186 }. ] 
PINUS LINDLEYANA-COLOURED-LEAVED BEDDING PLANTS. 
101 
but brighter. A very distinct and elegant plant, having the markings of' a deep tint [of 
purple, but well relieved by the green spaces between the dark-coloured reticulations. 
C. Clabkei (Verschaffeltii x Gibsoni): leaves green above, with the edges of the teeth 
purple, and showing through the dark purple venation with which the under surface is 
almost everywhere marked. One of the darker-tinted sorts, having the markings of the reticu¬ 
lated character. 
C. Batemanii (Verschaffeltii x Gibsoni): leaves deep purple above and beneath, here 
and there very slightly mottled with green. This variety may be regarded as the incised 
counterpart of C. Ruckeri, having almost self-coloured deep purple leaves. 
C. Wilsoni (Verschaffeltii x Veitchii): leaves of a rich velvety chocolate, shaded with 
purple, the base of the leaf and the teeth slightly tipped with the same colour. A very elegant 
mottled sort. 
C. Reevesii (Verschaffeltii x Blumei) ; leaves green, mottled with bronze and purple, 
sparingly dotted towards the base, and laid on in close reticulations and patches towards the 
edge, the centre being deeply tinted and entirely of a dark colour, and the teeth green, with 
narrow purple edges. T. M. 
PINUS LINDLEYANA. 
’HIS bold robust-babited Pinus, always brings to my mind the man 
after wliom it is named. I never pass the tree without thinking of 
Dr. Lindley, one of the most scientific, clever men of our time. 
We have here a very nice tree of this noble, long-leaved, distinct 
Pine, which, as I have said is robust, and of a romantic habit of 
growth. Its young wood is during winter of a beautiful bronze or copper 
colour, as also is the sheath of its leaves, which is above an inch in length. 
The leaves themselves are from 8 to 10 inches long, and generally five in a 
sheath, growing all round the branch, stiff, robust, and erect, of a dark 
bluish green. The tree is altogether very handsome in appearance, espe¬ 
cially on a beautiful sunny morning or evening with a waft of wind. Here 
it is established in rather a sheltered situation, and stands pretty w r ell; but 
in many places I fear it would be found too tender. 
Bicton Gardens. James Barnes. 
COLOURED-LEAVED BEDDING PLANTS. 
Qt^XPERIENCE is the best teacher as to the merits of bedding plants. 
As, therefore, the time will soon come for propagating for the coming 
f season, I offer a few observations based on my own experience during 
the past season. Plants which prove a failure in one garden will 
often do altogether as well in another, for soil, situation, and 
management have much to do with the success of flower-garden plants. 
Coleus Verschaffeltii disappointed me very much, some four or five years 
ago, and I quite gave up growing it for bedding. In July, 1866, however, 
on a show day at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, I had an opportunity 
of seeing what a grand thing it was, as growing in the large vase there. I 
saw it also on the same day at Battersea Park in such beautiful condition, 
that I was induced to inquire about the management of the plants, and I 
learned that they were grown and shifted-on into 32-sized pots then plunged, 
