114 
FLORTCULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW , AND RARE PLANTS FIGURED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL PERIODICALS FOR 
MAY. 
Berberis empetrif5lia. For adorning rock-work in a tolerably exposed 
situation, no object can be more suitable than this exceedingly neat little plant. 
If care be taken to preserve its roots from drought in summer, it will spread over 
a large spot, and display its pretty yellow blossoms during an extensive part of the 
season. In gardens, it forms a low trailing plant, often of a somewhat sickly 
habit ; but under Chilian skies, and in its natural circumstances, it is said to con- 
stitute " a rigid, robust, erect bush, which must be extremely beautiful." It is 
found in various parts of South America, but chiefly in Chile, whence it was intro- 
duced to this country, through Captain King. " It would be worth trying the 
effect of a conservatory, or of a Devonshire or Cornish climate upon its constitution." 
Young specimens are obtained either by layers or seeds. The former must be 
made in August, and will be two years in rooting thoroughly ; seeds should also 
be sown in the same month. Bot. Reg. 27. 
Calostemma carneum. Like C. luteum^ which was noticed in our last 
number, this showy bulbous plant produces its flowers on the summits of stout 
stems, in dense umbels. Major Sir Thomas Mitchell originally discovered the 
species in April 1836, on a chain of rugged mountains in Australia. By this 
gentleman it was presented to the Horticultural Society, and flowered in one of 
their pits, at Chiswick, in September last. Botanically considered, it is dis- 
tinguished from its allies by wanting the teeth on the crown or inner portion of 
the flower which supports the stamens, the space between the latter being, in the 
rest of the family, either a little rounded or slightly jagged. Popularly, it may be 
recognised by its bright pink-coloured flowers, which are half pendent, very 
numerous, and ornamental. Its treatment is exactly the same as that of common 
Cape bulbs. Bot. Reg. 26. 
Centaurea piJLCHRA. Dr. Hugh Falconer, superintendant of the Botanical 
Garden, Saharunpur, sent this interesting annual to the Horticultural Society ; but 
it is supposed not to be a native of the north of India. " With us it is a beautiful 
hardy annual, in general appearance resembling the queen of our wild flowers, the 
Centaurea cyanus of cornfields ; but it is much more woolly, dwarfer, a good deal 
branched, with shorter radial florets, and the pappus of its fruit is long, discoloured, 
very unequal, and at least as long as the seed-vessel itself." Its principal attrac- 
tions are the clear, brilliant blue of the exterior florets, the rich crimson of the disk, 
and the silvery glittering appearance of the involucre, the margin of the scales 
of which is delicately fringed. It is managed as other ordinary annuals, and 
blooms abundantly through nearly the whole summer and autumn. Bot. Reg. 28. 
