THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
105 
EARLY FLOWERING ACACIAS. 
BY J. B. W. 
All plants of which the natural season of blossoming under glass is in 
the winter or early spring months, acquire additional value from that 
circumstance; because their intrinsic beauty is then heightened by con¬ 
trast with the “ desolation that reigns without.” Many of the New 
Holland Acacias possess this desirable property, which in some species is 
combined with exceeding beauty, as well as gracefulness of habit; con¬ 
sequently there are no plants better adapted for ornamenting a conser¬ 
vatory, where they can be allowed sufficient room to display unconfined 
their elegant growth. One of the finest species for this purpose is 
Acacia dealbata , of which there is a splendid specimen, now in the 
height of its beauty, in the handsome conservatory at Pains Hill, near 
Cobham, the residence of Mrs. Cooper. I have seldom seen a plant of 
any kind equal in beauty to this, its wide-spreading branches being 
completely covered with a garment of green and gold, or more strictly 
speaking, with green and deep lemon-colour; the latter colour greatly 
predominates, however, for the flowers are so numerous that they almost 
hide the pretty bipinnatifid leaves. This tree roots into a border beneath 
the floor of the house, and its stem was originally trained to one of the 
pillars that bear up the roof; but the stem is now larger than its 
former supporter, and the branches extend in different directions to a 
distance of several yards. It has been planted about eight years. 
A fine plant of Acacia vestita , Lindley, grows against another of the 
pillars. This, from its profuse flowering and pendulous habit, is a very 
handsome species, and requires much less room than dealbata , which 
precedes vestita in flowering nearly a fortnight.—J. B. W. 
February 10 th, 1841. 
[To these may be added, Acacia armata , a very free-flowering species, 
with flowers like golden balls ; A. Lophanta , with long spikes of whitish 
flowers; 'A. verticillata , with whorls of leaves like spines; A. melo- 
noxylon , the Black Wattle of the Australians, with very curious leaves, 
the footstalks of which look like leaves, with the real leaves hanging to 
the point of them; and A. pubescens , a very elegant species, with 
drooping branches and racemes of ball-like flowers.] 
VOL. i.— no. iv. p 
