1874. ] 
AEUNDO CONSPIOUA. 
61 
Primula sinensis Prince Arthur [f.c.o.]. —A good semi-double reddisli- 
carmine-coloured variety ; very bright in hue, and effective. — Mr. F. Perkins : 
Feb. 18. 
Primula vulgaris violacea [f.o.c.]. —A charming variety of the common 
Primrose, with bold, well-formed, deep violet flowers, having a finely contrasted 
yellow eye.— Mr. P. Dean: P.H.S., Feb, 18. 
Rapatea pandanoides [f.c.o.]. —A very curious and distinct stove plant 
from the Amazons, having a flattened spirally-twisted stem, spiny-stalked oblong 
lanceolate leaves, which are flattened and equitant at the base ; the young leaves 
are said to be strongly tinted with crimson; the flowers are in sub-spherical 
heads, surrounded by two spathaceous bracts.— Mr. W. Bull: Feb. 18. 
Retinospora obtusa aurea gracilis [f.c.o.]. —A very handsome golden 
variety, the branches being quite lighted up with an auriferous sheen ; quite 
hardy.— Messrs. Veitch 4' Sons: P.H.S..) Dec. 3. 
Toxicophlcea spectabilis [f.c.o.]. —A greenhouse evergreen Cape plant, 
with opposite oblong glaucous-tinted leaves, in the axils of which are produced 
the clusters of white Ixora-like flowers.— Messrs. Veitch Sons: B.H.S..) Feb. 18. 
. ARUNDO CONSPICUA. ' / . 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
are somewhat surprised that this most beautiful of Grasses, the Toe- 
;oe of New Zealand, is not met with more frequently in gardens, for 
not even the far-famed Pampas grass (Gynerium argenteum)., grand 
and massive though it be, can at all compare with it for elegance of 
character. It is, moreover, quite as hardy as the Pampas : at least, we notice it to 
be so in the sandy soil of SuiTey, our plate being in fact prepared from a photo¬ 
graph of a plant which has stood out uninjured for years in the garden of G. F. 
Wilson, Esq., of Weybridge, and which flowers annually in great perfection 
towards the latter end of the summer. Herein lies one of the claims of the 
Arundo to rank above the Pampas as an ornamental plant. The Arundo sends 
up its culms and expands its feathery panicles by the end of July or the begin¬ 
ning of August, so that its graceful beauty can, in the average of seasons, be 
enjoyed during the suceeeding three months ; whilst with the Gynerium.^ the 
inflorescence often only just makes its appearance as bad weather sets in, so that 
its beautiful plumes are scarcely developed from the leaf-sheaths before they 
become weather-beaten and disfigured. 
The Arundo conspicua.^ or Kakaho, or Toe-toe, is found only in the northern 
and middle islands of New Zealand, and in Chatham Island. It is the largest of 
the New Zealand gi'asses, and grows in dense tussocks, formed of a profusion of 
long curving leaves, from amongst w’hicli rise the erect slender culms, 6 ft. to 8 ft. 
high, terminating in large drooping panicles of silvery-white flowers, the panicles 
themselves being from 1 ft. to 2 ft. long. The specimen represented in our 
illustration was 10 ft. high, and measured 8 ft. across, and at the time when we 
saw it (August, 1873), had no fewer than forty-two of its slender graceful culms, 
each bearing a charming panicle of silvery spikelets. Fig. 1 represents a portion 
