1874. ] 
THE NEW VEGETABLES OF 1873 . 
37 
of West’s St. Peter’s, and if it keeps very late, I hope it may turn out an 
acquisition.— William Tillery, Welhech. 
PENTSTEMON PALMEPII. 
WITH AN illustration. 
jUR illustration of this choice novelty amongst herbaceous plants, borrowed 
from the Gardeners^ Chronicle^ was prepared from specimens kindly 
furnished by Mr. W. Thompson, of Ipswich, by whom the plant has been 
imported. He writes of it as follows :—Pentstemon Pcdmerii oi Asa 
Gray is a well-marked species, allied to P. Cobaea and P. Jamesii. It grows four 
feet high or more, developing secondary shoots from the base of the main stem. 
One does not often see so distinct a species—some of its more striking features 
being the dilated corolla, the elongated lobes of the lower lip, and the bearded 
sterile filament. The foliage, moreover, is bold in character and very glaucous, 
the stem-leaves, especially those of the main stem, being strikingly connate.” 
The tall, stout stems of this fine Pentstemon are terminated by a noble 
paniculate glandular-pubescent inflorescence. The young shoots from the base 
have opposite, long-stalked, fleshy, glaucous leaves, oblong-ovate in form, with 
coarse, distinct, and remarkably prominent marginal teeth, while the leaves on 
the flowering-stems are short, broadly ovate, and completely connate. The 
flowers are rather more than an inch long, the tube remarkably inflated above, 
and contracted just at the base, where it is set into the short inconspicuous 
calyx. The colour is a pale rosy-lilac, with a purple stripe running down each 
of the lobes of the remarkably elongated and deflexed lower lip, while the upper 
lip is projected forwards, and merely revolute at the edge. The bearded sterile 
filament is very conspicuous at the mouth of the tube. 
This novelty is very ornamental in character, as well as perfectly distinct, 
and will be welcomed in every garden where hardy perennials are cared for. It 
comes from the Sierra Nevada, in California, at an elevation of 5,000-6,000 ft. 
The figure shows at A the stamens and pistil enlarged ; B, the bearded sterile 
stamen; c, one of the hairs of the latter much enlarged ; d, glandular hairs at 
the base of the stamens (e), much enlarged.—T. Moore. 
THE NEW VEGETABLES OF 1873. 
^EW vegetables are, as a rule, extremely rare, although new names are at all 
^ times abundant. Our accessions generally are simply selections, which 
may be, at the same time, decided improvements, of our existing stocks. 
Where such is the case, the credit due is almost as great as that achieved 
by the introduction of an entirely new variety by the more laborious process of 
hybridisation. The Eoyal Horticultural Society, by its comparative trials of all 
the so-called new and improved varieties of vegetables against the approved 
standard sorts, renders good service to practical horticulture. 
In the Potato the novelties and accessions Tiave been both numerous and 
