MAY. 
97 
BOMAREA MULTIFLORA. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
The climbing-stemmed species of Alstromeria, as some prefer to call them, 
but which others distinguish by the name of Bomarea, are, for the most part, 
plants of great beauty, though the majority of those of them which have 
found their way to our gardens are but seldom seen, having been supplanted 
by the rivals which fashion has rendered more popular. This neglect of really 
beautiful plants is a phase of modern gardening which is much to be regretted ; 
and perhaps to the case of no single genus amongst neglected plants do these 
regrets apply more strongly than to that to which allusion has just been made. 
We venture to hope that, as the cycle of fashion revolves, the family of 
Alstromerias, including amongst them the climbing Bomareas, the Collanias, 
and their allies, may again appear in the ascendant. It is a position they 
deserve ; for they well merit the careful attention of cultivators. 
The subject of our present illustration is submitted as evidence in support 
of the remark just made. It is scarcely possible to conceive a more beautiful 
object than this, with its clusters of richly-coloured blossoms gracefully hanging 
from its climbing stems. Indeed, amongst all the many novelties which, 
appeared at the exhibitions of 1863, there were few which we thought more 
attractive than this Bomarea multielora, which had been introduced from 
Peru by Messrs. Veitch & Son, of Chelsea, and was exhibited by them at the 
July Show at South Kensington, on which occasion it won the first prize in its 
class. 
We have said the habit of the plant is twining. It is a perennial, moderately 
vigorous in its development, and graceful in its mode of growth. The twisting 
herbaceous stems are furnished with lance-shaped leaves, some 4 inches long, 
and about 1^ inch in breadth; and they are terminated by an umbel of about 
a dozen of the showy bright-coloured flowers. These latter are made up of 
three orange red sepaline or external divisions, which are narrower and con¬ 
siderably shorter than the rest, and three longer and broader blunt-ended 
petaline divisions, which are yellow’, dotted internally with crimson. 
We understand from Messrs. Veitch 8c Son that the plant may be treated 
as a greenhouse perennial. 
JOTTINGS AT EXHIBITIONS, &o. 
On a clear bright afternoon at the end of March, I wended my w r ay to • 
Highgate, to have a view of Messrs. W. Cutbush Sc Son’s annual display of 
Hyacinths and Tulips. At some considerable expense is this gratification 
annually provided: how it is appreciated let the abundance of visitors telL- 
In a lean-to house adjoining the dwelling were the Hyacinths arranged,, 
relieved by a huge stage of spring-flowering plants of varied hues, and 
arranged with great taste. Order and neatness prevailed in every part of the 
grounds; and, in the glow of the bright spring afternoon, the hillside picture 
of nature, heightened by the influence of art, presented features of peculiar 
interest. I looked on it, and lingered by it, as if a new freedom had quickened 
into being, coming up there, as I did, out of the busiest and most crowded 
part of the great city lying in the distance. It v r as the first right-hearty 
glimpse I had got of the “ clothing-on” of nature in the awakening spring. 
I inquired first for the “ new” Hyacinths. Mr. James Cutbush pointed 
out to me the following as some more of those he had selected from a group of 
VOL. III. F 
