THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



The Gem, white shaded with pink, and crimson at the 

 base, a fine variety, with broad, well-rounded petals ; 

 from Mr. Henry Little, Hillingdon Court, Uxbridge. 

 Cyclamen Persicum, Duke of Connaught, a fine addition 

 to the Giganteum section, with large, well-formed rosy- 

 hued blossoms, with a rich crimson base ; from Mr. H. 

 B. Smith, Ealing Dean Nursery. H. P. Rose, Charles 

 Darwin, a full, well-built, deep maroon-coloured flower, 

 not overburdened with scent, but yet a good and useful 

 flower; from Messrs. Paul and Son, the Old Nurseries, 

 Cheshunt. And to the following Cinerarias, from Mr. 

 J. James, Redlees, Isleworth, for Cinerarias, Master 

 Harold, having a bold rosy-crimson margin and a white 

 ring round the disc ; Mrs. Bland, an edged flower 

 with a rosy-purple margin, and black disc ; and Earl of 

 Beaconsfield, a rich velvety-purple self of fine form. 



At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 on April 9th, attractive novelties were again to the fore, 

 several things being staged of great interest. A First- 

 class Certificate of Merit was awarded to Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, Bart., M.P., Burford Lodge, Dorking, for 

 Masdevallia Bella, described by the Gardeners Chronicle 

 as an extraordinary species of the Chimera type, with 

 two large, triangular-shaped, shining, dark-brown, 

 yellow-spotted flowers, with three brown tails in each 

 flower, measuring six inches in length, and a white 

 label] um ; certainly a most unusual form, the culture of 

 which did much credit to Mr. Spyers, Sir Trevor's 

 Orchid cultivator. A similar award was made to Den- 

 drobium Crassinode, var. album, also from Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, a white flowered form of this beautiful and 

 distinct Indian species, with a lemon-coloured blotch at 

 the base of the lip. Another fine new Orchid was 

 Cselogyne Ocellata Maxima, to which a First-class Cer- 

 tificate was awarded. This is a white flower species 

 with yellow blotches on either side of the base of the 

 lip, and a transverse yellow bar across its centre. This 

 came from Mr. B. S. Williams, Victoria Nursery, 

 Holloway. The new Dendrobium Brymerianum, shown 

 by Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, Chelsea, attracted 

 much attention. It is a most distinct and strikingly 

 curious Dendrobe, and this particular specimen was 

 considered to be the finest in the country. At the time 

 it was shown it had some two dozen blooms, the colour 

 of a rich orange shade of yellow, and the more remark- 

 able for the broad, deeply-laciniated, beard- like character 

 of the lip, a distinguishing feature which, according to 

 the description given of it by Professor Reiehenbach, in 

 the Gardener's Chronicle in 1875, gave him a little 

 " sh ivering of fright/' and " caused him to be suspicious 

 as to whether the plant would prove constant in its 



originality or turn out to be a monster of a species 

 quite unknown." It has, however, remained true to the 

 original character in which it was first presented to view 

 to the Professor. This was awarded a First-class Cer- 

 tificate of Merit. The same firm had a similar award 

 for Amaryllis, Duke of Connaught, a fine, smooth, dark 

 crimson flower of medium size, remarkable for its 

 splendid colour, its striking white centre, and fine 

 form. 



The same award was made to Chionodoxa Lucilliae, 

 shown by G. Maw, Esq., of Broseley, and Messrs. Barr 

 and Sugden, King Street, Covent Garden. This was 

 introduced from Asia Minor by Mr. Maw, and it is 

 much like an early dwarf Scilla in appearance, but said 

 to far surpass any of the Squills, and apparently as 

 hardy and as easy to increase as Scilla Sibirica. The 

 colour of the flowers is bright sky-blue, fading to white 

 in the centre of the blossoms, which are about two 

 inches in diameter, five or six in number, and thrown 

 well up to the sun. The foliage is very like that of 

 Scilla Sibirica, but somewhat shorter. 



Other novelties comprised Mackaya Bella, a South 

 African Acanthaceous plant, a specimen of which, more 

 than six feet high and four feet through, is flowering 

 freely in a warm greenhouse in the garden at Pendrell 

 Court, the residence of Sir George Macleay, Bart., the 

 exhibitor. The flowers are campanulate in shape, 

 delicate pale lilac in colour, and produced on pendant 

 terminal racemes, four to six inches long. The same 

 exhibitor had cut blooms of the old deep crimson- 

 flowered Abutilon Venosum, remarkable for its rich 

 colour. Mr. Green, Sir George Macleay's able gar- 

 dener, is constantly bringing some fine old plants to the 

 meetings of the Society, and so continuing a knowledge 

 of them. From Mr. J. Woodbridge, Sj'on House 

 Gardens, came a fine plant of the old Brazilian Cyrto- 

 podium Punctatum, a stately orchid with long curved 

 leaves, and four immense spikes of brown-spotted yellow 

 flowers. A few other novelties were shown, but the 

 foregoing comprises those of a most valuable character. 



NEW HARDY PRIMULAS. 



In addition to P. Rosea, named above, the Royal 

 Horticultural Society have this season flowered at their 

 Chiswick Gardens a pretty deep purplish-lilac form, 

 under the name of P. Cashmeriaua, and quite the type 

 of P. Denticulata; also a deep purple-flowered form 

 from Sikkim, which promises to be an improvement on 

 the Himalayan P. Purpurea, but with somewhat different 

 foliage, and redder flowers. 



