260 
AR.ISTOLOCHIA PICTA. 
and peat ; propagated by cuttings planted in 
sand, and placed within the influence of a 
slight bottom heat. 
Bruckea grandifolia, Klotzsch and Kar- 
sten (large-leaved Bruckea). — ?Verbenacea3. — 
A large shrub, or small tree, with a roundish 
pyramidal head of branches, the bark ash- 
grey, and the young branches studded with 
warts. The leaves are opposite, lance-shaped, 
from three to five inches long, coriaceous, 
and deep shining green. The flowers grow 
in little cymes from the axils of the leaves ; 
they are white, with a short cylindrical tube, 
dividing into a regular limb of five oblong 
obtuse lobes ; the flowers are about half an 
inch in diameter. Native of Venezuela, on 
the mountains of the province of Caracas, at 
an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. 
Introduced to Belgium in 1845. Flowers in 
January and February. Culture. — Requires 
a stove, with a damp atmosphere, and exposed 
to the sun ; peat and loam ; propagated by 
cuttings. It was found blooming both in the 
wet and dry seasons, and grew in damp 
places in the vicinity of brooks on open and 
sunny slopes. 
Cereus reductus, Link (dingy Cereus). 
— Cactaceaa § Cereidge. — A dingy looking 
species, with a stem three feet high or more, 
cylindrical, four or five inches broad, deeply 
furrowed with fourteen or fifteen furrows ; 
the colour is dull glaucous green. The 
ridges of the stem have large mammillae, which 
are near together, and bear a tuft of about 
eleven large tawny divergent spines of un- 
equal size. The flowers appear, two or three 
at the top of the plant ; the calyx-tube dark 
green, with remote scales gradually passing 
into the oblong sepals with white margins, 
these again merging into the petals, which are 
white tinged with rose colour. It is the 
Cactus nobilis (Haworth ; not of Aiton). 
Native of South America, supposed to be 
from Mexico. Introduced to Kew " many 
years" before 1848. Flowers ? Culture. 
— Requires a warm greenhouse, and a little 
extra heat while growing ; loam and lime 
rubbish ; propagated (very rarely) by off- 
shoots planted as cuttings. 
Rhyncopera punctata, Karsten (spotted- 
flowered Rhyncopera). — Orchidaceas § Ma- 
laxeae-Pleurothallidse. — A curious little epi- 
phyte, bearing elegantly drooping racemes of 
small somewhat dull-coloured blossoms, which 
look like rows of flies settled on the stalks. 
The plant grows in dense tufts, its height 
being about six inches. The stems are simple, 
round, and smooth, bearing each an elliptical 
somewhat leathery leaf, which is notched at 
the apex, and flatly keeled on the under side. 
The racemes of flowers proceed from the 
base of the leaves. The individual blossoms 
are small, and have a reddish-white ground 
colour, spotted with purple, the sepals and 
petals being small and narrow, and the lip 
yellowish-red spotted with red; the colours 
are not, however, very bright. Native of 
Venezuela, in the province of Caracas, where 
it was found by Dr. Karsten, growing on the 
branches of forest trees, the locality being at 
an elevation of 5,000 to 7,000 feet. Intro- 
duced to Berlin in 1845. Flowers in the 
autumn. Culture. — Requires a stove tem- 
perature, and a moderately clamp atmosphere ; 
turfy peat soil ; propagated by division of 
the tufted plant. 
Pesomeria tetragona, Lindley (square- 
stalked Pesomeria). — Orchidaceae § Epiden- 
dreaa-Bletidae. — A curious terrestrial orchi- 
daceous plant, with an erect four-angled stem, 
having ovate lanceolate plaited leaves, and a 
loose spike of flowers on a peduncle a foot 
high, arising from the inner base of a lateral 
leaf. The flowers are rather large, the sepals 
and petals uniform, oblong acute, red-brown 
tinged with green ; ihe lip convolute crisped, 
and terminating in a mucro, the colour yellow 
with streaks of orange-red. It is the Epiden- 
drum tetragonum (Thouars). Native of the 
Isle of Bourbon. Introduced by Messrs. 
Loddiges in 1837. Flowers in December. 
Culture. — Requires a hot moist stove ; turfy 
peat soil ; propagated by division of the plant. 
ARISTOLOCHIA PICTA. 
Aristolochia picta, Karsten (painted- 
flowered Aristolochia). — Aristolochiacese. 
This species of birth-wort was introduced 
from South America to the gardens of Prussia, 
by Dr. Karsten, by whom it has been recently 
described in the Ausmahl Gercachse Vene- 
zuelas, published in Berlin. From this source 
we have obtained our figure and the parti- 
culars which follow. 
" The mature stems and branches of this 
plant sometimes creep a considerable distance 
over the ground, here and there spreading 
and twining over and round bushes and 
brushwood in damp grassy places. The 
young branches are round, smooth, and of a 
shining green colour. The leaves, which are 
nearly sagittate, or cordate, and grow on 
peduncles from an inch to an inch and a 
half long, are of a like breadth, and from 
three to three and a half inches long, sharply 
pointed at the apex, and deeply cordate at the 
base. The fresh bright green colour of the 
upper surface of the leaf becomes fainter and 
bluish on the under side. The flowers, which 
are solitary, issue from the axils of the leaves, 
and are borne on peduncles of nearly twice 
the length of the leaf-stalks. They consist of 
a single beautifully coloured monopetalous 
