128 
NEW PLANTS FROM CHINA. 
of this most beautiful shrub, which has 
reached this country in safety, is apparently 
hardy, has already been distributed by the 
Society to a limited extent, and promises to 
take rank with the Chinese Azalea as an ob- 
ject of ornament. A drawing received from 
him represents it as forming loose clusters of 
from three to five flowers at the end of every 
little side branch, and his dried specimens 
show that the drawing is faithful in that re- 
spect. The flowers are rather more than an 
inch long, and are an inch and a half in dia- 
meter when expanded. In colour they are very 
like the well-known Chinese Crab (Pyrus 
spectabilis), pure white under, deep rose 
externally. 
The genus "Weigela, which originated with 
the Swedish traveller Thunberg, has been 
referred by modern botanists to Diervilla, and 
several species of it inhabiting Japan have 
been published by Messrs. Siebold and Zucca- 
rini under that name. But although in many 
technical characters it approaches that genus, 
yet it is very different in habit ; and since the 
seed-vessel is crustaceous, not membranous, 
and the seeds winged, not wingless, it seems 
expedient to preserve the original genus. The 
species now described is more like the Calys- 
phyrum floridum, also a Weigela, and a most 
beautiful one, from the north of China, than 
any of the Diervillas of Siebold and Zucca- 
rini, from all which it differs in its very large 
flowers, except their D. grandiflora, the leaves 
of which have very long stalks and the sta- 
mens hairy filaments. Hitherto this plant 
has been kept in a greenhouse, but it has so 
much the appearance of a hardy shrub that, 
especially considering its flowering in the 
north of China in the month of April, it will 
probably live in the open air. — North of 
China, Mr. Fortune. Native name "Noah- 
cholc-whoa." 
Pteeostigma grandlfloruji. — In its 
wild state this plant does not appear to grow 
more than a foot or 18 inches high ; but in 
gardens it has become more than 3 feet high, 
the consequence of which is, that its natural 
beauty has been greatly impaired. It is a 
perennial, covered all over with slender 
spreading hairs. The stems are round ; the 
leaves are opposite, stalked, ovate, crenated, 
very much marked with sunken veins, and 
deep green. The flowers, which are nearly as 
large as those of a Digitalis, and of the deep 
colour of Gloxinia violacea, grow singly in the 
axils of the leaves, than which they are con- 
siderably shorter. Their calyx appears to con- 
sist of 7 narrow green leaves, imbricated at 
their base, but the number varies to 8 ; they 
form a complete broken whorl, and may be 
understood to consist in part of bracts which 
stand close to the true sepals, and become 
blended with them ; of these the 3 exterior 
are both broader and longer than the others. 
The corolla is tubular, 2-lipped, with the 
upper lip, broad, ovate, blunt, and notched, 
while the lower is composed of 3 smaller divi- 
sions placed nearly on the same plane ; in this 
respect, however, the flower varies, some of 
the specimens having 4 lobes in the lower 
lip. The usual number of stamens is 4, of 
which 2 are perfect and next the upper lip, 
and two stunted, of the same length, but more 
slender, and belonging to the lower lip ; when 
an additional lobe appears in the lower lip of 
the corolla it is accompanied by an additional 
sterile stamen. The perfect anthers are con- 
structed in an unusual manner ; at the end of 
the filament is a large globular green gland, 
which eventually shrinks up ; upon this green 
gland are planted 2 lobes of unequal length, 
bursting longitudinally. The style and stigma 
too are of a singular form, the former gra- 
dually widening and flattening upwards till it 
ends in a thin broad plate, which curves 
forward and forms a stigma on its anterior 
edge. This species has been treated as a 
stove plant, but will probably prove hardy 
enough to stand in a greenhouse. It appears 
to grow freely in almost any sort of soil, espe- 
cially sandy peat. In summer an ample supply 
of water is necessary, and shading in sunny 
weather. In consequence of its being subje< f 
to damp off in winter, it will require to be 
kept rather dry for a few weeks. It is very 
easily multiplied from cuttings in the usual 
way. Should this species flower abundantly, 
it will be a good addition to our stove plants. 
— Sent ham, Scroph. Ind. p. 21. Hooher and 
Arnott, Botany of Capt. Beecheifs Voyage, 
p. 204, t. 45. Received from Mr. Fortune, 
July 30, 1843, from Hong Kong, us an her- 
baceous plant, with blue JioKers, grooving on 
hill sides and near streams. 
Indigofera decora. — A dark - green 
handsome bush, with somewhat glaucous 
branches. The leaves are pinnate in from 2 
to 5 pairs and an odd one, quite smooth on the 
upper side, but slightly covered on the under 
side with very fine hairs, attached by their 
middle ; the leaflets are exactly ovate, with a 
short bristle at their end, between 1J and 2 
inches long, of a very dark green colour ; and 
to each pair there are two short bristle-like 
stipules. The flowers grow from the axils of 
the leaves in horizontal racemes much shorter 
than the leaves themselves ; they are of a light 
rose colour and very handsome. The calyx 
is a flat membranous 5-toothed cup, with the 
two upper teeth very far apart. The standard 
of the corolla is oblong, nearly flat, very 
slightly keeled behind, nearly white, but pen- 
cilled with delicate crimson lines near the 
base ; in length it is equal to the wings and 
