NINETEENTH CENTURY 
277 
which soon became popular in this country, such as Abutilon 
striata , which came in 1837. The Poinsettias arrived about 
the same time, and Dipladenias soon after. Eucharis ama- 
zonica was brought in 1856, and Bougainvilleas a few years 
later, and Tropceolum speciosum in 1846. Veitch, of Exeter, 
was awarded a certificate of merit for this last at a Royal 
Horticultural Show in 1847, and this “ showy Indian Cress ” 
was welcomed as a great acquisition to green-house climbers. 
How astonished would those who first rejoiced over it be at 
the sight of a Scotch shooting-lodge or farm-house perfectly 
smothered with its flaming blossoms ! 
Among enthusiastic discoverers of new plants during the 
nineteenth century, Frederick W. Burbidge must not be for¬ 
gotten, although his useful contributions to garden literature, 
and his work for many years as Curator of the gardens of 
Trinity College, Dublin, are perhaps better known than his 
floral travels. 1 The journey he undertook to Borneo was 
fruitful in new species, and besides bringing home a plentiful 
supply of orchids and new Pitcher plants {Nepenthes Burbidgei , 
N. Rajah , and N. bicalcarata), he added a beautiful genus to 
hot-house plants named “ Burbidgea.” Not only the farthest 
parts of the earth have been ransacked to fill English gardens, 
but the wilder countries nearer home have contributed their 
share. Asia Minor had proved a fruitful source in the sixteenth 
century, but after three hundred years it still had something 
to disclose, when Mr. Edward Whittall penetrated its more 
mountainous districts. Some of the charming big snowdrops, 
and the large-sized “ Glory of the Snow ” ( Chionodoxa gigantea 
and Alleni), and other spring-flowering bulbs, were found by 
him on the high tableland of the interior about 1890, and are 
already quite at home in England. 
The work of collecting in all countries continued with un¬ 
abated vigour all through the nineteenth century, and it would 
be impossible in a general history even to name all the botanists 
who were engaged in the work, or to mention half the plants 
this country owes to them. In addition to English workers, 
1 Cultivated Plants : Their Propagation and Improvement, by F. W. 
Burbidge. Blackwood, 1877, e tc. The Gardens of the Sun, 1879, gives 
an account of his travels. 
