JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 16, 1882. ] 
219 
I do not grow the Exhibition Sprouts, but I have seen them, and 
these are very like them, and quite as large. I have Scrymger’s 
Giant growing next to them, but they are not nearly so good, 
being very loose. Large sprouts are liked here if firm, so I shall 
grow more of the Aigburth.—J. E. Axford. 
BARBACENIAS. 
Now that catholicity of taste recognises beauty in every phase 
of plant life one may well be excused from asking “ What has 
become of the Barbacenias ? ” They were never very abundant 
in gardens, but nevertheless they were considered well worth 
culture thirty years ago. In Maund’s “ Botanist,” t. G4, we find 
a good account of these plants. Barbacenias are evergreen pe¬ 
rennials, natives of Brazil, some twelve or fourteen species being 
known. Yon Martius thus speaks of them—“ We were parti¬ 
cularly surprised as we were ascending the steep Morro de Gra- 
vier, a continuation of the Serra do Oiro Branco, at seeing some 
arborescent Lilies, the thick naked stems of which divided in the 
manner of a fork, in a few branches ending in a tuft of long 
leaves, and being frequently scorched on the surface by burning 
of the meadows. They are some of the most singular forms in 
Fig. 43.—1, Barbacenia rogierii. 2, barbacexia purpurea. 
the vegetable kingdom. The two groups which have these forms, 
Barbacenia and Vellozia, are called in the country Oanella d’Ema, 
and on account of the resin they contain are much used for fuel, 
wood being scarce. They appear to thrive only on quarfzy mica- 
slate, and are considered by the inhabitants as a characteristic 
of a country abounding in gold and diamonds. They are most 
frequently met with here at an elevation of from 2000 to 4000 feet, 
always accompanied by a variety of the prettiest shrubby Rhexias, 
Eriocaulon, and Xyris.” 
The smaller species, B. purpurea, is well figured in Maund’s 
“ Botanist,” 64, where we are told that “ to the care and obser¬ 
vation of the Rev. Dean Herbert, of Spofforth, the lovers of new 
objects of cultivation are indebted for this plant. He picked the 
seeds out of a parcel of Brazilian Moss, and was rewarded by this 
novel flower in 1825.” Lindley, speaking of the members of this 
family, says “ They are capable of existing in a dry hot air with¬ 
out contact with the earth, on which account they are favourites 
in South American gardens, where, with Orchids and Bromeliads, 
they are suspended in the dwellings or hung to the balustrades of 
the balconies, situations in which they flower abundantly, filling 
the air with their fragrance.” 
B. Rogierii (the larger flower in our illustration) is figured in 
the “ Gardeners’ Magazine of Botany,” 1850, page 209, and has 
flowers of a velvety crimson or claret colour borne on gracefully 
arching scapes. Introduced to English collections by M. Van 
Houtte of Ghent. It is much larger and of a richer colour than 
