THR GARDENERS GNRGNICLE. 
[June i6, 187^. 
; but it has the great merit of being J apanese. 
introduced with Cymbidium virescens and 
eres, by Sir C. VV. Strickland, Ilildenley, 
who twice most kindly sent me materials, 
'y pleased to dedicate this curious novelty to 
nan who has a heart for Orchids, even though 
leter of their flowers do not exceed a line, 
colour be green. //. G. Rchb, /. 
Dendrobium pr.ecinctum, n, sp* 7* 
is a botanical novelty. The narrow, erect 
•e dark and furrowed, and the leaves lance^ 
arly bidentate. The flowers scarcely exceed 
inch in length, and are of a pallid ochre colour 
dark purplish limb. The lip is trifid, and^f 
mr*yellow colour, orange-coloured in froik^ 
lube of lip velvety and three-keeled. I ha% 
k Messrs. Vehch for it, and they kindly iBfoi|^ 
t it was introduced with D. Devonianum. I^j,s 
; this nice little thing has been overlooked ^o 
IL G. Rchb. f, E 
Thrixspermum Freemanii, 
sp.\ 
5 is a dwarf small species, yet an elegant thi^. 
Dots may be compared to those of Phalaeno^sis ' 
eriana. They are roundish flat, ancipitous, 
id with small warts. The leaves are ligulate, 
.nd there undulate, bidentate, usually unequally 
their apex, 6 — 7 inches long by li inch wide, 
aceme bears numerous flowers. The bracts are 
vate and larger than the small ovary. The sepals 
long, narrow, linear, the petals a little shorter, 
jether they give the raceme the appearance of a 
w brownish spotted broom. The small lip is 
te tridentate, the centre white, the lateral parts 
w with brown streaks. There stand four- stalked 
liar bodies before the base, which are covered with 
i warts. 
le plant comes“near T. divitiflorum (Sarcochilus 
.iflorus, F. Mull.), an Australian species, reprc- 
ed on the cover of Mr. Fitzgerald’s Australian 
hid-book. A scientific investigation of this proves 
' be widely dififerert, though very much alike ou*- 
» There are no stipitate globules in this which 
fs a retuse tridentate lamina over the very small 
idle lobe of the lip. It is very interesting that this 
eies was found on the hunting grounds of several 
eedingly experienced botanists. It was gathered in 
iam by Mr. Freeman, whose name it bears. It 
vered last winter at Mr. Bull’s establishment. I 
ained a fresh spike, a second spike very carefully 
ed by Mr. Bull, and ;I saw, the living plant lately. 
G. RcJih: p > 
THE BOTANIC GARDENS, 
BIRMINGHAM. 
An extraordinary group of twelve large plants of 
j^pripedium spectabile, the Mocassin plant from 
orth America, is now to be seen in bloom here, and 
. luxuriant health. One plant has thirty flowers, 
ich very large compared v/ith the blooms usually 
;en, and borne in pairs, and in many instances three 
looms on each shoot. There is considerable varia- 
,on in the group, some being much darker than the 
ithers, whilst others are striped, and one is very pale 
n colour. Then there is also a difference in the 
- r. i u Uotnor rirpnlar and others 
water given to them until they began growing, when 
water was applied copiously; and were kept in this 
frame until in flower, when they wtre removed to the 
conservatory. Some of the foliage is 5 inches long 
and 4 inches in breadth, and all the plants are in mo^t 
vigorous health. Adjoining this group are a couple 
of fine plants of Cypripedium parviflorum, a small- 
growing species with yellow flowers and in the most 
perfect health, having received the same treatment as 
C. spectabile. Close by were plants of Dolecatheon 
;:elegans. Primula farinosa, Lychnis alpina major, a 
very charming Saxifrage, allied to S. A'ZDon, received 
]ffom Mr. George Maw, of Broseley ; and a fine plant 
of Orchis foliosa. In the conservatory are fine ex- 
amples of the old Erodmmanemonsefolium, and Lilium 
giganteum in flower. How Lapagerias luxuriate here, 
and what grand objects they are at the blooming 
time. Mr. Latham has a strong plant of the whi e 
^variety, with young vigorous growth now 6 feet long ; 
and this is planted to intermingle with the rose- 
coloured variety. 
When dll China Rose White Pet originate ? There 
is a plant of it now in flower in the conservatory, 
which is indeed lovely, Mr. Latham having obtained 
a plant in a Cheltenham nursery, where he met with it, 
but has never seen it elsewhere. It is a small-grow- 
ing kind, and has the appearance of being the result 
of a cross between the Fairy Rose and a Noisette. 
