Plate 101. 



ANGK2ECUM ELLISII. 



The figure of the rare Orchid here given was last year taken from a plant growing 

 in the rich collection of Mr. Day, of Tottenham. The Tottenham specimen possesses 

 considerable interest as being one of the three original plants brought from Madagascar 

 by the late Eev. W. Ellis, the missionary naturalist. On Mr. Ellis's collection at 

 Hoddesden being broken up, Mr. Salt, of Manchester, bought one plant ; Mr. Day another ; 

 and the third had previously died. A. Ellisii is now to be seen in a few nurseries and 

 private collections, but it is still a very rare plant, and the specimen at Tottenham is far 

 larger and more robust in all its parts than any specimen we have seen elsewhere. The size 

 of our plate will only admit of a very small portion of the plant being represented, but in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle for February 27, 1875, may be seen a portrait of the entire 

 plant, with its great strap-like leaves, aerial roots, and gracefully-drooping flower-stem. 

 Mr. B. S. Williams, of Upper Holloway, in writing of this plant says : — " It is undoubtedly 

 one of the finest species of the genus in cultivation. The leaves are arranged in a distichous 

 manner, and about ten inches in length by upwards of two inches in breadth ; dark green 

 on the upper side, paler below, and unequally bilobed at the apex. Flower spikes some 

 two feet long, arching, bearing from eighteen to twenty-four flowers, pure white, and very 

 fragrant ; sepals and petals reflexed ; spur of the lip six inches long and light cinnamon in 

 colour. The profile of the flower is an exact resemblance of a cockatoo. It requires the 

 temperature of the East Indian ITouse." The above description, however, applies only to the 

 small variety of our nurseries. The flowers, which change to a brown colour where touched 

 or bruised, have an odour of old sherry, and the long spur is full of nectar, which tastes like 

 the fruit of Solanum dulcamara — sweet at first, but with a bitter after-taste. The name 

 Angrajcum is a Latinised form of a Malayan word signifying epiphyte, and every species in 

 the genus is in some way remarkable. Most of the known species bear small flowers, but 

 some others, as A. sesquipedale and A. eburnium, are the grandest ornaments of our stoves, 

 blooming in the winter and lasting in flower for a long time. Most species of Angrsecum 

 come from Madagascar, the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and the south-eastern portions 

 of the continent of Africa. 



Plate 192. 



NEW CARNATIONS. — 1. KING OF YELLOWS. 2. MEPHISTOPHELES. 



The two subjects of our present plate are very different in aspect from each other, 

 but all Carnations, Picotees, and Cloves are florists' varieties of one botanical species, viz., 

 Dianthus caryophyllus — the aromatic-scented double-flowered, whole-coloured varieties 

 being known as Cloves. Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, to whom we are indebted for the 

 specimens figured, considers the first plant to be the finest of the pure yellow selfs, whilst 

 the fine intense coloration of the last variety speaks for itself. There are now so many first- 

 rate varieties of Carnations, Pinks, &c, in cultivation that the selection from the florists' 

 catalogues is really a most difficult matter, so that the list we publish elsewhere in the 

 present number will, we hope, be of some service to amateurs and others who desire to grow 

 these beautiful plants. Carnations should be layered in J uly in good soil composed of two- 

 thirds loam, one-third well-decayed and finely-sifted manure or leaf-mould, with about one- 

 sixth of sand. At the time of layering all weakly or decayed stems must be removed. 



