30 
PLUMBAGO LARPENT.E 
Derby, who also introduced some other beau- 
tiful Gardenias,] at Sierra Leone. It proves 
to be a perfectly new and most distinct species, 
possessing handsome dark g~een, glossy foliage, 
flowers among the larger of the genus, deli- 
riously scented, the calyx furnished with large 
leafy segments, the corolla of the purest white, 
its "limb cut into seven long segments, which 
are soon reflected." " Though shrubby it is 
eminently suited for 'pot culture,' and deserves 
a place in every stove. It blossoms in Octo- 
ber and November, and will probably be found 
to do so at other seasons." 
There is one point in this account which 
may deserve especial mention — it was reared 
from a seed taken out of a dried specimen. It 
is, we believe, not the only plant which our 
gardens thus owe to the chance of such bota- 
nical specimens as contain seeds falling into 
the hands of persons who care to turn them to 
account. Many ferns have certainly been so 
raised, and that often in the greatest profu- 
sion. 
The Gardenias flourish in rich turfy loam, 
well drained, and they delight in abundance of 
weak liquid manure when growing. To grow 
them successfully, they also require a hot damp 
atmosphere ; and no place is so congenial to 
them as a brisk heated dung-bed. Cuttings 
take root pretty freely planted in sand, and 
placed in a similar situation. 
PLUMBAGO LARPENT.E. 
Plumbago Larpentce, Lindley (Lady Lar- 
pent's Leadwort). — Plumbaginacese § Plum- 
bagineas. 
Blue-flowered plants, adapted for the flower- 
garden, are by no means numerous ; indeed, 
excepting the few dwarf kinds of Lobelias, 
there is hardly a good blue-flowered half-hardy 
plant which can be employed for summer de- 
coration ; and these dwarf Lobelias are too 
small to occupy many positions where blue 
flowers are required. 
What experience has been had in the growth 
of the Plumbago Larpentce tends to the conclu- 
sion that it will prove all that can be desired 
as a bedding-out plant for the flower-garden, 
for which purpose its charming blue colour 
will render it quite an acquisition. Its'adapt- 
ability for this purpose has in some measure 
been tested during the past season. In the 
Gardener's Chronicle, where the first account 
of it was published, and from whence our 
sketch is derived, it is stated, that, in the 
nursery of Messrs. Knight and Perry, of Chel- 
sea, a plant in the open ground had, in the 
month of October last, produced 4,000 blos- 
soms. 
Our subject is a sub-shrubby plant, with 
slender zig-zag stems, which are covered with 
scales and close-pressed hairs. Its leaves arc 
obovate, and sharply pointed, tapering also to 
the base, and covered with minute scales on 
each side, the margins finely serrated and also 
fringed with hairs. The flowers grow in close 
terminal heads, and are of an intense violet or 
clear deep blue colour, marked with a little 
red in the throat ; the plant, consequently, 
when growing under favourable conditions, 
becomes a very beautiful object. Besides 
these characteristics, others more minute, yet 
serving equally for the purpose of scientific 
recognition, are these : — the bracts or floral 
leaves, and the sepals or calyx segments, are 
perfectly smooth and shining, fringed with 
hairs (ciliated), but entirely destitute of glands. 
It is a native of Shanghai, in China, where, 
however, it appears to be exceedingly rare. 
Mr. Fortune found it growing on the ruined 
ramparts of that city, but the Horticultural 
Society were not successful in raising it. To 
Sir George Larpent, Bart., is due the merit of 
introducing, and to his gardener, Mr. Eyles, 
that of successfully rearing and cultivating it. 
It was sent to Sir G. Larpent, by Mr. Smith, 
in the ship Monarch, Captain Duncanson, with 
the following memorandum, dated Canton, 
May 16, 1846 :— 
" No. 6 Mr. Fortune tried to get a plant 
of, but failed : yours is, therefore, the only 
one in England. It is very rare, even at 
Shanghai ; and I found it on the city wall, 
growing out of the stone-work ; it will, there- 
lore, require good drainage. This is one of 
the most ornamental plants I have seen in 
China." The memorandum goes on to state, 
that the climate of Shanghai, though in 30° N. 
lat., is both very cold and very hot, the ther- 
mometer being sometimes as low as 30° in 
February and as high as 110° in August. 
From this it would appear that the plant is 
able to endure a considerable degree of cold ; 
it ought, in fact, if it can be kept dry enough, 
to prove hardy in our climate, but this is 
scarcely to be expected ; neither our climate, 
nor the circumstances under which it would 
usually be placed as regards moisture in the 
soil, would be likely to accord sufficiently with 
those of its native place. In our climate damp 
would certainly be the greatest obstacle to its 
successful preservation in winter. This over- 
come, there would be little further difficulty 
in its cultivation. 
The Plumbagos flourish in any light porous 
turfy soil, but in none better than where sandy 
loam preponderates. The present species 
must be particularly well drained, and not too 
freely watered. It may be propagated by 
cuttings planted in sand, and set in a mild 
hot-bed : these cuttings should, as in the case 
of other bedding plants, be planted in the latter 
part of the summer, and kept over the winter 
