Plate 125 . 
NEW VAPJETIES OF MIMULUS. 
It is now exactly ten years ago since we published a Plate (PI. 157, Old Series), con- 
taining three new varieties of Hybrid Mimulus raised by Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son, 
of the Wellington Nurseries, St. John’s Wood. These varieties were hybrids between the 
then newly-arrived Mimulus cuprous and M. luteus and M. rivularis, and showed a marked 
advance upon anything that had been seen before in the way of the well-known yellow or 
spotted Monkey Flower, often found wild in England on the banks of streams and in boggy 
pastures. During the ten years that have elapsed since the Plate above referred to was 
published, Messrs. Henderson and Son have continued the cultivation and improvement 
of the Mimulus with unflagging zeal and with the result shown in the coloured Plate which 
accompanies this note, in which the blooms of five new and distinct seedlings are shown 
under the names of— 1, Perfection ; 2, Duke of Edinburgh; 3, Unique; 4, Soldi; and 
5, Duchess of Edinburgh. The size and colour, with the mottling and pencilling of 
the five new varieties, are so well shown in the Plate that any dimensions or mere description 
of the coloration becomes quite unnecessary. Seeds sown in the early spring, in a fine, 
sandy soil, with a temperature of 60 degrees, will give an abundance of plants for the 
summer. After they have shown well above ground, they simply require re-potting in rich, 
light soil. Should any desirable variety appear amongst the seedlings, it can be readily 
made permanent by cuttings or offsets from the roots. There is a well-known plan of 
gradually withholding water when the plants have done flowering, and suffering them to dry 
off, and then laying them by all the winter till they begin to grow in spring, and then 
dividing at the roots. 
Plate 126 . 
CROTON SPIRALE. 
Amongst the many new and old varieties of Croton which embellish our stoves C. spirale 
is well worth a foremost place, as it is one of the very best for ornamental purposes. On 
account of its peculiar form and rich colouring it is both distinct and effective : the spiral 
twisting of the leaf blade, which has suggested its name, is very marked and perfectly 
constant. The leaves are from nine to twelve inches long, and about an inch wide, deep 
green with a broad golden-yellow bar up the centre, the green margin twisting spirally 
round the golden bar ; some leaves, as will be seen, are partially spiral and partially 
undulate. The older leaves become a deep bronzy green, almost purple, and the midrib a 
deep crimson. Croton spirale has been imported from the South Sea Islands, and has been 
awarded a First-Class Certificate by the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. This plant, with Croton majesticum, figured in our February Number, and C. volutum, 
referred to in our last, may now be seen in great beauty in one of Mr. William Full’s new 
Plant Houses at Chelsea, where we recently had the opportunity of sketching the subject 
of the present Plate. All three plants, we are informed, will be sent out for the first time 
by Mr. Bull during this present month of August. All Crotons succeed well in a mixture 
of three parts loam and one peat ; and cuttings, with the leaves left on, root freely in sand 
under a glass in heat ; they are said to become ipore richly coloured under certain conditions 
of abundance of sunny light, plenty of heat, and a moderately poor compost to grow them 
in, whilst if the compost is too rich, and the position of the plants too shady, the coloration 
is apt to become somewhat subdued. 
