158 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



merit such as is found to answer for other things of a soft wooded nature that are propagated 

 in spring, and afterwards will do in the open air through the summer, with additional 

 pot-room as required. 



Begonia Socoteana. Sir J. D. Hooker. A handsome dwarf -growing Begonia from 

 the Island of Socotra, with bright pink flowers, blooming at Kew in the latter months of the 

 year. Its season of blooming will make it doubly valuable, coming at a time when flowers 

 are scarce ; but the hot, not over-moist climate from whence it comes points to its re- 

 quiring a brisk heat, with a moderately dry atmosphere during its season, of flowering. In 

 its dwarf compact habit of growth it contrasts with the majority of the species in cul- 

 tivation. 



Erect, stout and succulent, sparingly branched, six to ten inches high, sparsely hairy all over the stems and 

 leaves. Leaves orbicular, peltate, four to seven inches in diameter, centre with a funnel-shaped depression, margin 

 recurved and crenate. Flowers monoecious, bright rose-pink, one female and several males on the same in- 

 florescence ; male flower four inches in diameter ; perianth segments four, obovate ; stamens in a small globose 

 head, filaments very short; anthers clavate, recurved, lip rounded ; female flower smaller than male; perianth 

 segments six, oblong, obtuse. Styles very short, stigmas horseshoe-shaped, arms not twisted, united by a pappilose 

 belt. Ovary three-angled, one angle winged ; placentas entire. — Botanical Magazine, 6555. 



Lastrea Eichardsii, var. multifida. Moore. This most beautiful Fern has been 

 certificated by both the Royal Botanic and Royal Horticultural Societies, and is a very fine 

 kind, deserving of general cultivation by all who have a warm house, which it requires, as it 

 comes from the South Sea Islands, Avhence it was imported by Messrs. V eitch. Mr. Moore 

 describes it as 



One of the handsomest of all known Ferns, differing from the typical form in having the apex and the apices 

 of the pinnae multifidly cut into numerous narrow pointed spreading finger -like lobes. Stipes dark purplish-brown, 

 lamina bright green, oblong lanceolate, with one or two pairs of small abortive pinnas. Pinnae irpwards of four 

 inches long in the broadest part, terminating in a densely-fingered tuft of about fifty long narrow acute divisions, 

 the apex of the frond dividing into two or more branches consisting of about seventy of these small finger-like 

 segments.— Gardener's Chronicle, N.S., vol. xv., p. 104. 



Phunus DiVAiucATA. Sir J. D. Hooher. Amongst the Plum family are several of the 

 most effective hardy flowering plants we possess, so desirable for the display they make in 

 our shrubberies in spring. The subject under notice is one amongst a number that have been 

 long in the country, yet comparatively little known. One advantage in cultivating as 

 many as may be of -these small-growing flowering trees is that they occupy comparatively 

 little room, and do not smother other small-growing plants so much as trees that attain 

 a larger size. In addition to which, the succession of bloom that is secured by cultivating a 

 number of different species is a consideration worth taking into account. The plant under 

 notice has for many years been grown at Kew, and is one amongst the number of fine things 

 there, the beauty of which is never seen by those who only visit the place in summer. It 

 comes from the Caucasus. 



A small tree, ten to twelve feet high, branches numerous, slender, wide-spreading, the lower lying almost flat 

 on the ground, the whole forming a round mass ; branchlets slender, glabrous. Leaves appearing with the flowers, 

 when young lanceolate, aciiminate, serrate, pubescent in the mid-rib and nerves beneath, when fully formed two 

 by one and a half inches long and broad, more ovate, and often subcordate, at the base, finely serrate, and glabrous 

 beneath. Petiole slender, glabrous. Flower three-quarters of an inch in diameter, solitary from the flower-buds, 

 peduncle short, glabrous. Calyx with ovate-lanceolate recurved lobes. Petals rounded, concave. Stamens white, 

 with yellow anthers. Ovaries one or two. — Botanical Magazine, 6519. 



