45 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND BEAUTIFUL PLANTS FIGURED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL PERIODICALS 
FOR FEBRUARY. 
Amary'llis Banksia^na. a beautiful bulbous plant, imported by J. H. Slater, Esq., of Newick 
Park, near Uckfield, from the Cape of Good Hope. " It is certainly very near the A grandiflora 
(of which Mr. Herbert considers it a variety), but the shorter peduncles seem to distinguish it 
satisfactorily, independent of the different colour and expansion of the flowers." It is a green- 
house species, flowering in the autumn, and producing very large clusters of rich crimson blossoms. 
We are happy to confirm some recent remarks of our own on the necessity for covering bulbs 
with the soil in which they are grown, by the following citation of Dr. Lindley from Mr. Herbert's 
woi-k on Amaryllidaceee. " As they sprout but once a year, nothing can be done to accelerate their 
growth beyond keeping them in a healthy and vigorous state ; for which purpose the bulb must 
be kept under ground, with the neck, perhaps, above ground ; but of that I entertain great doubts. 
If the whole bulb is exposed, it imbibes moisture from the atmosphere in the season of rest, which 
becomes fatal to it, and I have found the seedlings of which the neck has never been raised above 
ground in the safest state. A rich light loam and abundance of water in winter, perfect rest and 
dry heat in summer, are necessary. I lost my bulb of A. grandiflora very soon ; and I fear all 
that were imported at the same time have been also lost, in consequence of the dangerous practice 
of keeping the bulb above ground." We hope these observations, from so eminent a cultivator, 
will have their due weight. Bot. Reg. 1 1 . 
Ane'mone rivula^ris. By no means a handsome species, though hardy, perennial, and some- 
what deserving of a place in flower-borders. It is a luxuriant plant, growing about eighteen 
inches high, and bearing numbers of solitary white flowers, which have a bunch of purplish 
stamens in the middle, on long, stiff, erect peduncles. ^' It is easily increased by seeds, or by 
dividing the old plants ; but the seedlings will not blossom before the second season. It flowers 
freely from June to August. It was first raised from seeds received from Dr. Falconer, of 
Saharunpur, but it is frequently now to be found in collections of seeds from the North of India." 
In gardens, it has received the erroneous name of A. longhcapa, which is a very different species. 
Its nearest relation is with A. pennsylvanica. Bot. Beg, 8. 
Arctosta'phylos pu'ngens. " Seeds of this plant were sent from Mexico, by Mr. Blair, to the 
Glasgow Botanic Garden, and the plants raised from them produced flowers in February 
1841." It is nearly allied to a variety of A. tomentosa. "Its chief characteristics are the 
absence of hairs on the stems and petioles, and the smaller size of the leaves, which are more 
acute, and more obtuse or cordate at the base. Hitherto it has been treated as a greenhouse 
plant ; but probaby this, as well as the more northern A. tomentosa, will be found to bear our 
winters with impunity in the open air." The leaves are elliptical, and sharp-pointed at the 
extremity ; and the flowers are small, pinkish-white, and in drooping terminal racemes. The plant 
has at present reached the height of a foot and a half, and is much branched. Bot. Mag. 3927. 
Babingto'nia CAMPHOROs'MiE, Formerly called Backia Camphorosmce, yet now thought by 
Dr. Lindley to be a distinct genus, possessing some very curious peculiarities, and named ''in 
compliment to Charles Babington, Esq., F.L.S., of St. John's College, Cambridge, a most zealous 
and sliilful botanist." The chief points which separate this genus from Bceckia, are the arrange- 
ment of the stamens in threes, opposite the sepals of the calyx, the opening of the anthers by 
pores at their apex, and the insertion of the latter on the top of the filaments. The species is an 
exceedingly neat little greenhouse shrub, bearing a profusion of its pretty whitish blossoms at the 
ends of its curving shoots, throughout the dull autumnal months. " It does not seem to like a 
loamy soil, but grows well in rich brown peat and leaf-mould." " Mrs. Molloy, a lady to whom 
we are greatly indebted for seeds from the Vasse River, says that it grows there in swampy land, 
resembling our Spircea hypericoides, that it grows seven or eight feet high, and in summer forms 
a delightful shade to the traveller crossing the swamps." Bot. Reg. 10. 
Ce'reus ciERULE'scENS. Easily known by its erect unbranched stems being of a singularly 
blue or glaucous colour. A specimen in the fine collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 
about four feet in height, and three inches in the thickest diameter, flowered splendidly in July^ 
1 84 1 . " In point of magnitude and delicacy of structure, the blossoms are equal, and even superior 
