32 
JOURNAL OP THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Gumwood.”* But that the difficulty of treating them successfully 
is not overrated will be readily allowed, when I mentioned that I 
carried a profusion of these seeds with me to Madeira, only a short 
time after they were gathered ; and yet, with all the advantages of 
one of the finest climates in the world (and that too an insular one), 
and despite every possible attention, my friend Dr. Grabham, whose 
success in cultivating shrubs from many quarters of the globe stands 
unrivalled, was quite unable to make a single one of them ger¬ 
minate. 
My own belief is, that the most successful way of transporting 
these curious arborescent Composites will be found to be by striking 
healthy cuttings of them on the spot, and sending them, properly 
packed, in the same pots or boxes in which they have taken root. 
The young self-sown plants will scarcely bear to be potted-off even 
at St. Helena, and would probably perish the very first day at sea. 
But cuttings made from the fresh wood strike readily, and become 
vigorous plants in the course of a few months. I made the ex¬ 
periment of this myself, and had about fifteen of the most robust 
little plants, well-rooted in a box, destined for Kew; but an un¬ 
fortunate douche of sea water as we landed on the beach at Funchal 
killed every one of them in less than twenty-four hours. This is 
much to be regretted, for half of them belonged to the all-but ex¬ 
tinct Aster Burchellii , Hk. fil., of which there are only a very few 
trees now remaining (Mr. Melliss says only “ one,” but I think 
we demonstrated that there are certainly more than that); and the 
other half to the less (though also extremely) rare Aster gummi - 
ferus , or “Little BastardGumwood,” once abundant. 
I would, therefore, recommend anybody who may happen to 
have a sufficient length of time and leisure, at St. Helena, to devote 
to that purpose, to try the experiment of growing healthy cuttings 
from the young wood, and of sending them to England after they have 
been properly rooted and established, taking every precaution against 
sea-water and spray on the homeward route. But here lies one of 
the greatest difficulties, for I should very much doubt their being 
able to endure the close atmosphere of a Wardran case. Of one of 
the most anomalous of these arborescent Composite , namely, the 
j Psiadia rotundifolia (well-figured in Mr. Melliss’ late book on St. 
* There are in all now growing at Kew five species reared from seeds 
sent by Mr. Wollaston, viz., two plants of Commidendron robustum , DC. (not 
too robust), two of an Aster named A. rugosum, DC. (in excellent health), 
three of a Siam, two of a Sonchus , and one or two of a Phylica.—A. M. 
