XXxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Oncoha Roiitledgei Sprague. — Mr. Shea showed flowers and foHage 

 of this newly-introduced greenhouse shrub. . The seed had been sent 

 home to Mr. Shea from Central Africa, a fruit having been presented to 

 a friend of his by a native chief as a parting gift, on account of its 

 great value as a means of ridding one of enemies with little trouble. 

 The instruction given was to soak the hard fruit in water and present 

 the decoction to the person to drink. The fruit has therefore probably 

 very poisonous properties. The plant, which belongs to the Bixineae, 

 has large showy white flowers, strongly scented, and with numerous 

 yellow stamens. Many of the flowers lacked a pistil. Mr. Shea's 

 plant appears to differ from 0. spinosa which is a native of Arabia, and 

 the specific name of Boutledgei is in honour of the sender of the seed. 

 It was unanimously resolved to recommend the award of a Botanical 

 Certificate to the plant on the ground of its novelty and peculiar pro- 

 perties. (Fig. 70.) 



Sport in Daffodil. — Mr. Bowles showed flowers of a sport from 

 * Weardale Perfection, ' which had appeared among a group of that 

 variety in Mr. Cranfield's garden. It had a yellow-tinged perianth, 

 and a much deeper yellow trumpet than the type. 



Double Primroses, &g. — Messrs. Cocker, of Aberdeen, sent 

 a large number of flowers of double Polyanthus and Primroses which 

 they had raised from seed. The colours ranged from Primrose yellow 

 through white to purplish-blue shades, but were not, as a rule, very 

 bright. They were raised by crossing the Wisley blue Primrose ^ with 

 the well-known Polyanthus platypetala plena. In the second and third 

 generation numerous double-flowered forms had appeared with a wide 

 range of colours. It was unanimously resolved to recommend the 

 award of a Certificate of Appreciation to Messrs. Cocker in acknow- 

 ledgment of their work in raising these plants. 



Rhododendron hybrid. — Sir John Llewelyn showed flowers cut from 

 the open of "a seedling Rhododendron, raised from R. Thomsonii x R. 

 AucMandii. The leaves had something of the blue-green coloration of 

 R. Thomsonii, but were devoid of hair beneath, much longer and more 

 acute than those of that plant. The corolla was deep red, and lacked 

 the spotting often seen in R. Thomso7iii. 



Pyronia x Seden 'John.' — Mr. Worsley reported that he had 

 examined the fruit of this hybrid shown on March 28, and had failed 

 to find ripe seeds in it. The cells each contained as a rule three un- 

 developed seeds. 



