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FLOEICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW OR BEAUTIFUL PLANTS FIGURED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL PERIODICALS 
FOR AUGUST. 
Ae'rides vi'rens, " This is a beautiful addition to that set of Aerides of which A. odoratum 
was the first discovered. Like the flowers of that species, these are deliciously and very peculiarly 
scented, and not at all inferior in size. Each sepal and petal has a deep purple blotch at the end, 
whilst the remainder is a delicate soft French white. The lip is speckled with crimson, and bears 
in the middle an inflated, sanguine, serrated tongue," Messrs. Loddiges imported this species 
from Java, and a specimen flowered in one of their orchidaceous houses in April, 1843. All the 
species known resemble each other closely in habit, and have similar strap-shaped leaves, 
obhquely notched at the end. The peculiar brightness of the green in the leaves of ^ . virens 
has suggested the specific name, Bot. Reg. 4L 
Ascle'pias te'stita. Mr. Veitch, of Exeter, raised this plant from seeds received from the 
southern states of North America, and flowered it in the greenhouse last October. It is a well- 
marked species, and distinguished from all others " by the thick and very hairy stems and 
peduncles, by the peculiar form of the cucuUi or leaflets of the staminal crown, and by the 
absence of the horn-like processes so common within the cuculiis in other species of the genus." 
The flowers are rather large, of a yellowish green colour, and are collected into a dense hemi- 
spherical umbel at the end of an axillary peduncle, about the same length as the sessile elliptical 
leaves, Bot. Mag. 4106. 
Be'rberis umbella'ta . This is a hardy sub-evergreen shrub, about three feet high, growing 
freely in the common garden-soil, flowering abundantly in^ June, and easily increased either by 
seeds or layers. It was raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society, from seeds received 
from the East India Company at different times, and under various names, but more particularly 
those of B. WallicMana and B. floribunda. It is no doubt in many other collections, under this 
or similar names, B. floribunda, however, has spiny leaves, not at all glaucous on the under 
side ; and B. WallicMana, which also differs in those respects, has sessile fascicles of flowers, 
and is quite another thing. This is easily known by its narrow, spineless leaves, slightly glaucous 
beneath when fresh, and becoming more so when dry." " As for the name mnbellata^ it is 
unfortunate that it has been introduced into systematic works, for the shortness of the racemes, 
from which circumstance it has been taken, is apparently accidental and unimportant." Bot. 
Reg. 44. 
Drya'ndra formo^sa. Mr. Brown detected this noble and handsome species of Dryandra 
in Lewin's Land, on the south shores of Australia, growing in sterile places, and deemed it 
worthy of a figure from the pencil of Mr. Bauer, which was published in the 'Linnaan Trans- 
actions.'" The plant in Kew Gardens "is a tree about fourteen feet high, raised from seeds 
sent home by Mr. Baxter from south-west Australia ; and, during the spring and summer 
months, is richly studded by the orange-yellow flowers arising from the copious short branches, 
and backed by the dark-green foliage, which spreads in a stellated manner all around them." 
Bot. Mag. 4102. 
Habrotha'mnus e'legans. " The beauty of Habrothamnus fasciculatus is so striking, that 
attention is strongly drawn to the discovery of other species in Mexico ; and the Belgians have 
already succeeded in adding the present, which, although not comparable with H. fasciculatus, is 
evidently a graceful and gay-looking plant." " It differs from H. fasciculatus in its small bracts 
and less conspicuous flowers, which, moreover, are smooth, not downy ; from //. tomentosa in 
the shortness of the lobes of the corolla, and the broadness of the leaves, the smoothness of the 
calyx, and the terminal, not lateral, flowers ; from H. corymbosa in not being destitute of hairs." 
Specimens flowered with M. Van Houtte, Nurseryman, Ghent, in January last, but it does not 
appear to have been yet received into the collections of this country ; being evidently a quick- 
growing, soft-wooded species, it will require the same treatment usually given to Pelargoniums. 
The flowers are understood to be bright carmine. Bot. Reg. 43. 
Microsty'lis histiona'ntha. This singular terrestrial species of Orchidaceae was purchased 
