JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
134 
[ August 11, 1881. 
Decandolle’s “ Prodromus ” to the section Sorbus, which includes 
in addition P. auriculata, P. pinnatifida, P. microcarpa, P. aucu- 
paria, P. americana, P. Sorbus, and P. lanuginosa, several of 
which are inmates of our gardens. 
SCI-IIZANTHUS PINNATUS. 
At one time, like many other members of the gardening com¬ 
munity, I was very much prejudiced against annuals for green¬ 
house and conservatory decoration. I thought they looked so 
common to be grown in houses, and perhaps many may think so 
now. But such is by no means the case. If we could form any 
reasonable objection to them on that score it would also apply to 
numerous other plants that are forced and grown for conservatory 
decoration. Take, for instance, the numerous bulbs that flower 
outside, such as Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocuses, Narcissus, &c. We 
naturally admire them when we see them in the herbaceous and 
shrubbery borders ; but when in full flower in the conservatory 
two or three months earlier they are admired much more. Take 
the Lilacs for another example. We all welcome them when 
they come into flower in our shrubberies ; but if forced into flower 
a couple of months earlier are they not much more welcome ? 
Schizanthus pinnatus in all its various forms and colours is 
undoubtedly one of the most useful of the numerous annuals that 
are suitable for conservatory decoration. It is a very accommo¬ 
dating plant, and may be had in flower eight or nine months in 
the year ; but the first batch cannot be expected to be so fine 
as those that come in later on. We have several specimens in 
flower in the conservatory now, and very useful they are. It is 
surprising what a display they make, forming quite a relief to the 
other occupants. From early spring to the present time we have 
not been without them in flower in the conservatory, and shall 
not be without them for some time to come, for we have two 
successive batches coming on to flower later in the year. The 
succession is maintained by sowing a pinch of seed in a 48-size 
pot rather thinly, place the pot in heat for a few days until the 
seed has germinated, then gradually harden the plants till they 
are transferred to the cold frame, as when they are grown cool 
they are much more dwarf and sturdy. When the seedlings are 
sufficiently large to handle they should be pricked off singly 
in large 60-size pots, or three plants may be pricked out into a 
48-size pot. These may be grown on and flowered in that size. 
Very fair plants may be produced in 48-size pots if proper atten¬ 
tion be paid to watering ; but if specimens are required of a 
larger size, the plants that have been grown singly can have their 
final potting before they become too much root-bound. Three 
plants may be placed in a 32-size pot. The frame should be kept 
close for two or three days until the plants commence rooting into 
the new compost, after which they may be fully exposed, taking 
the lights off entirely, guarding only against heavy rains and 
cutting winds. Sckizanthuses are by no means fastidious as to 
what soil they grow in. Any light rich soil will suit them well. 
A packet of seed yields numerous varieties differing both in colour 
and habit. Some of the plants that we have had this season 
have been extremely dwarf and bushy, whilst others are taller- 
growing. The taller plants generally have the largest and prettiest 
flowers.—W. K. 
PORTRAITS OF NEW AND NOTABLE PLANTS. 
Melianthus Trimenianus. {Nat. ord., Sapmdacem).—“ Sir 
Henry Barkly, K.C.B., when Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, 
discovered this singular and beautiful plant during a visit to 
Little Namaqua Land, a district bordering the Atlantic to the 
northward of the Cape Colony, from whence he sent to Kew dried 
specimens and seeds, together with a drawing by Lady Barkly, as 
a new species of Melianthus with scarlet flowers. The seeds of 
M. Trimenianus germinated readily, but the plants kept in the 
conservatory at Kew made slow progress compared with one 
which was sent to Mr. Hanbury’s garden at Mortola, near Men¬ 
tone, on the Riviera, where it flowered for the first time and 
fruited in 1879. In its native country M. Trimenianus is an erect 
shrub, 2 or 3 feet high ; but in the Cape house at Kew it is 
trained against a rafter, exactly as the long-known M. major is in 
the temperate house, and grows 6 or 7 feet high. The smell of 
the foliage is even stronger than that of the last-named plant, 
and exactly like it.” — {Bot. Mag., t. 6557.) 
