170 



PAXTOX'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



Primula capitata. Hooker. A hardy herbaceous plant, with close round heads of deep 

 purple blossoms. Native of the Himalayas. Introduced to Kew. Mowers in October. 



Raised at the Royal Gardens of Kew, from seeds sent by Dr. Hooker, which were gathered in June, 1849, from 

 plants growing on gravelly banks at Lachen, Sikkim-Himalaya, one of the Passes into Thibet; elevation 10,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. It is, although of the same group of Primulce with the P. dcnticulata of the Nepal mountains 

 and our own P. farinosa of the north of England and Scotland,— a remarkable and well-defined species, the flowers 

 being actually sessile, and so crowded as to form a compact globose head, like that of many species of Allium or 

 Armeria. Dr. Hooker observed that it yields a faint fragrance, which it does in cultivation ; but this, in part at least, 

 is derived from the farinaceous substance of the leaves and flowers. It flowers with us in a pot in the rock-border. 

 Scape often a foot long, moderately stout and thickened upwards, mealy, terminated by a dense globose head of flowers, 

 bracteated at the base, the outer bracteas lanceolate, and forming a small reflexed involucre. Calyx sessile, mealy, 

 large, campanulate, deeply five-fid, the segments ovate, acuminate, subpatent. Corolla with the tube nearly twice 

 as long as the calyx, almost white, mealy, a little inflated upwards, and transversely wrinkled ; limb of five, obcordate, 

 spreading lobes, deep purple above, pale beneath. In habit this approaches our native species, P. farinosa and 

 P. Scotica; and although it is a native of a high region, and consequently subjected to a great degree of 



cold, yet, like other Alpine species of the genus, it will 

 probably require some slight protection in this climate, espe- 

 cially under our artificial mode of cultivation. 



PflALJitfOPSTS EQTJESTRIS (ROSEA) LEUCAPSIS. 



This pretty Phalsenopsis appears to have been 

 bloomed by Mr. G. T. Barber, Old Hall, Spon- 

 don, Derby, from whom Professor Reichenbach 

 received flowers, and thus describes it — ■ 



A very distinct variety, having a white callus with brown 

 dots, but no brown on the base of the lip. — Gardeners 

 Chronicle, N.S., vol. xv., p. 688. 



Calceolaria cuneiformis. Ruiz and Pavon. 

 A greenhouse shriib, with pale lemon-coloured 

 flowers, from Bolivia. Blossoms, during all the 

 autumn and winter. Introduced by the Horti- 

 cultural Society. (Fig. 105.) 



Raised from seeds purchased from Mr. Thomas Bridges, 

 in 1846. This, in its wild state, is a stiff, short-branched 

 bush, with small wedge-shaped leaves, covered with white 

 hairs on the under side. It bears two or three flowers at 

 the end of each branch, which is closely covered with short, 

 rough hairs. In its cultivated state it has much larger and 

 softer leaves, and weaker branches. The flowers are about as large as those of O. intcgrifolia, and of a pale lemon- 

 colour. It is a very pretty greenhouse plant, with a better habit than the old shrubby Calceolarias. Journal of Hort. 

 Soc, in. p 242. 



Cordyline Sieboldii. Planc/wn. [alias Dracaena javanica Ktmthj alias Sanseviera 

 javanica Blume.) A stove shrub, with small panicles of pale green flowers, and rich spotted leaves, 

 Belongs to Lilyworts. Native of Java. Plowered by Mr. Yan Houtte. 



This plant has been recently introduced from Java, by Dr. von Siebold. The leaves are of a very dark green colour, 

 firm, convex, recurved, and beautifully variegated with pale green roundish blotches. The flowers are something like those 

 of a Hyacinth in form, but are much smaller, and in terminal bunches. It gained a prize at the Exhibition of Flowers 



