JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 12, 1881. ] 
381 
of the matured pseudo-bulbs. Thunias are grown well at Kew, 
T. alba being especially noteworthy, and is now making a 
grand display in the cool house. The bulbs or stems are short 
and almost as thick as one’s thumb ; apparently the short 
stems are the best for flowering. I noticed on one plant where 
the stems were short and stout they were producing fine 
racemes of flowers ; whilst on another plant the stems were much 
loDger and not nearly so thick, there were no flowers at all. 
Pleione Hookeriana is in excellent condition. This is indeed a 
little gem ; the flowers are a fair size, the sepals and petals being 
pure white, the scooped-shaped labellum being also white with a 
dirty brown. There is one variety of Odontoglossum Pescatorei 
which I greatly admired ; the flowers are very large and pure 
white. 0. Pescatorei usually has some violet markings on the 
column and at the base of the labellum, but'in this case it is 
almost or entirely absent. There are several Cypripediums 
flowering freely, and one that is named C. barbatum var. gigan- 
teum is of special merit. The flowers are large, as the name 
implies ; the dorsal sepal is of great breadth and substance, the 
colouring of the veins being most intense. The above are only a 
few of the Orchids that are now flowering at Kew.— Visitor. 
PRETTY SPRING FLOWERS. 
amongst spring-flowering plants there are some which have 
what I may term fugitive blooms—beautiful for a few days and 
then lost to view and enjoyment for a year. As a type of this 
class I name Sanguinaria canadensis. Others are more durable, 
Fig. 85 —Croton hawkeri. 
and remain in bloom for some weeks. Probably one of the most 
beautiful when examined are the Epimediums, blooms of which I 
enclose. Here on a limestone foundation they grow freely any¬ 
where. I have them on a barren spot at the foot of an Oak tree, 
on a rockery, and on an open damp border. In the last they 
spread most freely ; the wax-like flowers are the admiration of all 
who examine them. 
Next them in beauty and length of flowering time comes Orobus 
verna and its varieties. Following in time but more brilliant in 
colour are the Gentians—perfect gems where they like their home, 
and strange to say they prefer a garden walk of limestone chip- 
pings to the rich bed which was provided for them in the adjacent 
border. Scarcely less bright in colour, but smaller in bloom, of a 
bright blue, is Omphalodes verna, somewhat like the Forget-me- 
not but brighter in colour. There is also a most beautiful flower 
with a leaf like an Epimedium, but with a white wax-like flower 
with spurs tipped with purple. I enclose a bloom, which please 
name.—G. 0. S. 
[The flower was much crushed and withered; it is probably 
Epimedium Perralderianum.] 
CROTON HAWKERI. 
Crotons have increased rapidly in numbers of late, many 
having been imported, some originated by sports, and others 
the result of cross-fertilisation. A rather close similarity is 
apparent in several varieties, hence the remark that is not in¬ 
frequently heard, “there are too many Crotons.” Several of the 
newer forms are, however, highly distinct and decidedly beautiful. 
The Croton now figured is quite dissimilar from all others that we 
have seen, and well-grown plants possess a delicacy and chaste¬ 
ness that commands approval. The habit of the plant is very 
