FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
189 
Cleis6stoma r5sea. An unpractised observer would at once assign this little 
plant to the genus Vanda ; but besides the difference in the form of the flowers, it 
has longer and more attenuated stems, the leaves are alternate and distant, and 
the flowers burst forth in bunches from the side of the stem, without any visible 
peduncles, and leaving a perceptible aperture at the point from whence they pro- 
trude. It has very small, but neat brown and yellow flowers, and a pink 
labellum ; the whole texture of the blossoms being exceedingly transparent and 
delicate. Messrs. Loddiges, who are now flowering it abundantly, received it from 
Manilla, through Mr. Cuming. 
Cycn5ches ventric5sum. Inferior in beauty to C. Loddigesii^ and with much 
less flowers than C. chlorochilon^ this species is nevertheless sufiiciently showy to 
recommend itself to all who wish for perfect collections. The flowers are greenish- 
yellow in all parts, but their large size and peculiar form compensate for the 
deficiency of brilliant colours. Messrs. Rollison, Tooting, have a specimen now 
developing its flowers. With the rest of its allies, it is kept in a pot filled with 
heath-soil and potsherds, and cultivated in a similar manner to Catasetums. 
Gentiana gelida. If the species of this most valuable genus could be grown 
and preserved without difiiculty, they would form some of the richest ornaments of 
the flower-garden. G. gelida is both rare, and one of the most splendid of the 
tribe. It grows about six inches high, with a great number of stems, on the 
summits of which the charming flowers appear. These are of an intense cerulean 
hue, with a handsomely bearded throat, the hairs of which are slightly tinged with 
white. It appears to be far more hardy than most of the other species, grows more 
vigorously, flowers more abundantly, and is altogether one of those plants whose 
worth seems to us inestimable. Messrs. Young, Epsom, with whom it is now 
flowering, succeed to admiration in cultivating alpine plants of this nature ; and 
we are happy to observe, that they have imported a large quantity of seeds from 
Switzerland, many of which have already germinated, and among which several 
novelties exist. 
LIlium lancifolium roseum. Two specimens of this extremely fine variety, 
planted in a rich compost of loam and decayed wood, in the centre of one of 
Messrs. Loddiges' greenhouses, have attained the height of six feet, with leaves 
from seven to eight inches long, and are now magnificently in flower. The centres 
of the flowers are thickly studded with delicate filamentous processes, which 
resemble an exquisite fringe, and the whole of the petals (with the exception of 
the rose-coloured spots) are of a pure, transparent whiteness, quite enchanting. A 
singular lums naturce is observable in one of the flowers ; a petal having become 
united to a stamen, the straight direction of the latter, opposed by the naturally 
recurved position of the former, has rent the petal into a number of narrow 
fragments, which have a very peculiar appearance. The system of culture pursued 
by these gentlemen, viz., that of planting the bulbs in an unconfined bed, or border, 
and supplying a nutritive soil, appears to be decidedly the most congenial, except 
