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FLORXCULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW OR INTERESTING PLANTS RECENTLY IN FLOWER AT TIIE PRINCIPAL SUBURBAN 
NURSERIES AND GARDENS. 
Aphela'ndra aurantia'ca. At the Nursery of Messrs. Henderson, of Pine-apple Place, this 
magnificent plant has recently displayed its beautiful deep and very bright orange-red blossoms 
arranged decussately in a large terminal spike. The stems are stout, and clothed with large 
ovate leaves of an intensely deep and glossy green, and somewhat more drawn out at the point 
than those of its well-known congener, A. cristata. It will be an invaluable addition to the list 
of winter flowering stove-plants. Messrs. H. obtained it from a continental nursery. 
Bego'nia ramenta'cea. One of the handsomest species of Begonia , and remarkable for the 
numerous depressed scales which cover the flower stem, the footstalks, and the whole under- 
surface of the leaves. The foliage is ample, bright green above, and of a sanguineous hue 
beneath. It was originally introduced from Brazil, four or five years ago, by Messrs. Young, of 
Epsom. A specimen was flowering recently in the nursery of Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, and we 
have also seen it at several of the metropolitan nursery establishments during the past season. 
CoTulea, hybrids. A very extensive collection of seedling varieties of this genus are blooming 
at the Nursery of Mr. Gaines, Battersea, amongst which are several striking improvements upon 
those already in general cultivation ; and others, which though certainly in advance, are scarcely 
sufficiently so to merit distinctive appellations. There are pink, rose-coloured, crimson, cream- 
coloured with a tinge of green, and bicoloured varieties, some of which have the wide-spreading 
limb of C. alba , whilst others possess more of the character of C. Harrisii and C. speciosa. 
Besides the novelty exhibited in the flowers, there is also a manifest superiority in the habit and 
foliage ; the latter being considerably larger, and in many cases approaching a circular form. 
Drymo'nia ? Mr. Loraine, of Wallington Lodge, has recently flowered a new plant 
known in some collections as Columnea zebrina , which if not constituting a new genus, probably 
belongs to this, or Alloplectus. It is a somewhat succulent plant, with large, shining, obliquely 
ovate leaves, and flowers springing from their bosom, three or four together. The latter are 
conspicuous for the contrast between the dark-brown coloured calyx, and the sulphury yellow of 
the tubular corolla. The whole external surface of the corolla is covered with densely arranged 
villi. 
OPERATIONS FOR JANUARY. 
The rigorous weather we usually experience in January renders it a matter of paramount 
importance to maintain every advantage — as well in the internal state of plants as in the protec- 
tions that surround them, which can minister to their security from harm. More plants are, per- 
haps, lost in this month than in any other 1 , and it is especially trying to such as are of a weak or 
an easily excitable nature. 
In all cases, then, where a premature tendency to commence growth is evinced, it should be 
suppressed as much as is consistent with the peculiar character of the individual ; and this is more 
particularly requisite of those plants which are preserved in frames and pits, unprovided with 
means of protection from frost beyond what is afforded by external coverings. As a means of 
preventing unnatural excitement, the cultivator must be ever watchful to remove the mats, straw, 
or other protecting materials, as soon as the state of the weather renders it unnecessary for them 
to remain. This step is too often considered immaterial ; but is in reality one of the most 
essential characteristics of superior management ; and its neglect the precursor of many of the 
losses sustained at a more advanced period, and wholly owing to its tendency to render the plants 
more susceptible of injury from cold. Air must be given largely whenever practical ; and it is 
YOL. IX. — NO. CXXXII. 
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