214 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
three feet or more broad. It was well known to both the ancient Greeks and 
Romans, and the timber was used for coffins, statues, massy doors, and all other 
purposes where great strength and durability were required ; and of the latter we 
have, in different countries, some of the most striking examples. 
Probabilities are in favour of this latter plant being the Gopher Wood of the 
ancients. First, Because, although the wood of Lawsonia alba is close-grained and 
very durable, yet we have no account that in any country where it is found, it ever 
arrives at anything more than a tall shrub, and seldom beyond ten or twelve feet in 
height, nor does its timber seem to have been used for any very important purposes ; 
whereas, on the contrary, the Cypress will attain the height of seventy or a hundred 
feet, with a stem sufficient to yield boards of good timber three feet or more broad. 
Secondly, As the timber of the Henna plant {Lawsonia alba) would scarcely ever 
exceed a few inches in diameter, boards of such small dimensions would scarcely seem 
calculated to use in the construction of so large a vessel as the Ark of Noah is 
described to be. Thirdly, As the Cypress grows to a very large size in most Eastern 
, countries, and furnishes large timbers, which was used extensively by the ancients, 
it appears a very likely kind to be selected for a purpose of so much importance to 
mankind. 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS FIGURED AND DESCRIBED IN THE “ BOTANICAL MAGAZINE " 
AND OTHER LEADING PERIODICALS FOR SEPTEMBER. 
Gmelina Rheedii, Rheede's Omelina. From the stove of the Royal Gardens of Kew, where it 
has been so long cultivated that the period of its introduction is not known, nor does it appear 
(probably from not having previously blossomed) to have been recognised as a Gmelina. It 
flowered in May, 1848. The flowers are produced in thyrses, large, handsome, bracteated ; the 
corolla being large, and of a dark tawny yellow. — Bot. Mag.y 4395. 
Hoya iMPERiALis, Imperial Hoya. Dr. Lindley does not say too much of this plant when he 
remarks, in the ‘‘ Bot. Reg.,” 1846, fol. 68, that this “ is the most noble climbing plant we have 
ever seen.” A cluster of its flowers is indeed one of the most striking objects ; the leaves, 
too, are large and handsome. It is a Hoya with glossy, fleshy leaves, of a deep, purplish chesnut 
colour, having the expanded flowers full three inches in diameter ! rendered more conspicuous 
by the ivory white of the central column of fructification. It was discovered in Borneo by 
H. Low, jun.. Esq., who sent living plants to the Clapton Nursery, where it was purchased by 
Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co. It requires a strong rich soil, in order properly to bring out its 
numerous large thick flower-trusses, which are produced from different parts of its twining stem. 
We have used a compost of equal parts of loam, rotten leaves, and peat, with some flakes of dry 
half-decayed dung intermixed, and a liberal supply of sand and broken crocks blended with the 
whole. Each individual flower lasts a very long time in bloom, and is highly fragrant in the 
evening and all the night. — Bot. Mag.^ 4397. 
Leuchtenbergia Principis, Noble Leuchtenhergia. Few persons on viewing this plant when 
destitute of flowers would imagine it to belong to the Cactem. The mamillse have rather the 
appearance of the leaves of some Aloid plant, while the stem, looking as if formed of the persistent 
cases of old leaves, resembles that of some Cycadece. The blossoms, however, differ in no par- 
ticulars from that of Oereus. The flowers are yellowish-white, and are produced during the summer 
months. — Bot. Reg., 4393. 
