THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES.] NOVEMBER, 1879. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



The monthly meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 is now the only one of which any record can be made. 

 That held on October 14 was excellent in every respect, 

 and, in addition to a goodly number of novelties, there 

 were many objects of more than ordinary interest. 



Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nur- 

 series, King's Road, Chelsea, staged an interesting 

 group of new and rare plants, and were awarded First- 

 class Certificates of Merit for the following : Oncidium 

 dastyle, a species with pretty little flowers, having 

 brown-spotted sepals and petals, and a creamy-yellow 

 lip, having a purplish-black pouch near the base ; 

 Cypripedium Spicerianum, a remarkably distinct and 

 very handsome Lady's Slipper, somewhat small in size, 

 the upper sepal white, marked with a central purple 

 line, the lateral sepals greenish, also with a central 

 purple line, the lip greenish, shining, and the top of 

 the column white, spotted with violet, and wavy at the 

 margins ; and for Pachystoma Thompsonii, a striking 

 Orchid, with white flowers admirably contrasted with 

 a long, narrow purple labellum, and having the habit of 

 a Pleione; this plant is said to come from Western 

 Africa. In addition Messrs. Veitch & Sons had 

 Orchids and other plants : the former included a speci- 

 men of the Singular Mormodes Ocanas, with four good 

 spikes of its chocolate-coloured flowers ; Miltonia 

 Moreliana Superba, a large and deeply-coloured variety; 

 a capital example of Caslogyne Massangeana, figured 

 in the Floral Magazine for October; and the red- 

 striped variety of Lilium Auratum, known as rubro- 

 vittatum. This is a very distinct form of dwarf growth, 

 and at present very rare. Mr. William Bull, King's 

 Road, Chelsea, had several pretty Ferns of a distinct 

 and attractive character. First-class Certificates of 

 Merit were awarded to the following : Polysticum 

 lentum, a dwarf evergreen Fern of compact growth 

 from India, with fronds nearly one foot long, lance- 

 shaped, with the pinnaB ending in bristles ; Adiantum 

 mundulum, a variety similar to the well-known A. 

 cuneatum, but considerably dwarfer in habit, the fronds 

 not so drooping as in the ordinary Maidenhair ; and 

 for Adiantum cuneatum dissectum, a pleasing variety 

 having the pinnules deeply cut, which gives the plant 

 an elegant appearance, and makes it desirable as a 



[No. 95. 



decorative agent. Mr. Bull also had a good specimen 

 of Tillandsia Lindeni genuina, with its rosy sheath and 

 rich purple blossoms ; the elegant Curculigo recurvata 

 striata ; the singular bronzy- flowered Masdevallia vili- 

 fera ; Kentia luciana ; Zamia Skinneri, etc. Mr. B. S. 

 Williams, Victoria Nursery, Holloway, had First-class 

 Certificates for Calamus densus, an elegant Palm, with 

 the leaves arranged in a dense manner, as its name 

 implies, and forming a handsome compact specimen ; 

 Cocos elegantissimus, a handsome Palm, with the leaves 

 in the way of C. plumosus, but with a gracefully-arching 

 habit, which renders it a valuable decorative subject ; 

 and for Nepenthes Outramiana, a handsome hybrid, 

 the result of a cross between N. Sedeni and N. Hookeri, 

 with medium-sized pitchers, broad at the base, tapering 

 into a cylindrical neck, green, thickly dotted with 

 small brown spots, and two narrow, finely-toothed 

 wings. Mr. Williams also had an excellent example of 

 Vanda ccerulea, with two capital spikes; the handsome 

 Dendrobium bigibbum, D. superbiens, Croton Rodeck- 

 ianum, with long, narrow, gracefully-arching leaves, 

 variegated with gold, crimson, and green, etc. A 

 First-class Certificate of Merit was awarded to 

 Adiantum Bausei, shown by Mr. John Wills, Onslow 

 Crescent, South Kensington, a very distinct and hand- 

 some Maidenhair Fern, said to be a hybrid between A. 

 trapeziforme and A. decorum. From Mr. C. Green, 

 gardener to Sir George McLeay, Bart., Pendrells Court, 

 Bletchingley, came Passiflora Hahnii, which was ac- 

 corded a First-class Certificate of Merit. It is "a 

 Mexican species, with slender branches, peltate, ovate, 

 acute leaves, purple on the under surface, and pro- 

 fusely furnished with beautiful large white flowers 

 having a ray of crispy yellow filaments," thus furnishing 

 us with a white Passion Flower. It is said to require 

 stove treatment. Mr. Charles Turner, Royal Nursery, 

 Slough, received a First-class Certificate of Merit for 

 Bedding Dahlia George Thomson, a free-blooming, 

 yellow-flowered variety, richly coloured, singularly free 

 of bloom, and of a dwarf and compact habit. Mr. 

 King, gardener to G. Simpson, Esq., Wray Park, 

 Reigate, brought a collection of new forms of Coleus, 

 to one of which, named Majesticus, variegated with 

 gold, bright green, and purplish- crimson, a First-class 

 Certificate of Merit was awarded ; it was coarse-looking 

 and weedy in growth. A Botanical Certificate was 

 awarded to Mr. Bull for Cycnoches Warscewiczii, de- 



