HOETIODLTUEAL SOCIETY. — NEW AND RAKE PLANTS. 
as a stem, or belonging to the stem ; ■while all below the 
ground as belonginff to the root, which is of a lighter 
eolom- and never green;" and further on, when the stem 
is ag-ain treated of, we read, " as a i-ule, no leaves or 
buds are to be met with on roots, and when these are 
found upon paits of a plant growing under groimd, such 
portions ai'e considered to be underground stems ■" — the 
idea of an underground stem being excluded from the 
first of these passages. 
The dubious doctrine of the growth of annual rings 
of wood, is stated without qualification of any kind, 
thus : — 
" Eacll 3'ear a fresli layer of wood is added to every part of 
the tree, and as some parts are older than others, so these 
will be found to possess more wood ; the wood deposited is 
added outside that which is already formed ; and the next 
year's wood will he added or deposited outside that which is 
formed this 5'oar, and so on ; each layer of wood being younger 
than that which has gone before. A tine line separates the dif- 
ferent layers from each other ; and the number of years the 
branch or stem has been growing can be reckoned by counting 
the layers or rings of wood which exist in it." 
The truth is that each ring or layer of wood will 
represent one period of growth, whether that period 
may have been a year or more, or less ; and beyond the 
first few layers, in the case of deciduous ti'ees adapted 
to a particular climate, the ring theory becomes a very 
unsafe tost of the actual age of a stem. 
Those and a few similar defects scarcely interfere, 
however, with the utility of Mr. Ealph's little manual ; 
which win, no doubt, fulfil its avowed object, that of 
being a guide to the fiu-ther study of botany, in the case 
of all those who take it up with a determination to 
profit by its use ; without which determination, made 
and acted on, no instructions, however excellent, can 
be of much avail. The illustrations consist of twenty 
plates, containing numerous very clear and expressive 
figures. — M. 
HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 
Makch 5, — The garden of the Society fiu-uished the 
most attractive display of plants. Among the most 
conspicuous, were the following subjects : — A large bush 
of the beautiful Inga pulchen-ima, which Mr. Gordon 
flowers well by giving it a dry, cool rest in autumn ; 
two Acacias, well suited for pot cultm-e, or for a con- 
seiwatory, on account of their manageable size — rotim- 
difolia with deep yellow flowers, and celastrifolia with 
the flowers pale straw colom- ; Polygala Dalmaisiana, a 
showy hybrid, of dwarf habit, and having deep pirrple 
flowers ; the dwarf gay Siphocampylus manetticeflorus ; 
and the sweet-scented, winter-flowering Trymalium 
odoratissimum. There was also a cut specimen from 
the magnificent Laslia superbiens, now blooming in the 
Society's garden. Mrs. Lawi-ence, of Ealing Park, sent 
a Monnodes, to which a certificate was awarded ; it was 
supposed to be new, but its history was unknown ; it 
bears erect racemes of greenish cream-colom-ed flowers. 
Mr. Packman, gardener to J. Gadesden, Esq., sent a fine 
Phaius grandifoUus, having eighteen racemes of flowers. 
From Messrs. Loddiges, was a collection of Orchids, in- 
cluding several varieties of D. nobile, the most remark- 
able of which were intermedium album, and a new. 
dark, rose-coloui-ed variety from Darjeeling, to which, 
in conjunction with some of the other plants, a Bank- 
sian medal was assigned ; one of the prettiest in the 
group was a dwarf large-fiowered Odontoglossum, caUed 
Cervantesii roseum, in which the whole flower was 
suffused with a delicate rose, or French white. 
Mr. Leyton, of Hammersmith, sent a pretty bright blue 
Cineraria mth white disk, called Hammersmith Beauty ; 
the habit is tolerably good, and the flower wUl, doubt- 
less, be found a very neat one for bouquets. Mr. G. 
Glenny sent a collection of Hyacinths, the remains of 
a set of one hundred and seventy kinds which he had 
forced ; among them Orondates, States-General, An- 
gelique, Pasquin, Emetius, SateUa, a remarkably deep 
bright red, Voltaire, Vulcan, Laurens Korster, very 
fine, Coeiu- Blanc, blue with white centi-e, very re- 
markable, were the best. The same gentleman also 
sent a Crocus, called Incomparable Blue, a flower of very 
superior form, almost lite a fine tulip, and of stout 
and robust grovrth ; the colom" is a deep purple pen- 
cilled on the inside. From "W. Everet, Esq., of 
Enfield, was a scheme for supporting Rose poles ; it 
consisted of a cast-iron socket with thi'ee prongs, and 
the pole or stake being fitted into the socket with pitch, 
it is anticipated that the poles will be much more diu-- 
able than if they were inserted in the soil. Although 
the scheme is a good one we suspect the most vulner- 
able points will still be between wind and water, and 
that however much the pitch may preserve the part in 
the socket, the poles wiU stUl be found to decay just 
above the pitch. Mr. Roberts, of Eastcheap, sent a new 
garden pot, contrived so as to ventilate the roots of the 
plants, and also to place a supply of liquid manm'e at 
the disposal of the plant. "We venture, however, to 
say the pot is useless, and however pretty it may look 
in theory, it wrU be found worthless in practice. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
Berberis ciliaris, Zindleg. Ciliated Berbeny. 
(Journ. Sort. Soc, v., 5.) — Nat. Ord., Berberacea;, § 
Bcrberideas. — An evergi'een shrub, apparently unarmed, 
with fascicles of oblong, lance-shaped leaves, reticulate, 
and margined with a fringe of spines. The flowers 
grow in compact, erect, sub-corymbose clusters, and are 
probably yellow. — From Bolivia ; supposed to have been 
introduced about 1848. Flowers not yet produced in 
England. 
Pharus vittatus, Lemairc. Striped-leaved Pharus 
— Nat. Ord., Graminaceaa, § OryzeEe. — A emious and 
pretty grass — a herbaceous perennial, requii-ing a stove. 
It grows nearly a foot high ; the leaves obovate-lanceo- 
late or rhomboid, acuminate, entire, and slightly imdu- 
lated at the magins ; they are beautiftdly striped, on 
both sides, with iiTegular bands of white. The flowers, 
which grow in a panicle on a long slender stalk, ai'e 
small and pretty, the fertUe ones of a pale rose and 
white colour ; the glumes of the male flowers brownish 
red. — From Guatemala ; introduced to Belgium in 1847. 
Flowers in smnmer. 
I 
