NEW AND BEAUTIFUL PLANTS. 
159 
NEW AND BEAUTIFUL PLANTS FIGURED IN THE BOTANICAL 
PERIODICALS. 
Callistemon brachyandrum. The seeds of this 
plant were sent from his Excellency, Captain Grey, to 
the Gardens of the Horticultural Society, and are said 
to have been collected on the north coast of Australia. 
The plant forms a stiff shrub, with the habit of other 
species of the genus, hut with deep-green, narrow, 
pungent, channelled leaves, having conspicuous dots on 
the under side, and no veins. The spikes of flowers 
are loose, and not more than two inches long. The 
petals are dirty white, short, and inconspicuous. The 
stamens are deep rich crimson, not more than twice as 
long as the petals, and quite straight ; the anthers are 
golden yellow, and contrast well with the crimson 
filaments. It is a small hardy greenhouse shrub, which 
grows freely in a mixture of sandy loam and peat. It 
is increased by cuttings of the young wood in the 
usual way, and flowers from August to November. — 
Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 112. 
Ccelia macrostachya. Collected by Mr. Hartweg 
in Guatemala, where it has been found in a wild state, 
with a close flower-spike as much as a foot long, and its 
blossoms are reported to he deep red ; but in cultivation 
it has hitherto gained no such size, and the colour is 
only a pale rose, without any brilliancy. It is best 
treated as the half-terrestrial kinds are, and grown in 
rather a shady part of the house ; it requires but little 
moisture or heat, and a light, loose material to grow in. 
— Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 114. 
Cereus reductus. Dingy Cereus. An old inhabi- 
tant of the Cactus-house of the Royal Gardens, Kew, 
originally received from Mexico. A very dingy-looking 
species except when in flower, when the pure white 
corollas, with a slightly pink tinge, have a pretty effect. 
— Bot.Mag., 4443. 
Ccelogyne fuliginosa. D ark- flower ed Ccelogyne. 
A native of India, and imported in the year 1838. The 
racemes contain from three to five large flowers of a 
rich ochre-yellow, and a dark orange-brown lip. The 
plant should be kept in the warm part of the Orchid- 
house, and be attached to a block of wood suspended 
from the roof, giving it the same treatment as other 
Indian epiphytal Orchidacese. — Bot. Mag., 4440. 
Cyrtanthera catalpjefolia. Catalpa-leaved Cyr- 
tanthera. This is a truly handsome and new plant, 
equally striking for its ample foliage and its fine thyrsi 
of full yellow flowers. It was sent from Honduras to 
Kew by Mrs. M‘Donnel (the lady of the Governor), 
and flowers in the stove during the summer months. 
It constitutes one of the same genus of Acanthaceae 
with Justicia. — Bot. Mag., 4444. 
Epidendrum gravidum. A mere botanical curiosity, 
collected by Mr. Hartweg in Xapatam, in Mexico. It 
has a scape nearly six inches in height, bearing at the 
end about four long-stalked, horizontal green flowers, 
which never open. — Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 114. 
Limnanthes alba. A native of California, collected 
by Mr. Hartweg, and, like L. rosea, has the habit of 
L. Douglasii, but the flowers are white, not yellow or 
pink, and their stalks are very long. It is of interest in 
gardens chiefly for the decoration of heavy, damp 
places, where better flowers will not grow. In such 
situations all the species thrive and become ornamental, 
retaining their freshness and flowering incessantly 
through the whole summer. It may he a question 
whether they would not he useful salads, as they all 
possess the agreeable warmth of Tropseolums, without 
being quite so pungent. — Jov/r. Hort. Soc., iv. 112. 
Lycaste Skinneri. A native of Guatemala, and is 
remarkable no less for the large size of the blossoms, 
than for their chaste colouring, white spotted and 
suffused with rich rose and crimson. It is a ready 
flowerer, and the flowers remain a long time in great 
beauty. It is easy of cultivation, and thrives in the 
cool division of the Orchid-house, planted in turfy peat 
and sphagnum, in shallow pans full of holes, which are 
preferable to pots for this plant. It is propagated by 
division of the pseudo-bulbs. — Bot. Mag., 4445. 
Navarretia pubescens. A dwarf, branching, hairy 
plant, not more than six inches high. The flowers are 
small, greyish blue, and are produced in close heads. It 
is a hardy annual, requiring the same treatment as 
Gilias and Leptosiphons. It is rather showy when seen 
in masses. — Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 111. 
Navarretia cotula:folia. An annual, growing 
only two inches in height, a native of California, where 
it was discovered by Mr. Hartweg in fields about 
Sonoma, along with the last. This is another hardy 
kind, but from its very dwarf habit and small flowers it 
is more suitable for rock-work than the borders. — 
Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 112. 
Pesomeria tetragona. Square-stalked Pesomeria. 
A very remarkable Orchideous plant, native of the Isle 
of Bourbon, introduced to our stoves by Messrs. 
Loddiges, hut first detected and described, as an Epi- 
dendrum, by M. Aubert du Petit Thouars. The genus 
differs from Bletia in its four, not eight, pollen-masses. 
It is a terrestrial kind, and should he kept in the warm 
division of the Orchid-house, potted in turfy peat.' — 
Bot. Mag., 4442. 
Polygonum Brunonis. This was raised from seeds 
received by the Horticultural Society in April, 1845, 
from Captain William Munro, who sent it from the 
northern parts of India. It is a dark-green-leaved 
trailing, half shrubby plant, with dwarf ascending stems, 
which bear spikes of rosy flowers, and is well suited for 
the decoration of rock- work. — Jour. Hort. Soc., iv. 116. 
Primula altaica. A scapeless species with beauti- 
ful orange-eyed purple flowers ; it was discovered by 
C. J. Darbishire, Esq., who found it growing on grassy 
land, which had recently been cleared of the brushwood, 
in the neighbourhood of Karak, a quarantine station on 
the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, near the mouth of 
the Black Sea. It is perfectly hardy, but flowering in 
very early spring it forms a great ornament in the 
greenhouse. — Jou/r. Hort. Soc., iv. 
Thyrsacanthus bracteolatus. A plant nearly 
related to Justicia. It inhabits New Grenada and the 
West Indian Islands, and was sent by Mr. Purdie from 
Jamaica. It requires tropical heat, and grows freely in 
any kind of light soil not retentive of water. — • 
Bot. Mag., 4441. 
