Plate 237. 



LILIUM NELLGHERRENSE. 



This beautiful new Lily, to which allusion has been made in a previous issue, is of Indian 

 origin, and, while abundantly distinct as a species, is evidently closely related to the white 

 flowered L. longiflorum, a native of Japan. In cultivation the plant attains a height of 

 from 2 to nearly 5 feet, the slender purplish-stained stem being clothed with lanceolate 

 bright green leaves. The flowers are generally solitary, and from 7 to 9 or even 10 inches 

 in length before the bud expands. In shape the flowers are elegantly trumpet-shaped, the 

 somewhat slender tube being of a greenish-yellow colour at the base shading into creamy 

 white at the apex, the three inner segments being nearly pure white in well-developed 

 flowers. The petals are of great substance ; indeed, the flower borne by Mr. G. F. Wilson's 

 plant when exhibited at South Kensington was quite massive in character, the surfaces of 

 the petals being as delicately modelled or sculptured as those of a Phalsenopsis. Mr. James 

 Mcintosh, of Oatlands, informs us that he planted a not over large bulb in one of his 

 Khododendron beds in May last, and it produced a flowering stem nearly 5 feet in height, 

 bearing a fine bloom which measured quite seven inches across the funnel-shaped mouth. 

 The plant appears to possess a vigorous and floriferous constitution, and we have no doubt 

 but that Mr. Mcintosh will be able to report that this truly noble species is capable of 

 enduring the severity of our winter's climate. In one respect this Lily seems peculiar, since 

 some of the bulbs — the strongest — throw up flowering stems after they are planted, while 

 the weaker ones produce underground stems on which new bulbs are formed quite freely. 

 I have only noted this habit in connection with the present species, but possibly its allies, 

 L. Wallichianum and L. Fhillipinensis, may also reproduce themselves in this manner. The 

 Colchester Bulb Company kindly sent me fresh blooms of this — the latest flowering of all 

 Lilies — in October last, from which our plate has been prepared. The Hon. and Eev. J. T. 

 Boscawen exhibited a flowering plant at South Kensington on November, the 8th ult., and 

 another bud on the same plant is not expected to open until shortly before Christmas. 



Plate 238. 



AURICULA "TOPSEY" (Kay). 



This is a very dark self-coloured variety, and a valuable addition to its class. It was 

 raised in Scotland about the same time as the grey-edged variety named " Alexander 

 Meiklejohn," (see plate 215), by the late Mr. Kay. It is one of the darkest flowers in 

 existence, the paste being of the purest white, the tube of the right size, and golden. The 

 truss is symmetrically formed, and it carries as large a number of perfect flowers as any 

 Auricula. One other point in its favour is that the plant is easily propagated, one or two 

 large plants at Loxford Hall had as many as five and six offsets each. This variety is not 

 only much valued in the south, where it is said the florists are not quite so strict as to the 

 points of merit, but also amongst the Manchester and northern florists it is esteemed as one 

 of the best self-coloured Auriculas. 



For the above description, and also for copious specimens from which our plate was 

 prepared, we are indebted to Mr. James Douglas, of Loxford Cottage, Ilford, who has repeatedly 

 exhibited this lovely variety in excellent condition at our Metropolitan exhibitions. As a 

 town flower the Auricula stands in the first rank ; indeed, Mr. B. Simonite's garden, at 

 Sheffield, where a most complete and luxuriant collection of varieties exists, has been de- 

 scribed as one of the most smoke-stained and furnace-blasted spots in the North of England. 



