specimen were all without pollen. Style short and pale, 
not hairy. Stigmas 5, red, reflexed. 
This very handsome and curious plant is of hybrid 
origin, and was raised at the Nursery of Mr. Colvill, 
in 1822, from a seed of P. ardens that had been fer- 
tilized by the pollen of P. cortuscefolium. It has pre- 
cisely the stem of the latter, and the colour of the 
leaves are exactly the same; but those are more di- 
vided, and have the same sort of spreading footstalks 
as P. ardens. The colour of the flowers is quite dis- 
tinct from both, but partakes in an equal degree of 
each. Its scent is exquisite in the morning and even- 
ing, nearly resembling that of the Jonquil. It is of 
very free growth, and requires the same kind of treat- 
ment as the succulent and tuberous-rooted sorts ; 
thriving well in a mixture of turfy loam, peat, and 
sand, watering it but sparingly in winter. The only 
way of propagating it, is by the tubers of its roots, as it 
produces scarcely any branches. 
If the present plant had been received from the 
Cape, as well as numerous other mules that have been 
of late years obtained from seed, no person would have 
had the least doubt of its being an original species; 
and it is our decided opinion, that numerous plants, 
recorded as real species, are of hybrid origin. We 
cannot possibly conceive how it can be otherwise in 
the tropical countries, where the insects and humming- 
birds are continually flitting from flower to flower, and 
fertilizing one with the pollen of another ; and we see 
nothing confusing in all this, as the seed from a mule 
plant, if fertilized by its own pollen, will produce its 
offspring as true as any species whatever. This we 
have experienced in numerous trials of our own, and 
have not seen the least inclination to vary ; and as for 
hybrid plants only continuing for three or four genera- 
tions, as some people suppose who have never made the 
experiment, we can confidently assert to the contraiy, 
and believe that they may be muled backward and for- 
ward to any extent ; and very often, if a hybrid plant 
is obtained from two very distant species, its anthers 
will be sterile, yet it will generally produce perfect 
seed if fertilized by some other species. 