The fljwers are white, erecr, small, and well-formed, 
and just what we should value for bouquet purposes, 
and it is a very free bloomer. Can any of your 
readers give further information respecting it ? Several 
large plants of Eutaxia myrtifolia are blooming in the 
conservatory, which also contains two very rare Ferns 
— one, a superb specimen of Dicksonia arborescens, 
probably unequalled in the kingdom, and a fine plant 
of Cyathea Cunninghami. OrchMs are extensively 
grown here, and a block of Dendrobium Falconeri 
has just had tw'enty five fine b-oums upon it, and 
Chysis Limminghi and several other Orchids are now' 
in bloom. 
The Anthuriuras under Mr. Latham’s treatment 
are examples of first-class culture. There is one plant 
of Anthurium Scherzerianum, large variety, with sixty 
expanded blossoms, with spathes of the largest size I 
have seen, Disa grandiflora is on the point of bloom- 
ing, and this g'oripus plant is too seldom seen in really 
good condition. The best lot I ever saw was at Mr. 
Elward S ill’s, jFerniehurst, near Leeds, when they 
were grown in the shadiest part of an Odontoglassum- 
house, and were as much at home as at the top of the 
Table Mountain at the Cape. 
There is a very good collec ion of hardy Ferns here, 
and amongst them the tridy lovely Polypodium vul- 
gare eleganiissimum is a gem, but prone t ) revert to its 
normal state— -that of P. \u’gare, from which it is a 
sport. Mr. Latham has a crested form of Lastrea 
marginalis, sent from Canada by Mr. G )ode. Is this 
variety to be found in other collections ? The pretty 
Listrea fragrans (Aspidium fragrans) does well here, 
and has a just claim (or its specific appellation. Cete- 
rach aureum is also to be .seen here in fine character. 
Excellent specimens of Gleichenia dichotoma and 
G. Speluncae, in good health, may also be seen, and 
a fine plant gf Asplenium septentiiona'e, a most 
the vicinity of large towns, and sad evidences of it 
may be seen in every suburb around the mttropolis. 
With the exclusiveness natural to the Englishman, 
when mansions and large villas are erected the gar 
deus of such residences are, as a rule, screened iron 
public observation by high walls or impenetrable pari 
palings, and. the flowering trees and evergreen shrub 
are thus guarded from the sight as well as from th( 
destructive fingers of thoughtless youths ; but betweei 
these carefully protected grounds and the towm itsel 
there often lies an intermediate district which, markec 
by the ominous boards bearing the well-known word' 
“Land to let for building purposes,” becomes ih 
prey of all the idlers of the vicinity. 
Such neighbourhoods have, at first, more or less i 
an air of rusticity about them ; a few fine trees ma 
still be standing, the fields about to be immolated d 
the altar of the builder are still partially free fra 
bricks and mortar, and handsome hedges in maij 
places enclose the land or mark the boundaries ; 
cottage gardens. Such spots are refreshing to Io| 
upon, but no sooner are they laid open to the publij 
or their future destination pointed out by the boar 
above mentioned, than the work of wanton d 
struction begins, the trees — ^not one of which can I 
w'ell spared — are needlessly cut down, or ruthless 
destroyed by being dragged away a branch or a bou 
at a time in mere wantonness, for no sooner are th 
obtained than they are torn leaf by leaf ani scatter 
to the four winds of heaven. 
In spring, when the tender green of the open! 
foliage imparts an air of refinement and a touch 
beauty to the surrounding neighbourhood, then is t 
moment of attack ; the, beautiful flowering trees a 
shrubs, the Laburnums, the Lilacs, and the Ha 
thorns are torn aw'ay for a momentary gratificatii 
and then left to fade and be trampled under foot 
the very place where they so lately shed beauty a 
fragrance. 
In the suburbs of L^-ndon on Whit Monday 1 
an old and very handsome Hawthorn hedge, the fei 
to a row of private gardens, w’as torn almost aw'aj 
young men of twenty pulling off boughs as large 
they could carry, running fratilically about waving I 
beautiful blossom-laden boughs above their heads, a 
then throwing them down. So generally, inde< 
was this the case that the field was soon litera 
covered with fragments of Hawdiorn. Nur did t 
mischief end with the hedges ; wherever there yva' 
gap large enough to admit a hind and arm, 1 
Wallflowers and other spring plants within reich wi 
torn off, and scattered about in a similar manner. 
In the present day, when the town i> so f 
absorbing the country that every space of open gr. 
field and every sheltering tree is a boon to the nei 
bourhood in which it fl ourishes, and the deotructio 
vegetation may well be watched with a jealous ey 
for barrenness and sterility follow the foubt-ps of 
builder with as little reason, and more surely I 
they do those of the holiday folk and the child 
for when houses are bui’t in the suburbs the 
thino' - ‘'"vards the formation of what is ii 
is to eradicate ( 
Botanical 
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