Plate 247. 
HYBRID FUCHSIA. 
(Earl of Beaconsfield). 
This is one of the most robust and fioriferous of all the modern hybrids in the graceful 
genus to which it belongs, and has been obtained by Mr. John Laing, of the Stanstead Park 
Nursery, Forest Hill, its parents being the splendid old F. fulgens (now rarely seen except in 
country cottage windows), and one of the modern florists’ varieties, grown under the name of 
“Perfection.” A glance at our figure will show that it is both distinct and attractive, and 
likely to be much sought after, not only as a permanent ornament in conservatories and 
corridors, but also as a plant well suited for pot culture for market. The plant is of a dense 
pyramidal habit, branches freely, and each shoot, as shown in our plate, is terminated by a 
raceme of carmine, and cinnabar tinted flowers and buds contrasted with ample foliage. The 
plant has received a first-class certificate from the Royal Botanic Society as being eminently 
suited for decorative purposes, and we hear from Mr. Laing that he intends to distribute it 
during the ensuing Spring. Fuchsias are always graceful and attractive, but nevermore so 
than when trained up the rafters of a moderately warm conservatory, and allowed to hang 
from the roof in pendent festoons of flowers and foliage. They are so grown at Kew, in the 
Camellia corridor at Chiswick House, and in the conservatory at Hatfield, and nowhere have 
we seen the beauty of these plants to greater advantage. The luxuriant and fioriferous habit 
of the plant here figured would seem to render it especially suitable for such positions, apart 
from its extensive culture in pots. 
Plate 248. 
MIMULUS MOSCHATUS HARRISONI. 
This distinct decorative plant is a hybrid, obtained by Messrs. Harrison and Sons, of 
Leicester, who have repeatedly exhibited it at the principal floral exhibitions during the past 
year, and by whom it will shortly be distributed. That it is a most valuable ornamental plant 
is in some measure attested by its having received first-class certificates from the Royal Hor¬ 
ticultural, and from the Royal Botanical Society. The plant is a hybrid between the large 
flowered Musk of our cottage windows, and the spotted form of Mimulus luteus known in 
gardens as M. maculatus, and when we say that it has the delicately fragrant leaves of the 
first parent and the large showy flowers of the spotted Mimulus, some idea may be formed of 
its value as a plant for conservatory decoration, or even for the embellishment of the window 
garden, a fact which will render it peculiarly valuable to plant growers for market, as well as 
to amateurs and villa gardeners, who grow their own flowers. As delicately perfumed as the 
Musk plant, it far exceeds it in its flowers, and possesses the additional merit of being more 
permanent, since strong roots can be forced at all seasons, and even during the winter months 
when its fragrance recalls the days of early summer. Its culture is as easy as that of the 
common Musk plant of the cotter’s window, and, considering its other points of excellence, it 
does not seem improbable but that this variety will entirely supersede other kinds when it 
becomes better known. Our coloured figure by no means exaggerates the habit and general 
floral character of the plant as grown in a cool temperature. 
