T110PJ30LUM UMBELLATUM. 
25 
degrees by day, and from thirty-five to forty 
decrees by night. 
The Conservatory— Fifty-five degrees by 
day, and forty-five degrees by night. Make an 
allowance of five degrees according to weather. 
The Plant- Stove. —From fifty-five to sixty 
degrees by day, and fifty to fifty-five degrees 
by night. 
The Orchid- House. — The flowering-house 
from sixty to sixty-five degrees by day, and 
fifty-five to sixty degrees by night ; the 
resting-house from six to ten degrees colder. 
TROP^OLUM UMBELLATUM. 
Trop<solum umbellatum, Hooker (umbellate 
Indian Cress). — Tropasolaceae § Tropasolete. 
This plant is altogether distinct from any 
other species of Indian cress which has found 
its way to our gardens. Paucity of blossoms 
is by no means a character applicable to any 
of the Tropseolums ; nevertheless, in the spe- 
cies under consideration, the ordinary propor- 
tion of blossoms is quintupled, for instead of 
their being produced, as is usually the case, 
singly along the stems, in this they grow in 
the same position, but in bunches of from four 
to six together. This habit of blooming gives 
the plant an aspect altogether different from 
that of the species which are more familiar 
to us. 
Our plant has a tuberous root, which, ac- 
cording to Professor Jameson, reaches the 
weight of three to four pounds ; the plant is, 
therefore, of course perennial. The climbing 
stem is slender but fleshy ; it has, moreover, 
a zig-zag direction, and is of a purplish colour. 
The leaves, which are rather large, and some- 
what remotely situated, are sub-peltate and 
cordate, deeply cleft into five ovate obtuse 
lobes, which are mucronate when young ; they 
are attached to long flexuous petioles : the 
younger leaves on the flowering branches ap- 
pear to be generally smaller, and to have more 
the form of those of theivy, but somewhat deeply 
lobed. The flowers grow in umbels from the 
axils of the leaves, and are of singular external 
structure ; the calyx is cylindrical, with an 
erect (straight) limb of five unequal lobes, and 
continued at the base into a stout curved 
blunt spur, which is shorter than the calyx 
itself; the colour is orange-red, tipped with 
green at both extremities, the limb being yel- 
lowish ; the petals are very unequal in size, 
but are spathulate and clawed, as well as 
erect (not spreading) ; the three lower ones 
are red, projecting a little beyond the calyx ; 
the two others orange, and very minute : the 
flowers are thus, no less than the manner in 
which they are produced, very different from 
those of the other species of the genus ; they 
are produced very freely during the summer 
months — so freely, indeed, as quite overpower 
the foliage. 
It is a South American species. Professor 
Jameson, of Quito, first found it on a moun- 
tain called Pilzhum, (to which, he observes, it 
is quite peculiar,) at an elevation of 7000 feet 
above the level of the sea. For its introduc- 
tion to our gardens, however, we are indebted, 
as for several other beautiful Tropasoleas, to 
Messrs. Veitch and Son, of Exeter, who ob- 
tained it through their collector, Mr. Lobb, 
