FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS, FIGURED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL PERIODICALS FOR 
MARCH. 
CLASS I. — PLANTS WITH TWO COTYLEDONS (DICOTYLEDONEiE). 
THE FIG WORT TRIBE (Scrophulariacea). 
Torenia cordifolia. Heart-leaved Torenia. A neat and somewhat interesting 
little annual, with numerous, small, lilac- coloured flowers. It inhabits moist 
pastures in the Northern Circars of Eastern India, and in this country requires to 
be grown in the stove. The very branching nature of its stems, which, by producing 
flowers at the summit of each ramification, cause a pleasing profusion, renders it 
worthy of cultivation ; otherwise the individual appearance of the blossoms is not 
sufficiently striking to invest it with any attraction. Its flowering season is the 
month of October. Bot. Mag. 3715. 
; CLASS II.— PLANTS WITH ONE COTYLEDON (MONOCOT YLEDONEiE). 
THE NARCISSUS TRIBE (Amaryllidacea). 
Alstromeria LIgtu. The Ligtu. One of the most beautiful species of 
this extremely handsome genus. The great size and delicate hue of its flowers 
constitute it a truly ornamental and delightful plant. Although occasionally 
cultivated in our gardens, it is far from being so common as its merits deserve ; 
and we agree with Dr. Lindley that, notwithstanding the general neglect of 
Alstromerias, " there is no genus more likely to reward the care of a skilful 
gardener." The present species is a native of Chili, South America, and blossoms 
with us in the month of June and July. These plants may be retained through 
the winter in the open ground, with a trifling degree of shelter from wet and frost ; 
but the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert recommends strewing the ground around 
them with sawdust or peat in the Spring, as they are extremely liable to attacks 
from slugs, and these insects generally avoid a surface composed of such materials. 
Bot. Reg. 13. 
THE CORNFLAG TRIBE (Iriddcea). 
Marica gracilis. Slender-stemmed Marica. In this new and elegant species, 
the principal distinctive character is, as its name denotes/ the gracility of the stem. 
It approximates most closely to M. Nortkiana, from which it differs in being 
" much slenderer in every part ; the partial spatha particularly long, narrow, and 
acuminated, the flower smaller, and the outer sepals narrower." The larger petals of 
the flower, are of a pale lead-colour, but the inner ones are beautifully streaked with 
yellow and blue, thus rendering it a really admirable object when in blossom. 
This plant was imported by His Grace the Duke of Bedford, from Brazil, to 
Woburn Abbey, where it has been kept in the greenhouse. Bot. Mag. 3713. 
