WHITFIELDIA LATERITIA, OF HOOKER. 
321 
WHITFIELDIA LATERITIA. 
(Hooker.) 
BRICK-COLOURED WHITFIELDIA. 
The present plant belongs to the Linnsean 
class, and order Didynamia Angiospermia ; 
and in the natural system of Botany, to 
the order Acanthacea?, including those plants 
which agree in certain important points of 
structure with the genus Acanthus, one famous 
species of which is supposed to have given rise 
to the Corinthian order of architecture. It was 
introduced from the interior of Sierra Leone 
to the collection of the Earl of Derby, at 
Knowsley, by Mr. Whitfield, a gentleman 
"who made several voyages to, and journies 
in, "Western-tropical Africa, and formed ex- 
tensive collections of living plants and ani- 
mals." To the services of this gentleman, 
Sir W. J. Hooker has dedicated the plant 
under consideration. 
It forms a small bushy evergreen stove 
shrub, the spreading branches of which have 
rather a tortuous disposition : these branches 
are furnished with ovate, or oblong ovate, 
entire, somewhat leathery, evergreen leaves, 
which are situated opposite each other, and 
attached to the branch by a short petiole or 
leaf-stalk. The flowers are borne in racemes 
at the terminations of the branches, and are 
deposed opposite to each other, like the leaves; 
they are drooping, and furnished with coloured 
bracteas (floral leaves, situated at their base); 
from between these, the calyx or outer cover- 
ing proceeds, composed of four segments, 
funnel shaped, and of a brick-red colour ; and 
within this again is situated the corolla, pro- 
jecting about half of its length beyond the 
calyx, a figure between bell-shaped, and funnel- 
shaped, and divided into two portions, called 
the upper and lower lips ; the former of these 
is again separated into two segments, and the 
-latter into three. These particulars will be 
understood by reference to the engraving. 
Being a native of Sierra Leone, the principal 
feature of its treatment is at once pointed 
out as a hot and moist atmosphere, especially 
maintained during the period of its growth ; a 
relaxation of these, to a certain extent, will be 
proper when the growth is completed, but 
stove-treatment will, in all cases, be required. 
A light, open, loamy compost, such as the 
bulk of stove shrubby plants delight in, will 
no doubt be fully suited to this ; and the 
success of flowering it, will, no doubt, depend 
greatly on obtaining a free growth of young 
shoots early in the year, and securing i\\e 
perfect ripening or maturation of this growth 
subsequently. In the Royal Botanic Garden, 
of Kew, it was in flower, in October, 1844 ; 
and the same plant was still flowering in 
March, 1845. 
THE CULTIVATION OF ORCHIDACEOUS 
PLANTS. 
BY JOHN IIENSHALL.* 
Whoever originates a work on a subject 
with which the world is but little acquainted, 
deserves our thanks, even if he does not ac- 
complish everything at once ; and the volume 
which has just appeared, under the above 
title, may be considered in the light of 
an original work on Orchidaceous Plants. 
Among the many fugitive papers which 
have appeared in the various periodicals, no- 
thing like plain instructions for the manage- 
ment of this beautiful tribe, on scientific prin- 
ciples, can be gathered, and whatever may be 
done hereafter, the author of the treatise under 
notice deserves much credit. He commences 
his task by giving us the geographical distri- 
bution of the genus in the four quarters of the 
globe, with some excellent remarks on the 
effect of climate, and the necessity of knowing 
not only the latitude and longitude of a plant's 
habitation, but the height above the level of 
the sea, describing some of the principal 
European, Asiatic, African, and American 
genera. Next we have remarks on the ad- 
vantage, we might almost say the necessity, of 
two houses for their cultivation. From this 
he proceeds to inform us of the effects of heat 
and moisture, and the necessity of regulating 
them according to circumstances. Then comes 
a chapter on light, and its operations on plants ; 
and lastly, some practical hints on the con- 
* A Practical Treatise on the Cultivation of Orchi- 
daceous Plants, with remarks on their Geographical 
Distribution, and a select Catalogue of the best kinds 
in Cultivation. By John Henshall. London : Groom- 
bridge, Paternoster Row. 
B B 
