Plate 139 . 
BLUMENBACHIA CORONATA. 
This fine acquisition to our gardens is a native of Peru and Chili, and has been recently 
sent out by Messrs. Veitcli and Sons of Chelsea. It is an elegant half-hardy biennial, attaining 
the height of a foot and a half or two feet ; the leaves are narrow bipinnatifid, and cut into 
narrow segments, whilst the profuse flowers are of a rich orange-red (or in the variety white) 
colour, concave, ribbed, and more or less buried in the foliage. The genus Blumenbachia belongs 
to the curious Natural Order Loasese, which somewhat approaches Passiflore®, Gronoviea?, 
and Turneraceae, and the plants of the Order are generally climbers, like the Cucurbitacese, 
with palmilobed leaves. The Loaseae are all natives of America, except the African genus 
Fissenia, and most of the species grow upon the slopes of the Cordilleras facing the Pacific 
Ocean, beyond the equator, but not in cold regions. The fruit of Blumenbachia is roundish 
and of a spongy character, spirally striated, and splitting into pieces, when ripe, to the 
base. B. coronata was introduced into England by Pearce, and Mr. Davy of Nottingham, 
who has lived many years in Peru, says that the plant in its native haunts attains the size 
of a bush fully two feet high, with flowers much larger than anything at present seen 
in this country. The very handsome aspect of this fine plant, with its highly ornamental 
and curiously-constructed flowers, may be well gathered from our Plate ; but its singular 
armature of stinging hairs requires a microscope for its proper appreciation. These hairs are 
of three sorts, the larger ones being very similar in structure to the glandular hairs of the 
stinging nettle, whilst the two other sorts are very minute, and densely covered with reversed 
barbs. Even the corolla and receptacle itself are profusely furnished with these curious 
stinging hairs. 
Plate 140 . 
AGERATUM — “ COUNTESS OF STAIR." 
It is now five years since we published a figure of Mr. Chater’s Ageratum Imperial 
Dwarf, a plant whose first-rate position for the border has ever since remained unquestioned. 
The plant now figured is considered to be without doubt a decided advance upon Imperial 
Dwarf ; for profuse and compact as is the habit of this latter plant, the flower-heads in 
Countess of Stair are still more dense, and the habit of Imperial Dwarf, compact as it is, is 
also decidedly improved upon. There is not a shoot but throws up a head of dense blossoms, 
beginning at a few inches from the ground and only ending when its entire height of six or 
eight inches is attained, and when the whole top of the plant is one dense mass of fragrant 
lavender-blue blossoms. 
The Ageratum var. Countess of Stair was raised from seed sown at Castle Kennedy in 
the autumn of 1872. It grows from six to eight inches in height, and is of a compact and 
spreading habit, combining with a vigorous constitution an extraordinary tendency to pro- 
duce bloom, a succession of which continues from a few weeks after being planted out till the 
close of the season, in undiminished profusion. It possesses in a high degree the merit, 
which most of the Ageratums has, of withstanding heavy rains better than most other 
bedding plants. Being of a light blue shade of colour, and blooming so freely, it is 
admirably adapted for flower-garden purposes, and never fails to light up and produce a gay 
and cheerful appearance, at once arresting the attention and drawing forth the admiration of 
the beholder. 
We have only to say in conclusion that the entire stock of the plant is in the hands of 
Mr. B. S. Williams, of the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Holloway Road, whose name is 
a sufficient guarantee for the first-rate quality of every plant sent out by him. 
