MISCELLANEOUS. 
221 
corolla with glowing purple, and having a good 
light centre, the throat being distinctly striated 
with dark pencillings. Some of the flowers even- 
tually become rosy crimson seifs, and (interspersed 
with the darker ones) produce a very pretty appear- 
ance in contrast with the bright verdure of the leaves. 
Blooming in the Nursery of Messrs. E. Hender- 
son, Wellington Road. 
Petunia “ Regina .” Stated to be a seedling of 
the current year, raised by Mr. Boff, St. Paul’s 
Road, Balls Pond, who produced it at the Chiswick 
Flower F6te last July. It is a fine seedling, the 
flowers individually very large, and variegated in a 
peculiar manner with purple and rosy crimson. 
Metrosideros robusta or polymorpha. A distinct 
and very robust growing conservatory bush or con- 
servative wall plant, with good foliage and ruddy 
crimson inflorescence, produced in the manner 
peculiar to most Myrtle-blooms. 
Professor Lindley states, in his highly scientific 
work the admirable “Vegetable Kingdom,” that 
the heavy, hard, dark-brown timber which furnishes 
the South Sea Islanders with their clubs and other 
weapons, is said to come from this or some allied 
species of Metrosideros. We lately saw it in flower 
in the collection of Messrs. Rollisson, Nurserymen, 
Tooting. It is a desirable species, and will doubt- 
less be found an ornamental evergreen for such 
purposes as those above alluded to. 
Astelma eximium. Here we have another “ old ” 
plant deserving of much more attention from 
cultivators than it usually experiences at their 
hands, but having met with a tolerable specimen 
or two in our peregrinations this season, we are in- 
duced to hope that brighter days are yet in store 
for it, and trust that at no distant date it will be 
deemed worthy of being juxtapositioned on the 
stages of Chiswick and the Regent’s Park, with the 
very beautiful (and likewise long neglected) but 
now exceedingly well managed Crassulas, appro- 
priately renamed Kalosanthes. 
This very beautiful everlasting is the best of its 
genus, and even under the condition of mediocrity 
we mostly meet with it, its globose heads of rich 
crimson inflorescence contrasting with its pubescent, 
glaucous stems and leaves, compose an object of 
no inconspicuous beauty. How much more, then, 
would its attractive appearance become enhanced 
when grown in well balanced specimens by judi- 
cious cultivation, as well filled up, as dwarf, and as 
bushy as the finest plant of Kalosanthes ever pro- 
duced by Mr. Ayres, of Brooklands ? 
A fair managed specimen of this fine old plant 
was produced at the July exhibition of the Horti- 
cultural Society by Mr. Bruce, gardener to B. Miller, 
Esq., Collier’s Wood, and a similar one by Mr. 
Cole, of Dartford, at the Royal Botanic show on 
the 4th of the same month. Some excellent direc- 
tions (accompanied by a plate) for the culture of 
this much neglected plant are given at p. 104, 
Vol. v., of our Magazine of Botany, to which we 
must refer our readers, inasmuch as nothing can be 
better than the instructions there inculcated. 
American Plant Exhibition in the Regent’s 
Park, &c. — The principal flower f6tes of 1849, with 
all their delightful associations and reminiscential 
charms, are now gone by, to be renewed, we trust, 
in each successive future season with additional 
ardour on the part of exhibitors, and enhanced 
attractiveness in the exhibitions. 
The beauty of the ordinary exhibitions of the 
Horticultural and Botanical Societies of London, 
held respectively thrice in the year at Chiswick 
and the Regent’s Park, are now so well known and 
appreciated, that to descant anew on the attractions 
which belong to them, or the utility which they 
engender, might justly be deemed superfluous. 
Such, however, is not our intention, but want of 
space hitherto having alone prevented our making 
some allusion to an additional exhibition of flower- 
ing plants afforded to the public by the arrange- 
ments of the Royal Botanical Society, — we mean the 
display of “American plants,” held for the first time 
in the Botanic Garden, Regent’s Park — we now 
refer to our note-book, that we may record a few 
observations respecting it. 
An arrangement having been made with the 
principal growers of Rhododendrons, &c., in the 
vicinity of the metropolis, nearly an acre of ground, 
very appropriately situated, was selected in the 
Botanic Garden, Regent’s Park, for the disposition 
of the plants composing the exhibition, which were 
mainly supplied from the “American” nurseries 
of Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith ; Standish and 
Noble, Mr. John Waterer, and Mr. Baker, of Bag- 
shot ; and Mr. H. Waterer, of Knaphill, near 
Woking. The ground surface of the chosen site, 
already pretty uneven, was further and skilfully 
diversified under the direction of Mr. Marnock, 
and rendered as judiciously undulating and irre- 
gular as was deemed compatible with the effect 
intended to be produced (which was, of course, as 
imposing a coup d'ceil as could be obtained from 
the more elevated points of view). This uneven- 
ness of the^ground, therefore, was much enhanced, 
and superficial monotony effectually obviated by 
resolving the area into numerous unequal divisions 
(both to suit the convenience of the exhibitors as 
well as produce effect), and throwing back the 
ground more or less on every side from towards the 
centre until the whole resembled a very irregular 
amphitheatre, with a small reservoir containing 
aquatic plants (which we presume previously existed 
there) towards the centre. 
Small elevations for disposing the finer standard 
Rhododendrons individually were “ thrown up ” 
here and there, with the happiest results imaginable. 
The planting done and principal arrangements 
all complete, the whole artificially covered in, 
formed one huge “ ridge and furrow ” tent ; the 
reservoir and different compartments delineated 
with margins of turf, and the mounds for standards 
“ grassed up,” gravel walks were made to traverse 
and intersect the whole arrangement, imparting a 
life and warmth to the evergreen mass which gravel 
alone can give. 
This was the state of things when we visited the 
exhibition in April and May. 
Renewing our inspection several times in June, 
the principal portion of the plants were, of course, 
in bloom, and a more gorgeous assemblage of rich 
tints, contrasted with every shade of green, we have 
never beheld. The coup d'ceil from the eastern 
entrance, where the ground was highest, was not 
only beautiful, but magnificent — presenting here 
a mass of crimson, there a mass of white; now 
