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SEEDLING EPACRISES. 193 
3 £ 
seedling EPACRISES. 
Nat. Order. — Epaciudaceje. 
Generic Character. — Epacris, Smith. — Calyx five-parted, 
coloured, with many braetooles of the same texture as the calyx. 
Corolla hypogynous, tubular ; limb five - parted, spreading, 
smooth. Stamens five, inserted on the tube of the corolla, 
included or rarely exserted ; filaments thread-like ; anthers 
peltate above the middle. Hypogynous scales five. Ovary five- 
celled, cells with many ovules ; style simple ; stigma obtuse. 
Capsule five-celled ; placentas adherent to the central column. 
Seeds numerous, — Low shrubs, common in New Holland, rare 
in New Zealand ; generally glabrous ; leaves scattered, stalked 
or sessile by the simple base ; flowers axillary, very often 
forming leafy spikes, white or purpuraseent.— (Eudlicher Gen. 
Plant., 428i I) 
Epacris conspicua (Fig. 1). — Habit and foliage of E. gran- 
diflora ; flowers large, bright crimson-scarlet ; the throat and 
limb white. 
E. grandiflora rubra (Fig. 2). — Habit and foliage of 
E. grandiflora ; flowers large, deep crimson ; the throat and 
limb white. 
E. Kinghornii (Fig. 3).— Habit and foliage of E. grandiflora ; 
flowers light rose-colour, paler upwards ; the limb pure 
white. 
E. hyacinthiflora candidissima (Fig. 4.) — Habit and 
foliage of E. variabilis ; flowers pure white, with a wide tube. 
YiJESCEIPTION. — The varieties represented by our figures 1 and 2 are very decided improve- 
«' ments on Epacris grandiflora, agreeing with it in habit and foliage, but differing in the 
increased size of the flowers, and in colour; conspicua being a bright crimson-scarlet, and 
grandiflora rubra a deep rose-crimson ; the former lighter coloured, the latter deeper coloured, 
and both of a richer hue than E. grandiflora. In these varieties the corolla tube is smooth and 
terete, as in that species, and not prismatic as in nriniata. E. Kinghornii, our figure 3, has the 
habit and foliage of grandiflora, but flowers possessing more of the character of variabilis, the 
tube of the corolla shorter, prismatic, and deeply pitted at the base ; the tube is of a clear light 
rose colour at the base, becoming paler upwards, the limb being pure white : it is in the way of 
Attlceana, but better coloured, and having the pure white tips conspicuous. E. hyacinthiflora 
candidissima (figure 4) is of quite another stamp ; the habit and foliage resembling those of 
E. variabilis, with additional size and vigour, and the corollas of the same short-tubed form, but 
broader, prismatic, pitted, and of a very pure white ; it is the finest white we have seen. 
History, &c. — We are indebted to Mr. Kinghom, gardener to the Earl of Kilmorey at Twick- 
enham, and to Messrs. Henderson of Pine Apple Nursery, for the opportunity of figuring these 
desirable greenhouse shrubs. The varieties conspicua, grandiflora rubra, and Kinghornii, are 
seedlings raised by Mr. Kinghorn, and exhibited by him during the past spring ; the two former 
were raised from miniata, crossed with grandiflora, the latter from miniata, crossed with a variety 
called Waltoni. The variety l^acinthiflora candidissima was raised by "W. H. Storey, Esq., of 
WMtehill, in Devonshire, who has favoured us with the annexed particulars of its history : — 
" The parentage and subsequent history of these flowers (hyacinthiflora and candidissima) may be 
told in a few words. In 1841, I flowered above five hundred seedling Epacrises, crosses between old 
grandiflora, impressa, and variabilis. Of this lot, some half dozen I thought worth naming ; they were 
coruscans, elcgantissima, grandiflora rosea, coccinca major, and one or two others, the names of which 
I forget, — the whole, I believe, having long since been consigned to the ' tomb of all the Capulets.' 
Amongst the discarded plants was one (a bad variabilis) that appeared to have two distinct habits, and 
different kinds of foliage ; the branch, witli larger and more robust growth, was only then showing 
bud. I put the plant aside, and as I watched it day by day, was much surprised to perceive that I was 
going to have a'niuch larger flower than any in cultivation, and totally different from the main plant ; 
— hyacinthiflora was the result. Having propagated from tliis sporting branch, in 18-14 or 1845 
Messrs. Henderson of Pine Apple Place saw the flower, and purchased the stock. In the mean time. 
I had seeded the parent plant once (1844) very sparingly, the produce being only ten or twelve plants ; 
the greater part of these bloomed in the spring of 1847, one of them being candidissima, the rest too 
much like the male parent to be of any use. The following year (1818) another white bloomed, more 
pure in colour and quite as large as candidissima; this I have not parted with, conceiving it to be only 
a fine variety of that flower. One thing has struck mo as being very remarkable : no white flower 
can claim paternity to cither of these seedlings." 
Culture. — Next in importance to the Erica, the Epacris claims a place as one of the most 
useful families of bard-wooded plants; and blooming, as some of them do, almost every month 
y* in the year, and more especially in the dull winter months, they yield us flowers at n season ^ 
when they are doubly valuable and interesting. Originally this was a rather limited genus; r\ 
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