Protea penicillata. {Nat. ord., Proteaceas).—“ Protea peni- 
cillata is one of the least attractive of the whole genus, and is 
no encouragement to the cultivators of the tribe ; its singular 
appearance and rarity being its only recommendation. The plant 
figured flowered in August, 1880, and was raised from seed sent 
by Mr. MacOwan, late Principal of Gill College, Somerset East, 
an excellent botanist, to whom the Royal Gardens are indebted 
for many valuable seeds and bulbs, as well as herbarium speci¬ 
mens, and who has lately accepted the Directorship of the Bota¬ 
nical Gardens at Cape Town, which are to be established on a 
new footing. The seeds were collected ©n the Boschberg Moun¬ 
tains in Somerset East, at an elevation of 4000 feet.”— {Hid., 
t. 6558 ) 
Jasminum gracillimum. {Nat. ord., Oleacem).—“A very 
near ally of the well-known Jasminum pubescens of India and 
China, which is the type around which are to be ranged a good 
many closely allied species, differing in habit, in the amount of 
pubescence, and in the size and number of flowers and of the 
divisions of the corolla, all of them natives of Eastern Asia and 
its islands. Of these J. gracillimum is one of the most distinct 
in its graceful habit and in the abundance of its large sweet- 
scented drooping flowers, which are also more copiously produced, 
in which respects I know of none to compare with it. It appears 
to be a small species. The pot plant exhibited by Messrs. Veitch 
at the Royal Horticultural Society, and which was in full flower, 
was about 3 feet high, branched from the base, the long very 
slender branches springing from low down on the stem and curv¬ 
ing over on all sides, weighted down by terminal globose panicles 
as large as the fist. J. gracillimum is a native of Northern 
Borneo, where it was discovered by Mr. Burbidge when collecting 
for Messrs. Veitch, with whom the plant flowered last December.” 
—{Ibid., t. 6559.) 
Potentilla (Ivesia) UNGUICGLATA. {Nat. ord., Rosacem). 
—“A very delicate silvery plant, with pearly-white flowers, a 
native of the famous Yosemite Valley in California, where it 
grows in meadows at an elevation of 8000 feet above the sea level. 
In a young state and in dry weather it forms a really charming 
herbaceous border or rock plant, but when dashed by the rains of 
an English summer (an ordeal it is not exposed to in its native 
country), it presents a miserable and draggled appearance, its 
beautiful leaves being sometimes beaten down and almost buried 
in the soil. It belongs to a section of Potentilla which has been 
erected into a genus under the name of Ivesia, consisting of nearly 
a dozen species, natives of the mountains of Western North 
America, with usually small imbricating leaflets that give the 
leaf more or less of a cylindrical form. This character, combined 
with others appertaining to the first-discovered species, appeared 
to suffice to establish the genus as distinct from Potentilla and 
Horkelia. Subsequent discoveries, however, have invalidated the 
claims of Ivesia, and it was reduced to Potentilla in the ‘ Genera 
Plantarum.’ ” — [Ibid., t. 6560.) 
Clerodendron trichotomum. (Nat. ord., Verbeuacem).— 
“ A native of Japan, of which specimens have been obtained 
also from Loochoo Island, Formosa, and China, at Amoy and 
Shanghai, though whether it is a native of the latter countries 
may be doubted. That it is indigenous in Japan can hardly 
admit of a question ; for it seems to be found from Hakodadi to 
Yokohama, and it was described by Kaempfer and Thunberg, the 
latter of whom states that the wood of the branches is inhabited 
by a larva which is used as a vermifuge for children. Clero¬ 
dendron trichotomum was introduced into this country some 
years ago, and has proved hitherto quite hardy, flowering copi¬ 
ously in September, when it has a very handsome appearance, 
but whether it has stood the unusual severity of this present 
winter remains to be seen ; its foliage is early cut by autumnal 
frosts, and it has not fruited at Kew. In native specimens the 
corolla-tube is always exserted, sometimes twice as long as the 
calyx, and slightly curved, but in the Kew specimens it is not 
exserted for more than a quarter of an inch. The whole plant 
has when bruised a peculiar heavy smell, which Thunberg likens 
to the poisonous odour of Mandragora.”— {Ibid., t. 6561.) 
OBJECTS OF SEX AND OF ODOUR IN FLOWERS. 
[Read by Mr. T. Meelian before the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science.] 
Students of Nature, who have thoughtfully observed, must have 
noted at least two great objects in the creation of sex. The first and 
leading one is evidently to insure variation ; the second to aid and 
assist reproduction. But our text-books say little of the first; while 
every behaviour of flowers is regarded as relating to the last, and 
hence we have so much said and written on the advantages of cross¬ 
fertilisation, as if reproduction were the sole end and aim of sex. 
That reproduction is not the sole end of sex is apparent from the 
fact that reproduction by cell division is more common in vegetation 
than reproduction by seed. Bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, and other subter¬ 
ranean structures, with bulblets, runners, and other arrangements above 
ground, are familiar examples. Many plants with coloured corollas 
rarely seed, while some never do. Of these I might name Ranuncu¬ 
lus Ficaria, Lilium tigrinum, the Horseradish (Cochlearia Armoracia), 
