NEW 



FLORAL EXHIBITIONS. 



Among the attractions at the exhibition of the Royal 

 Botanical Society held on April 25th were some 

 very remarkable specimens of Mignonette from Messrs. 

 Carter and Co. Some of the larger specimens were 

 fully six feet in height, and formed perfect cones 

 about four feet in diameter at the base ; this extra- 

 ordinary state of floral vigour being partly due to 

 superior culture, but in a still greater degree to tbe 

 careful selection of seed from robust and floriferous 

 varieties. Messrs. Jackman and Son, of Woking, 

 exhibited a charming group of their new seedling 

 varieties of Clematis, and among these we noted one 

 named Countess of Lovelace as being very distinct 

 and beautiful ; the blooms are very large and perfectly 

 double, the colour being a delicately soft and pleasing 

 lilac-purple. A lovely wbite variety named Vesta 

 calls for special notice, the flowers being nearly 

 perfect in form and of a rich satin-like lustre. Sir 

 Garnet Wolseley is also a distinct new kind, the 

 young blooms being of a rich claret colour, while the 

 older flowers fade to blue with a claret-coloured stripe 

 down the centre of each petal. Among the delicate 

 lilac- tinted varieties none pleases us so well as Lady 

 Londesborough, which is a vigorous-habited and most 

 floriferous variety. Messrs. Paul and Son, of the old 

 nurseries, Cheshunt, obtained a first-class certificate 

 for their new seedling Eose, Duke of Connaught, 

 which we now figure and describe for the first time ; 

 and Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, sent a very hand- 

 some Auricula, named Mrs. Purvis, which also obtained 

 a first-class certificate. It belongs to the grey-edged 

 class, the paste is very dense and pure, the body- 

 colour being a rich velvet-like purple which feathers 

 off very regularly into the pure grey margin. Being 

 nearly perfect in form and truss, this variety is likely 

 to be a favourite with growers and exhibitors of these 

 lovely and old-fashioned flowers. 



Among the subjects which obtained first-class certi- 

 ficates at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society on May 3rd, we noted Clematis Proteus, a 

 double rosy variety sent by Mr. C. Noble. Primula 

 cortusoides amcena laciniata, from Mr. R. Dean, which 

 has large cut-pe tailed flowers of the richest magenta 

 colour. Messrs. Osborn and Sou sent their new cut- 

 leaved variety of f< Golden Feather " (Pyrethrum 

 aureum laciniatum) to which, a certificate was voted on 

 account of its value as a plant for edgings and carpet 

 beds. A very distinct and effective variety of Pelar- 



o. 54. 



gonium grandiflorum, named Queen of Stripes, 

 came from Mr. Rawson, of Bromley. It is a dwarf, 

 compact, and floriferous variety, bearing bright rosy 

 flowers, each petal being striped with vermilion scarlet 

 as in some varieties of Picotees. As a decorative 

 greenhouse plant, it is likely to be extensively culti- 

 vated. Mr. C. Turner obtained certificates for two 

 new Auriculas, one being a large-leaved, green-edged 

 variety named Gertrude Knight (Turner), which has 

 a deep purple body-colour and very pure paste, and 

 the other a very dark crimson alpine variety named 

 Chas. Lidgard (Turner), the flowers of which are very 

 brilliant and borne in a compact truss well -elevated 

 above the bright green foliage. 



The chief attraction at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's meeting on the 17th inst. was a very large 

 and beautiful group of hybrid and other Orchids from 

 Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, of the Royal Exotic 

 Nursery, Chelsea, and to which the Davis Medal was 

 unanimously awarded ; while a noble plant of the 

 purple-speckled Odontoglossum ntevium was con- 

 sidered worthy of the gold Banksian Medal. It was 

 in the most vigorous condition, and bore twenty-seven 

 very fine spikes of flowers. Among the hybrids 

 shown in this group we noted Cypripedium 

 silligerum (C. barbato-lajvigatum) and C. Domini- 

 anum (C. Pearcei-caudatum), both robust, free- 

 flowering, and desirable plants. The same exhibitors 

 also had several fresh and healthy plants of the beau- 

 tiful new Boronia elatior, which also received a 

 certificate as a floriferous and graceful decorative 

 plant, a distinction it well deserved. Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence sent a very vigorous plant of Masdevallia 

 Harryana, bearing twelve large magenta-coloured 

 flowers, the extremities of the sepals being shaded with 

 bright carmine ; also, a very distinct variety of 

 Aerides (Larpentce) falcatum, which has buff-coloured 

 sepals and petals, and a bright lilac-purple three-lobed 

 lip. This is called Aerides Mendelii, and obtained a 

 first-class certificate. Messrs. E. G. Henderson and 

 Sons sent a large batch of their new hybrid varieties of 

 Mimulus (M. cuprea-maculatus), some of which were 

 very distinct and beautiful, the blooms being fully two 

 inches in diameter and very boldly blotched with 

 crimson or maroon on a yellow-tinted ground colour. 

 One great merit in this strain is that seedling plants 

 bloom freely in very small pots, and when only two or 

 three inches in height. Mr. Chas. Noble, of Ascot, 

 sent a very robust and beautiful dark blue variety of 

 the well-known C. lanuginosa, to which a first-class 



THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



SERIES.] JUNE, 1876. [N 



