-^'il 
MEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
which surrounds our glohe has always heen the same, 
is quite imdecided; we do not even know accurately 
whether the mean height of the harometer has continued 
the same at the same place for a century past. Accord- 
ing to Poleni's and Toaldo's ohservations, the pressui-e 
would have seemed to vary. The correctness of their 
observations has long been doubted, but the recent re- 
searches of CarUni render it almost probable that the 
mean height of the harometer is diminishing in Milan. 
Perhaps the phenomena is a very local one, and de- 
pendent on variations in descending atmospheric cur- 
rents. — Sumioldfs Aspects of Nature. 
Aberrant Funffus growth. — At a late meeting of the 
Edinbm-gh Botanical Society, Dr. Greville gave the fol- 
lowing report on a specimen of fibrous matter from the 
Ediaburgh "Water Company's works, which bad been 
presented at the last meeting by Mr. M'Nab, and a spe- 
cimen resembling it, presented by Mr. G. Lawson, 
having been found on an old wheelbarrow in Dundee, 
by Mr. W. OgUvie : — " The fibrous substance from the 
AVater works is Ozonium auricomuni of Link. Along 
with a number of other fibrous and byssoid productions, 
it is now regarded as either an imperfectly developed or 
aberrant form of some fungus. Ozonium, Himantia, 
FibriUaria, Acrothamnium, Byssocladium, &c., are con- 
sidered by Fries as the mijceUa of Hymenomycetons 
Fungi, iu a more or less monstrous state. I am not 
aware that the full development has ever been traced, 
so that the species has not been identified. The speci- 
mens from an old wbeelbaiTOw are probably the same 
thing. Having been more favom'ably placed, there is 
evidently an approach to a higher development." 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
Onoidium vauicosum, Lindleij. Varicose Oncid. 
(Journ, Hort. Soc, v. 143). — Nat Ord., Orchidaeese § 
Vandese Brassidae. — A showy, strong-growing, stove 
epiphyte, one of the finest of the yellow Oncids. It has 
ligulate-lanceolate leaves, and large flowers, eighty or 
ninety in number, in a great branching panicle, sup- 
ported by a strong' glaucous stem, three feet long ; the 
sepals and petals are dark green, banded mth diUl 
brown, the lip large, very bright yellow. — From Brazil ; 
introduced in 1848, by M. De Jonghe, of Brussels, 
Flowers in autumn. Horticultxiral Society. 
Ekica laqueata lutea. Storey. Yellowish vaulted 
Heath. {Florht, iii., 34.) — Nat. Ord., Ericaceae J 
Ericeas. — A curiously coloured, but not very handsome 
heath. It possesses, however, novelty of colours, an 
excellent habit, being compact, and bushy, and a deep 
rich foliage. The flowers grow in clusters of from three 
to five, from the points of the little shoots ; they are 
tubular, somewhat inflated, with a broad flat limb ; the 
colom- is very pale dull flesh colom', blotched with yel- 
lowish green. — A garden hybrid, raised by Mr. Storey 
of "Whitehill, and obtained between tricolor coronata, 
and depressa. Flowers in summer. Messrs. Henderson, 
Pine Apple Nursery, Edgeware Eoad. 
Phllodendron striatipes, Kunth and Bouche, 
Striated-stalked Philodendi-on. — Nat. Ord., Aracea 5 
Caladieae. — Syn., Caladium diversifolium, Sort. St. 
Petersburgh. — A ciuious stove perennial, stemless, with 
somewhat leathery leaves eight to nine inches long, ob- 
long, sharply pointed, and slightly cordate, finely punc- 
tured with small pellucid dots ; the long petioles are 
striated with oUve colour. The spathe is convolute, 
ventricose at the base, narrowed above, straw-coloured, 
slightly rccm-ved, and extending beyond the spadix. 
— From Brazil; introduced to Berlin in 1848. Flowers 
in July. 
C^iiLiANDRA BREvrPES, Bentkam. Short-peduncled 
CaUiandi-a. (Bot. Mag., t. 4500,)— Nat. Ord., Fa- 
baceae, ^ Mimoseae Acaeieas. — A graceful, smooth, stove 
shrub, much branched in habit, and growing four to 
five feet high. The leaves are alternate, with a pair of 
oblong pinna;, closely set with the lineai'-oblong leaflets. 
The flowers grow in heads on short stalks, from the 
axils of the leaves, and consist of a small, inconspicu- 
ous, bell-shaped eoroUa, and a tuft of sho^^'y pale-rose 
stamens, the filaments of which are six times as long as 
the corolla. — From Brazil ; introduced about 1848. 
Flowers in October. Eoyal Garden, Kew. 
Cephalotaxus Fortuni, Hooker. Fortune's Ce- 
phalotaxus. [But. Mag., t. 4499 )— Nat. Ord., Taxacese. 
— A noble, hai'dy tree, stated to grow fi-om forty to 
sixty feet high, the branches probably spreading or 
drooping. The leaves are large, quite distichous, and 
ranged like the teeth of a comb ; three to four inches 
long, linear, gi-adually acuminate, dark green above, 
paler beneath. It increases readily by cuttings. At 
Bagshot, in Sui'rey, it has been found quite hardy dirr- 
ing the winter of 1849-50. — From China : two hundred 
miles north of Shang-see; introduced, in 1849, by Mr 
Fortune. Messrs. Standish and Noble, of Bagshot. 
Berberis lutea, Ruiz and Favon. Yellow Ber- 
berry. (Journ. Hort. Soc., v., 3.) — Nat. Ord., Berber- 
acefe, § Berberidefe. — A neat evergreen shrub, nearly 
if not quite hardy, probably growing six or eight feet 
high. The branches are downy, beai'ing spines, and 
small oblong leaves, which are of a deep shining green, 
undivided and narrow in the older plants, but with three 
or more spiny teeth when yoimg. The flowers, which 
are yellow, grow in fascicles from among the leaves. 
— From Peru ; mountains near Veto, at an elevation 
of 12,000 feet; introduced, in 1846, by Mr. T. Lobb. 
Flowers not yet produced in England. Messrs. Veitch 
and Son, of Exeter. 
Azalea ra:mentacea, Liniley. Ramentaceous Chi- 
nese Azalea. (Journ. Sort. Soc, iv., 91.) — Nat. Ord., 
Ericacea;, § Ehododendreae. — One of the smaller, neat- 
growing, imported varieties of Chinese Azalea, pretty, 
but too small to be very showy. It is a dwarf, close- 
growing, evergreen shrub, with flat, obtuse leaves, 
" often nearly round, or at most oblong." The small, 
white flowers grow in spare umbels from the ends of the 
shoots ; the calyces and pedicels are glandless, but firr- 
nished "with ramentaceous hairs. — From China : sup- 
posed to be from Hong Kong ; introduced, in 1846, by 
Mr. Fortune. Flowers in spring. Horticultural So- 
ciety of London. 
