117 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND^ RARE PLANTS FIGURED AND DESCRIBED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL 
PERIODICALS FOR APRIL. 
Arthrostemma fragile. Raised from seeds gathered by Mr. Hartweg in the west of Mexico, 
and received in this country in 1846. It is a stove shrub, growing readily in a mixture of loam, 
peat, and leaf mould, and easily increased by cuttings. It flowers from June to September, but 
its blossoms are very fugitive ; they are, however, gay-coloured, (of a deep rosy purple,) and make 
an agreeable variety, especially as they are associated with a fine deep-green shining foliage. — 
Hort. Joiir. 3, 74. 
Aristolochia grandiflora {Pelican-flower, ovPoison Hog-meat). Of all known flowers this, if 
we measure in length, especially from the base to the apex, is the largest, next to the gigantic 
Rafflesia ; it is like that, too, in the mottling and general tone of colour, and, what we could wil- 
lingly dispense with, its disgusting odour. Still it amply deserves a place in our stoves ; for a 
large, healthy, well- trained specimen, with its singular blossoms, as remarkable before, as after 
expansion, presents one of the most striking objects of any vegetable we are acquainted with, and 
the detestable scent is happily not widely diffused. It was raised from seeds sent from Jamaica 
by Mr. Purdie, but was first discovered in that island by Patrick Browne, who speaks of it as 
“the large climbing Birth-wort, with variegated flowers, or the ‘ Poison Hog-meat,”’ and it is 
there further known by the appropriate name of Pelican-flower. It appears to be identical with 
Aristolochia cordiflora of Mutis’ M. S. and A. Gigas of Lindley’s Botanical Register, 1842, t. 60. 
In our stoves, where it is best planted in the ground, though it succeeds tolerably well on a pot- 
trellis, it flowers dm'ing most of the summer months, and in autumn, but the blossom, when once 
fully expanded, is of short duration. — Bot. Mag. t. 4368, 4369. 
Gilia pharnaceoides. A slender, purple-stemmed branching plant, minutely downy near the 
base, but otherwise smooth. The flowers appear at the ends of the straggling branches on 
very slender but firm stalks about half an inch long, are of a very pale lilac, slightly streaked with 
a darker tint of the same colour, and measure about half an inch in diameter. It is a hardy 
Annual, but is very inferior to the Leptosiphons, which it most resembles. — Hort. Jour. 3, 7 3. 
Goldfussia isophylla {Equal-leaved Qoldfussia). A species in many respects allied to the 
well-known Goldfussia anisophylla, but at once distinguished, as the name implies, by the pairs of 
leaves being ahke, whereas in the last-mentioned species there is a singular disparity, for while one 
of each pah’ is larger and broader than any of G. isophylla, the other and opposite one is reduced 
to a subulate scale. The flowers here, too, though rather smaller are more copious, and the plant 
being bushy, its numerous blue flowers render it a most desirable inmate of a stove during winter, 
the season of blossoming. It is a native of the East Indies, and was introduced by Dr. Wallich. — 
Bot. Mag. 4363. 
Hugelia lanata. An Annual about nine inches high, quite white with the short wool that 
covers every part, except the corolla and organs within it. The flowers are a clear light blue, and 
are placed in close heads, arranged in a corymbose manner. It is not a striking plant, but may be 
found useful as a novelty among hardy Annuals. — Hort. Jour. 3, 74. 
Lopimia malacophylla {Soft-leaved Lopimia). A stove shrub, with rosy-red flowers, sent 
from New Grenada, by Mr. Purdie, to the Royal Gardens of Kew, where it flowers freely during 
the winter and spring months, and is far from being unornamental. There is a peculiar aspect in 
this plant among the Malvaceae, which seems to confirm the correctness of Martin’s views in 
making of it a new genus, although St. Hilaire, in his valuable “ Flora Brasilise Meridionalis,” 
refers it, and, perhaps, with justice, to Pavonia. — Bot. Mag. 4365. 
Mammillaria clava {Club-shaped MammillariaC). A very striking species of Mammillaria, 
remarkable for its columnar, rather than clavate, form, its very prominent mamillae, and large, 
glossy, straw-coloured flowers. It was received at the Royal Gardens of Kew under the name 
here retained, though it does not entirely correspond with the brief character of the plant given by 
Walpers.— Ro«. Mag. 4358. 
Oncidium tenue {Thin-bulbed Oncid.) Received through Mr. Hartweg in February, 1841, 
from Guatemala. It is remarkable for its exceedingly thin pseudo-bulbs, which although two or 
