Plate 309. 



MAGNOLIA (HALLEANA) STELLATA. 



This is an exceedingly beautiful and useful addition to our hardy plants. It is of 

 dwarf- shrub y habit, and produces its chaste pure white flowers when quite small, or only a 

 foot high, thus rendering the plant a most suitable subject for pot-culture as well as for garden 

 decoration generally. Naturally an early blooming plant, it requires but little forcing to 

 bring it into flower at a season when flowers are in request, and thus its value is greatly 

 enhanced. 



Magnolia Stellata is native of Japan, and has been introduced to British Gardens by 

 Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, of the Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, who received it from 

 an American firm under the name of M. Halleana, and as such it received a First-class 

 Certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society on March 10th ; and a Certificate of Merit 

 from the Eoyal Botanic Society on March 27th of the present year. It is so distinct and 

 good that it can scarcely fail to become a great favourite in gardens. 



Plate 310. 



TROP^EOLTJM LOBBIANUM ' PEEEECTION.' 



This fine variety, which originated at the Bedfont Seed Grounds, was awarded a First- 

 class Certificate by the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society in December, 1878, 

 on account of its great value as a winter-flowering variety, some examples of it being staged 

 from Heckfield Gardens, Hampshire. 



The colour may be best described as a glowing reddish-crimson ; the flowers are of the 

 finest form, the petals remarkably stout, while it is as free of bloom as a Tropoeolum can well 

 be expected to be. Plants of it, well established in pots and trained to a pillar in an ordinary 

 greenhouse or conservatory, will, if a gentle warmth be maintained, continue in bloom for a 

 long period. Flowers of bright and attractive colours always appear to be so much more 

 acceptable in winter, when didl weather prevails, than in summer when all is glowing, and 

 sun-light and heat abounds. The plants can be easily propagated by cuttings in the usual 

 manner, and as this variety is a free grower, there is no lack of wood from which cuttings 

 can be obtained. 



