit of the mountains becomes narrower and can no longer retain a covering 

 of vegetable mould, when the air becomes more rarefied and colder, at an elevation of more than 

 7000 feet, that the appearance of the forest trees changes." — {Journal of the Horticultural Society, 

 vol. iv. p. 232.) 



