March 15, 1883. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
growing species, with marbled leaves about 8 inches long and 
" broad. I be scape is a foot high, with a few rose-coloured 
flowers near the summit. The woodcut, which was prepared from 
a plant in Messrs. J. Veitch’s nursery, faithfully pourtrays the chief 
characters of the plant, which, though not so handsome as some 
of its allies, is yet pretty and neat, if only for the sake of the con¬ 
trast it presents with such large-flowered forms as P. grandiflora. 
It might be added that P. Esmeralda is named after the heroine 
in M. Alexandre Dumas’s “ Notre Dame de Paris.” 
AMARYLLISES AT CHELSEA. 
A thousand heads of Amaryllis flowers form an exhibition which 
can only be considered as unique, and the magnificence of such a 
display can be better imagined than described. Visitors to Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons’ Chelsea nursery, however, have now the oppor¬ 
tunity of inspecting such a grand show as has been rarely seen 
even there, and all who can should call there during the next 
week. The improvement that has been effected in these plants 
since the attention of the firm was specially directed to them is 
astonishing. Not only have the flowers been greatly increased in 
size, but the form has been rendered more symmetrical, the petals 
are broader, more rounded, and the general contour of the flower 
more pleasing than the earlier types. The colours, too, have been 
more diversified ; rich crimson, scarlets of numerous shades, from 
the darkest tint to the brightest orange hues, delicate pink and 
rose, are similarly represented, the last chiefly in the form of 
veining or reticulations on a white ground. 
The vigour of the majority of the plants arranged in the span- 
roof house devoted to them is very noteworthy, a large proportion 
of them bearing two spikes each, and some three, the stems of 
such varieties as The Giant being fully 2 inches in diameter, and 
