348 
THE JOURNAL OE THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
diameter when spread open. They have a 
firm fleshy texture, are a pale cream colour, 
except the lip, which is richly marked with 
brownish-yellow veins, springing from arugged 
bright orange central ridge. At the hase of 
each flower grows a brown concave dry bract, 
one-and-a-quarter inch long, which, by its 
dead colour, much enlivens and improves the 
delicate tints of the flowers themselves. It 
is nearly related to the Java C. speciosa, but is 
a very much more striking species, on account 
of the whiteness of its noble blossoms. 
Mimulus tricolok, Hartweg. (Raised 
from seeds brought home by Mr. Hartweg, 
and said to be collected on the plains of the 
Sacramento valley, in California.) — An annual, 
soft and covered with delicate glandular hairs. 
Leaves pale green, oblong-lanceolate, tapering 
to the base, here and there toothed at the edge, 
those near the root of the same form as the 
others. The flowers, which are about two 
inches long, grow singly and nearly sessile in 
the axils of the leaves ; they have a long 
narrow plaited unequal calyx, beyond which 
projects the very slender tube of the corolla, 
which then widens into a funnel-shaped limb, 
with an oblique border cut into five nearly 
equal rounded lobes. Its general colour is 
bright pink, with a deep crimson spot at the 
base of each lobe, and a bright yellow stain 
along the lower lip. It is distinguished from 
Mimulus brevipes by the uniform shape of 
the leaves, by the nearly sessile flowers with a 
long, narrow, by no means ovate, calyx, and 
by the slender exserted tube of the corolla. 
As far as its cultivation is understood, it ap- 
pears as if it would be best to treat it as a 
half-hardy annual. It is a delicate growing 
plant, with very neat party-coloured flowers, 
well repaying any care required for its culti- 
vation. 
Nuttallia cerasiformis. Torrey and 
Gray, in the Boiany of Beechey's Voyage, 
p. 336, t. 82. (Received from Mr. Hartweg, 
in January 1848, from California, said to be 
a deciduous shrub, two feet high, from the 
woods near Monterey.) — A shrub, with a very 
thin half-transparent smooth deciduous foli- 
age. The leaves are obovate-lanceolate, or 
oblong, perfectly smooth, pale green, rather 
glaucous beneath. From the base of the young 
shoots, opposite one of the earliest leaves, 
springs a nodding raceme of greenish-white 
flowers, furnished with broad, reflexed, thin, 
very pale green bracts. There are five petals, 
which soon fall off", and fifteen stamens in- 
serted on the calyx in a double row. The 
aspect of the plant is something that of a bird- 
cherry, but its fruit is said to consist of from 
one to five leathery drupes, which finally dry 
up and split. A hardy, dwarf, neat-looking 
shrub ; increased by suckers or seeds, and 
growing freely in any good garden soil. It 
flowers before the leaves are produced, in 
February and March. 
Epidendrum fragrans, Swartz; var. me- 
galanthum. (Presented to the Society by 
G. U. Skinner, Esq., in July, 1848, and said 
to be from Guatemala.) — In all parts of tro- 
pical America this epiphyte seems common, 
and many varieties are known to cultivators ; 
but they are generally too trifling to merit 
special names. In this instance, however, a 
form has been received which is most remark- 
able for its unusual dimensions. The flowers 
are full four inches in diameter, of a pale clear 
greenish white, and the lip is vividly marked 
by clean stripes of very rich crimson. It is 
quite a giant of its kind, for the pseudo- bulbs 
and leaves, taken together, are sometimes 
eighteen inches long. It is. best grown in the 
coolest part of the orchid-house, potted in fibry 
peat, with half- decayed leaves, and liberally 
supplied with moisture during the growing 
season. It is a very desirable plant, with 
large fragrant flowers. 
Cortusa Ma-tthioli, Linnceus. (Seeds 
received from the north of India, from Capt. 
Munro.) — Among many highly interesting 
plants raised from the seeds sent to the Society 
by this officer was a Cortusa, which upon 
flowering proved not to be distinguishable, 
even as a variety, from the charming Euro- 
pean alpine form. The species having also 
been found in the birch-woods of the Pun- 
jaub, near a fort called by Jacquemont " Chou- 
pienne," must now be considered to extend 
over all the lofty mountain-chains lying be- 
tween Savoy and the Chinese frontier ; an 
unusually wide distribution for such a plant. 
A hardy perennial, requiring a rather dry 
situation, and well suited for rock-work, grow- 
ing freely in any good loamy soil which is not 
over retentive of moisture. It is increased 
by dividing the roots when the plants are in a 
state of rest. It is a well-known neat little 
alpine species, deserving a place in any select 
collection. 
PiEONiA Moutan : versicolor. (Received 
from Mr. Fortune, in April, 1846, from the 
north of China, and said to be the " Tee-lok," 
a greenish-white kind.) — Flowers large, semi- 
double, or probably quite double, with large 
broad petals, very irregularly arranged and 
cut on the edges, deep purple near the base, 
fading to a rosy lilac near the outsides. Foli- 
age narrow and pointed, like that of the old 
P. papaveracea. Requires the same kind of 
treatment as the other kinds of Tree-pseony. 
Very handsome, showy, and distinct. 
P^onia Moutan : atrosanguinea. (Re- 
ceived from Mr. Fortune in May, 1846, 
marked "dark purple," from Hong Kong, and 
from Shanghae as " very dark, nearly black." 
