26 
THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
requested to issue a circular so that the general feeling 
of those connected with Horticulture may be ascertained. 
3. That a provisional committee be formed, and that the 
first hundred gentlemen who shall give in their names 
as members be admitted without any entrance fee, and 
that a distinction be made between town and country 
members. Horticulturists desiring to co-operate should 
communicate with the Secretary, Westwell Vicarage, 
Ashford, Kent. 
AFRICAN QUILLED MARIGOLD. 
The above is an illustration, the exact size of nature, of 
the fine African quilled Marigold now being sent out by 
Messrs. J. C. White and Son, of Gloucester; the seed, 
we are informed, has been saved with the utmost care 
from fine selected double flowers, and the plant above 
illustrated is of great merit and well worthy of cultiva- 
tion. It is the largest and most perfectly formed of all 
the African Marigolds, and its extreme doubleness and 
beautiful quilling makes it as valuable for cutting and 
show purposes as for a striking ornament in the flower 
beds. 
NEW VARIEGATED FORM OF SIBTHORPIA 
EUROILEA. 
We are glad to be able to record the fact of there being 
a beautiful variegated form of this lovely little scrophu- 
lariaceous plant, the stock being at present in the hands 
of the Lawson Seed and Nursery Company. Sibthorpia 
europaea is one of the most exquisitely delicate of all 
British plants, and a common drooping ornament of our 
hardy ferneries; we cannot doubt, therefore, if the 
variegation becomes permanent, but this new variety 
will be highly esteemed. We believe Sibthorpia is only 
found truly wild with us in the South-west of England, 
South of Ireland, and in the Channel Islands. 
NEW TYDtEA. 
Mr. William Bull has now in flower at his establish- 
ment for new plants, at Chelsea, an extraordinary new 
Tydaea, it is both beautiful and extremely distinct and well 
worth inspection. 
ERYTHRINA PARCELII. 
It appears that Mr. Bull’s fine plant figured by us on 
Plate 95, under the above name, is really the E. picta 
of Linnaeus, and a variegated form of E. indica. 
“ W. B. II.,” writing to the Gardeners' Chronicle on 
October 3rd, says — “ There is a very good plate of it 
in Rumphius ’ Herbarium Atnboinense (1741-1755), vol. ii. 
t. 77.” In reference to its habitat Rumphius says : — 
“ Hsec species raro in Amboina occurrit et tantummodo 
bine inde una alterave arbor prope sedes plantata;” he 
goes on to say that it has been observed in several places 
in the eastern part of Moluccas and Celebes, though very 
rareLq if at all, in the western. Seemann, Flora Vitiensis, 
does not appear to have seen this variety, but the typical 
E. indica is common in the Fijian Islands. The custom 
of planting it near houses or temples, as mentioned by 
Rumphius in the above note, is general in the Fijian 
Islands, according to Seemann. He says : — “ The 
flowering of the Drala (Erythrina indica), which 
takes place about the end of July, or the be- 
ginning of August, is the general sign for planting 
the yams, and is one of the natural phenomena 
upon which the Fijian Calendar is based. For this 
reason the tree is found near almost every village, 
either wild or planted. The seeds are used by 
children for toys, and by the heathen priests to cover 
the so-called oracle boxes.” This species is also com- 
monly cultivated throughout India. There is a fragment 
of E. indica var. picta in the herbarium at Kew, from 
Sir Richard Schomburgk, dated 1872, under the name 
of E. Parcelli ; but no other information accompanies 
the specimen. It is also called Purcelli, but it is of no 
great importance which of these forms is right, as the 
name picta must be adopted if we regard the rights of 
priority. Linnaeus held picta to be a distinct species ; 
Lamarck, in his Encyclopaedia, unites it with indica ; 
whilst De Candolle, in the Prodromus, again separates it. 
