CXVi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and perennial and the latter orange and apparently biennial. The series 

 was as follows : — 



P. pulverulenta ? x P. Cochbumiana ( f gave P. x 1 Unique ' 

 (cerise), while the reciprocal cross gave P. x ' Unique Improved,' differ- 

 ing somewhat in colour from ' Unique,' being somewhat darker, but of 

 similar habit. These hybrids are perennial (fig. 86). 



P. Cochbumiana $ x P. x 1 Unique ' $ gave a plant bearing 

 terra-cotta flowers nearly the colour of P. Cochbumiana, but with the 

 habit of P. pulverulenta, to which the foliage bore a great resemblance. 

 This would appear to be perennial, since the plant which flowered last 

 year is again in bud. 



P. pulverulenta $ x P. x 'Unique Improved' $ and P. x 

 ' Unique ' $ x P. pulverulenta $ were almost identical in colour of 

 flowers, just a little brighter than P. pulverulenta, while when the 

 plant raised by crossing P. Cochbumiana and P. x { Unique ' was 

 fertilized from that raised by crossing P. x ' Unique ' and P. pulveru- 

 lenta, the colour of the flower showed a greater variation from P. pulveru- 

 lenta, and was of a warm cerise. 



Abnormal Tulip (new seedling variety). — A correspondent sent 

 specimens of abnormal tulips, which were in all respects normal florists' 

 breeders, except that the three inner petals of each possessed a couple of 

 small spurs near the base pointing inwards. The malformation is 

 constant, and recurs each year ; it is found in all the offsets that have 

 arisen from the original seedling, and is evidently characteristic of the 

 variety. Both plants were normal, as were all the other seedlings 

 raised from the same parents. No similar structures in a tulip bloom 

 have fallen under the raiser's observation either among tulip species or 

 some 1,500 other seedlings of florists' tulips. Somewhat similar forma- 

 tions to these are sometimes met with among tulips, but no member 

 of the Committee had before seen specimens where the abnormality was 

 so regularly and symmetrically developed. 



Orchid hybrids. — Mr. Gurney Wilson, F.L.S., sent flowers of 

 seedlings of the cross Dendrobium nobile album x D. Findleyanum (= 

 D. x ' Cybele ' ). All the seedlings which had flowered (about sixty) 

 had borne coloured flowers approaching D. nobile, with one exception, 

 where the flowers were white with a faint pink tinge. 



Pisum sp., dc. — Mr. A. W. Sutton, V.M.H., showed plants in flower 

 of the wild pea collected in Palestine which he had before exhibited, 

 and of P. quadratum, to demonstrate the fact that the two were not 

 identical. The seeds of the two are very similar to one another, but 

 the mature plants differ particularly in the amount of serration of the 

 leaves. 



Mr. Sutton also showed the plant of Asparagus which had been 

 collected in the Himalaya, but the Committee desired to see it again 

 when it was in flower. 



Impatiens x comoricoma. — Mr. H. J. Veitch, V.M.H., showed on 

 behalf of Messrs. Cayeux & Le Clerc, of Paris, plants of the hybrid 

 Impatiens x comoricoma raised from I. comorensis and I. auricoma, 

 the former with rose-coloured flowers, the latter with yellow, those of 

 the hybrid being " rouge chauldron eclaire de jaune soufre, striees de 



