182 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



18 inches high. Leaves ovate, rotundate, obtuse at the base, 

 toothed and ciliated along the margin, pale glossy green, tinged 

 with red on the midrib and petiole. Peduncles axillary, few 

 flowered. Flowers white or rose-coloured, the males with four, the 

 females with five unequal petals. Ovary green with red-tinged 

 wings. There are numerous named varieties and garden forms 

 of this species. Some, such as that known as gigantea, is no 

 doubt a hybrid between B. semperflorens and another, probably 

 B. Lynchiana. Some of the varieties have variegated flowers, 

 others being remarkable for the deep bronzy purple colour 

 assumed by their foliage when grown in the open air. B. 

 cucullata and B. spathulata are other names for this species. 

 It will be seen from the list of hybrids that B. semperflorens 

 has been crossed frequently with other species. The variety 

 gigantea is one of the very best greenhouse plants we have. 



B. socotrana (Bot. Mag. t. 6555). — Introduced from the 

 island of Socotra in 1880, when it was sent to Kew by Professor 

 Bayley Balfour. Eootstock perennial, formed of numerous 

 fleshy buds clustered and resembling a tuber. Stems annual, 

 slender, 6 inches to 12 inches long. Leaves orbicular, peltate, 

 4 inches to 10 inches across, bright green ; petioles 3 inches long. 

 Flowers numerous, on erect, slender axillary peduncles ; males 

 2 inches across, with five subequal concave petals coloured bright 

 rose ; females with five or six equal petals ; ovary green, 3-angled 

 with one long wing. A pretty and interesting species, valuable 

 on account of its habit of flowering in midwinter, and also in its 

 peculiar character of holding its flowers till they wither. It has 

 been crossed with several other species by Messrs. Veitch, who 

 have thus obtained some most valuable winter-flowering hybrids. 

 M. Lemoine has also raised two excellent hybrids from it and 

 B. Lynchiana, viz. Triomphe de Lemoine and Triomphe de 

 Nancy. 



B. scandens. — A West Indian species which has been in cul- 

 tivation since 1874. It has the habit of Ivy, the stems growing 

 to a length of several yards and clinging by means of short 

 aerial roots. The leaves are ovate, acuminate, lobed, glossy 

 green, 4 inches long. Flowers in axillary dichotomous panicles, 

 small, white. Syns. B. lucida, B. elliptica, B. Haageana. This 

 plant might be crossed with some such species as B. coccinea 

 (corallina) or B. fuchsioides. 



B. Scharffiana. — Introduced from Brazil in 1887 by Messrs. 



