GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 



Veiesia Falkenbeugii. A handsome and distinct species of this very interesting 

 genus of Epiphytes. 



The leaves are stout and much recurved. The floral bracts, crimson and green in colour, are closely packed 

 on a moderately tall flower-spike ; the flowers are white. It will thrive in an ordinary stove, in a moderate sized 

 pot filled with porous material, such as is used for Orchids. 



Astilbe Thtjnbergii. A very handsome herbaceous plant from Japan, of much 

 stronger habit than A. Japonica. It was shown by Messrs. Veitch at one of the fortnightly 

 meetings at South Kensington in May, 1881, and received a first-class certificate. 



The stout spreading leaves are pinnate in form. The flower-spike is about two feet high, erect and branching, 

 at the base the branches assume a horizontal position ; the whole densely clothed with the short tufted filaments 

 peculiar to the genus, much more closely packed than in A. Japonica ; they are pure white in colour. 



Ccelogyne cristata alba. A pure white form of: the well-known C. cristata; the 

 purity of its flowers cannot fail to make it a favourite with Orchid-growers, particularly 

 as it will be an acquisition for using in arrangements of cut flowers, especially bouquets, 

 for which purpose its elegant informal shape particularly befits it. The Ccelogynes of 

 this section are easily grown plants, not requiring strong heat, the temperature of an 

 intermediate house or cool stove doing better for them than more warmth; they like 

 abundance of water whilst growing. 



Emgeron multtrodiatcs. Sir J. D. Hooker. This plant is from the Himalayas, 

 being found at an elevation up to 9,000 feet. It bloomed at Kew in June, 1880. The 

 flowers, bright purple, are borne on branching stems some two feet in height. It is a 

 desirable addition to the class of plants to which it belongs, and will most likely succeed 

 under the treatment found to answer for free growing hardy subjects. 



Leaves radicle when present usually four to eight inches long, oblanceolate, narrowed into a rather long 

 petiole, toothed, three to five nerved ; cauline ovate-lanceolate from a broad sessile and often subauricled or semi- 

 amplexicaul base, acuminate, erect or recurved. Heads 'solitary on the ends of long peduncles, two or two and a 

 half inches in diameter, very bright purple ; disk yellow. Involucre broadly hemispherical ; bracts slender, 

 pubescent, or tomentose, ciliate. Ligules three-fourths of an inch long, in two or three series, very slender, tube 

 glabrous. Disk-flowers glabrous. Achenes small, flattened, slightly silky ; pappus scanty, hairs scabrid, with an 

 obscure ring of small outer ones.— Botanical Magazine, 6530. 



Salvia Bethellii. This handsome plant was raised from seed by Mr. Bethell, now 

 in charge of Sir R. Wallace's fine garden at Sudbourne Hall, Suffolk. If not identical, it is 

 very nearly allied to S. involucrata; it is a handsome kind, rose-coloured, suffused with 

 white, and makes an excellent autumn or winter flowering greenhouse plant, requiring treat- 



