Plate 19. 



CINERARIAS— JOHN STANDISH AND LADY KILMOREY. 



There are few flowers more attractive for early spring blooming than the Cineraria, and 

 in former years there was always a large number of handsome well-grown specimen plants 

 exhibited, but these seem now to be almost a thing of the past ; perhaps it is considered 

 that more showy plants better occupy their place, or that good varieties can be so easily 

 obtained from seed, that it is not worth while to take the trouble of propagating and growing 

 named varieties, or the encouragement given to them in the way of prizes has been so small 

 that exhibitors have been deterred ; be that as it may, they are certainly by no means so well 

 grown and exhibited as formerly. 



It is quite true that good varieties may be obtained from a packet of seed, but so may bad 

 ones also ; and in a large establishment where hundreds of plants can be grown, and used up, 

 of whatever character they may be, either for decoration or bouquets, either plan may well 

 be adopted ; but to the amateur who loves form, high colour and clearness of marking, this 

 will not do, and he will be always glad to have good sterling varieties, even although their 

 cultivation does entail a little more trouble. 



The Messrs. F. and A. Smith of Dulwich, and more recently Messrs. Standish and Co. 

 of Ascot, have greatly improved the flower, introducing a sort of tricoloured marking into it, 

 and very attractive were some of the plants exhibited by the latter this spring : from among 

 them we have selected two — John Standish (fig. 1), an intensely brilliant magenta purple, and 

 Lady Kilmorey (fig. 2), a beautiful bright mauve ; indeed the latter possesses a colour quite 

 new in this beautiful flower, and we hope to see a still further improvement as the result of 

 the care bestowed on them. 



Plate 20. 

 TOXICOPHL^A SPECTABILIS. 



This handsome and fragrant plant has been exhibited during the present season at 

 South Kensington and the Eegent's Park under the name of Toxicophlcea Thinbergii ; but a 

 more careful examination of it, by Professor Dyer and others, has led them to the conclusion 

 that it is not identical with that plant, but is a more showy and valuable species. 



The old T. Thimberr/ii, with which it was supposed to be identical, is a native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and derives its name from the fact that the aborigines use a decoction of 

 the bark for poisoning their arrows. Very few of the genus are worth cultivating (their 

 culture, however, being of the very easiest nature), but the plant we figure, says a con- 

 temporary, " from its showy leaves, will recall those of some Pittosjwrums, and from its dense 

 masses of fragrant white and Ixora-like blooms, is one that is likely to prove of great value 

 as a warm greenhouse plant" — a verdict which will, we think, be borne out by the accurate 

 and characteristic figure given by Mr. Smith. 



Toxicojjhlcea Tliunbergii was exhibited by Mr. B. S. Williams, of Victoria Nursery, Hol- 

 loway, by whose kindness we figure it, and gained at the Poyal Horticultural Society a first 

 class certificate, and at the Poyal Botanic, a botanical certificate of merit ; it is amongst the 

 new plants announced by Mr. Williams as to be sent out by him in May, and we have no 

 doubt, from its ornamental character, and the easiness of its culture, it will find its way into 

 manjr collections. 



