DECEMBER. 



169 



CLEMATIS FORTUNE!. 



WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



This magnificent hardy climber is one of the most recent introductions of 

 Mr. Fortune from Japan, and one of the most remarkable. It has been 

 flowered by Mr. Standish, of the Royal Nursery, Ascot, during the past 

 summer, and at the exhibitions at that season was one of the " lions" amongst 

 new plants. It is indeed a very distinct and very handsome plant, and we 

 owe our obligations to Mr. Standish for the opportunity of figuring it. 



As far as can be judged from the aspect of the imported plants, it has very much 

 resemblance to the' other Chinese and Japanese species in its habit and general 

 appearance. The leaves of the stem somewhat resemble those of C. lanuginosa, 

 and consist of three (occasionally one) coriaceous, cordate, very blunt leaflets ; 

 while beneath the flowers is placed, in all the blossoms we have seen, a whorl 

 of six or eight simple (occasionally ternate) stalked leaflets, of similar cha- 

 racter to those composing the true leaves, and forming a kind of involucre. 



The flowers are quite unique. They are about 6 inches across, double, 

 white, and having a delicious neroli or orange-blossom fragrance. The sepals 

 are not only remarkable for their number, but also for their form, which is 

 oblong-lanceolate, with a small thickened point, and a distinct claw or footstalk 

 an inch long, the broader lamina being about If inch in length. Several 

 (some six or eight) series of these sepals go to form the flower, and in their 

 young state these incurve over the silky tails of the ovaries, much as the 

 florets of the fine varieties of Chrysanthemums are made to do under high 

 cultivation. Gradually, however, they unfold, and the full-blown flowers 

 consist of a broad multiserial border of these peculiar sepals, surrounding a 

 spreading tuft of greenish ovaries, each one terminating in a short caudex or 

 tail, which is silky, from its covering of fine, soft, tawny hairs. The sepals 

 have a central and a few evident lateral reticulating veins. ^ They are slightly 

 downy externally, and the outermost ones are also greenish on the exterior 

 surface; as indeed they are throughout when quite young, but they gradually 

 bleach as the parts become fully expanded, white} as they become older, they 

 acquire a faint roseate tinge. The flowers continue for a considerable time in 

 perfection. 



Such is a description of this fine plant, as flowered on the imported specimen, 

 and therefore less perfect than, it may be presumed, it will become when it is 

 brought under the influence of high cultivation, such as English gardeners 

 know how to practise. As a hardy climbing shrub it will have an especial 

 value ; but we may also look to see its massive scented blossoms profusely 

 adorning bushes trained for the exhibition-table, when " some new thing" is 

 most urgently required to impart variety to what is year by year becoming- 

 more and more drearily monotonous. Why don't the authorities offer prizes 

 to bring out plants which are not seen at every show year after year ? 



NEW HYACINTHS. 



Ik the Florist and Pomologist of last November, Mr. Cutbush pub- 

 lished an article on new Hyacinths. From the perusal of that article the con- 

 viction is forced on me that he is not yet resigned to the defeat he sustained 

 at the Royal Horticultural Society's Hyacinth Show in March last. 



Averse as I am to controversy, it appears to me, after duly weighing the 



VOL. II. n 



