February 1, 1304. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
95 
the foliage. Duchess of Fife is a beautiful kind with fine blush pink 
blooms, and in Cannell’s Pink we have a Primula of the same shade 
as the popular La France Rose. The plant, moreover, has an excellent 
habit of growth, and the flowers are borne in large trusses on erect 
stems. Princess Mary is a splendid white, the petals being fimbriated 
to a marked degree, which indeed is a distinct feature of most of 
the varieties mentioned. Canterbury is a noteworthy variety, white 
tinted pink, and the same may be said of Peach Blossom. Pink Queen 
will probably attract notice when sent out next year, the fine delicate 
pink flowers forming a pleasing contrast to the green Fern-like foliage. 
The red and purple shades are also remarkably rich. Improvement 
being a good representative of the former type. The flowers are of a 
large size, bright red in colour, while the habit of the plant is excep¬ 
tionally good. Intensity is another richly coloured variety, and the 
same may be said of Swanley Red. Semi-Red, of the semi-double 
kinds, is deserving of notice, and Swanley Blue stands pre-eminent 
amongst others of a bluish shade. 
What has been said with reference to the strain of Primulas in 
general may also be applied to the Cyclamens. These are splendidly 
grown, and at the present time make a marvellous display of bloom. 
The plants are conspicuous for their habit of growth and free-flowering 
proclivities, as many as from fifty to 100 blooms being on specimens in 
6 and 7-inch pots. The flowers, moreover, stand erect above the beauti¬ 
fully marbled foliage, requiring no support of any kind. No attempt 
is made to compile a long list of named varieties, and there is little need 
for this, inasmuch as the strain is a remarkably good one. The colours, 
however, are kept separate, these including white, red, and rose. The 
white-flowered plants are particularly fine, and worthy of the firm 
which they represent. Those with red and rose-coloured flowers are 
likewise grand specimens of cultural skill, and indicate that more than 
ordinary attention is paid to these beautiful winter flowers. 
Regarding the fibrous-rooted and evergreen Begonias it is question¬ 
able whether these can be anywhere seen in better condition than at 
Swanley. During the whole of the winter they produce a charming 
display, and the graceful habits of the plants and flowers render them 
indispensable for decorative purposes. All the best kinds are grown, 
and foremost amongst these stands Gloire de Sceaux. This is an 
attractive plant, with handsome rich bronze foliage, and large soft 
pink flowers. It should be found in every warm greenhouse. Some 
very fine forms of B. semperflorens are also included in the collection, 
and these, as most gardeners know, are true to their name, practically 
flowering all the year. B. Carrier! likewise justifies mention being 
made of it, inasmuch as plants in 6-inch pots produce an enormous 
amount of blooms at midwinter. Other kinds are extensively grown, 
and the 100-feet house last week presented a sight that alone repaid the 
visit. 
As to the Zonal Pelargoniums every reader of the Journal knows 
that the name of Cannell is inseparable from these. Hundreds of 
excellent varieties have been sent out by this firm, and for many years 
past particular attention has been paid to the production of kinds that 
will flower freely all through the winter. In this, as in other matters, 
success has attended unceasing labour, and the Swanley Zonals are 
known throughout the civilised world. Further improvements are, 
however, being effected, and for the present it is sufficient to say that 
the Zonal Pelargoniums at Swanley are now flowering as profusely as 
at midsummer. Other winter flowers, including Carnations and Clivias, 
are also extensively grown in the above-mentioned nurseries.—C. 
STAPELIA PATULA. 
The reason is not far to seek why the members of this large and 
strange genus are so little cultivated by general collectors of plants. 
Known for a good reason as Carrion Flowers, the characteristic foetid 
smell of the flowers, large and even handsome as some of them are, is 
not agreeable to say the least to many persons. The plants are inter¬ 
esting and remarkable from several points of view, and deserve greater 
attention from the hands of those not too fastidious in scents. Belonging 
to a strange order Asclepiadaceae, which includes the curious Dischidia 
Rafflesiana, the Asclepias, and others, they are far from the least curious 
of these anomalous species. 
There are reasons for thinking that though the Slapelias have a 
considerable range in South Africa, they are gradually dying out. The 
natives eat them as food, and the introduced ruminants as sheep and 
goats, which are being bred in increased numbers, also feed off them. 
These causes have led to their proximate extermination near towns, and 
as the country becomes settled the same causes will act more largely. 
The seed being set exclusively by the agency of insects, any disturbance 
in the balance of Nature is likely to affect them prejudicially. But 
apart from such eventualities the curious succulent leafless stems, the 
flowers, with their curious and diverse coronal appendages, the hairs 
frequently found upon the disk and margins of the corolla, the marblings 
and generally lurid colouring of the same organ, separate them from 
the general run of succulent plants. There are no difficulties in 
growing them, either from seed or cuttings. A well-drained compost 
of sandy loam with broken-up brick rubbish suit them. The seed are 
singularly retentive of life, and germinate in from one to three days, 
retaining their vitality (many of them) for eight or ten years. If the 
plants are kept dry in the winter a short snap of frost is not harmful, and 
by placing them near the glass in the full sunshine they may be grown 
without artificial heat. 
About sixty species are now included in the genus of Stapelia, 
though Mr. N. E. Brown, who has given much attention to South 
African plants, is of opinion that these are, many of them, only local 
forms or strains, or natural hybrids, and possibly only of an evanescent 
nature. Many of the so-called species are so connected by intermediate 
forms, blendings, and interminglings of characters, that the classification 
FIG. 15.— STAPELIA PATULA. 
is attended with unusual difficulties, and this is doubtless the reason 
why the few botanists who have given attention to the genus vary so 
much in the species included. Only five were known to Linnaeus, 
who gave the generic name after an Amsterdam physician. Masson, 
who was a collector for the then royal collection at Kew, published in 
1796 drawings of forty-one species. Jacquin in 1806, and Haworth in 
1812, added more new species. About the same time the botanist 
Robert Brown broke up the genus into four, but later botanists as 
Decaisne, Bentham, and Hooker have brought most of them back into 
the genus Stapelia. 
Stapelia patula (fig. 15) was named in 1809 by Willdenow. Three 
vicinities in South Africa within forty miles of each other in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Mitchell’s Pass are given as its habitat. Like so many of 
the Stapelias it is subject to considerable variations, and these run into, 
by close gradations, forms described under other specific names, that 
Mr. Brown finds it impossible to give a set of characters which shall 
specifically separate them. S. comato, S. unguipetala, and S. depressa, 
