Plate 301. 



PRIMULA SINENSIS EIMBRIATA COCCINEA. 



This variety of the Chinese Primrose is not so much the representative of a distinct 

 new colour, as it is a good illustration of a colour that having become fixed, and associated 

 with the high qualities of form and substance, is likely to become very useful as a decorative 

 plant. The Chinese Primula is one of the most popular, as it is also one of the most useful 

 of greenhouse flowering plants, and by a little careful management it can be had in bloom 

 from October on to April. The greater the variety in colour the more acceptable is the 

 Primula Sinensis, and of late years great strides have been made in obtaining charming 

 varieties, especially in the way of striped flowers. The cerise-scarlet varieties, of which that 

 now figured is so good a type, have hitherto been defective in form and substance, and in a 

 tendency to pale off and lose their colour with age. Mr. Williams' new variety maintains 

 its brilliant and striking hue to the last ; the habit is excellent ; it makes a very effective 

 pot plant ; the short stiff foliage being surmounted with a large and symmetrical truss of 

 flowers. At a recent meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural Society it was deservedly awarded 

 a Eirst-class Certificate of merit. Like other well-selected strains it has been found to come 

 quite true from seed. 



Plate 302. 

 CYPRIPEDIUM SEDENI. 



This very distinct and interesting hybrid, Ladies' 1 Slipper, is regarded as one of the 

 finest coloured Cypripediums yet obtained. It was raised at Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 

 Royal Exotic Nurseries, King's Road, Chelsea, by Mr. Seden, the foreman, and was the 

 result of a cross between C. longifolium, and C. Schlimii. In habit it is precisely intermediate 

 between the two, having the free growth of the one combined with the unusual colour of the 

 other. The flowers have greenish-white sepals ; the petals are two inches or more in length, 

 twisted, of a whitish ground, and dashed and edged with purple ; the lip of a deep crimson- 

 purple colour, which makes it very attractive. 



It is a free-flowering form, and the flower-stems produce several blossoms ; which 

 remain for a long time fresh and bold ; it has shining evergreen foliage. 



The Ladies' Slippers take high rank as winter and spring flowering Orchids ; and not 

 only are they easily managed on the whole, but they are very free of bloom, and the flowers 

 last for a long time in a cut state. In addition to that figured, several fine hybrids have 

 been raised at the Chelsea Nurseries. 



