MAY. 
89 
NEW ACHIMENES. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
The accompanying plate represents—very inadequately, for tlie colours are 
beyond the reach of art to copy—those of the most advanced of the improved 
smaller-flowered race of Achimenes , as it may be called, of which Meteor and 
Dazzle may be taken as the types. They were bred by Mr. A. Parsons, gar¬ 
dener to W. J. Blake, Esq., Danesbury, Welwyn, who has taken up the 
improvement of this plant with a hearty will and with very marked success; 
and during the last summer were submitted to the Floral Committee at South 
Kensington, by whom they were rewarded, Rose Queen {Jig. 1), and Aurora 
{fig. 2), by first-class certificates, and Stella {fig. 3), by a second-class certi¬ 
ficate—not that it is less beautiful than the others, for the colour is particularly 
rich and effective, but because it was a little further removed from the technical 
smoothness of margin, which is one of the main points of ideal perfection in 
flowers brought under the influence of the horticulturist. 
We are happy to add in the raiser’s own words the history of these improved 
forms of Achimenes. “ It is now forty years since I first beheld what seemed 
to me at that time the most beautiful of plants— Cyrilla pulchella, afterwards 
called Trevirania coccmea , and now commonly known as Achimenes coccinea. 
What a lovely thing it seemed to my inexperienced eye ! though I little thought 
at that time I should ever be the originator of a Mauve Queen or a Meteor, &c. 
This first impression was never effaced, and the plant continued ever after to be 
one of my especial pets. Some twenty-five years ago we received A. rosea, 
A. grandifiora , and a few others ; but still we had no improvements as regards 
colour. A few years later A. longijlora made its appearance. This was indeed 
a move onwards, and I lost no time in obtaining a plant. 
“ In 1854 I began seeding my old favourite, and had about five hundred 
plants, nearly all of which came true; but I thought I could discern some 
improvement in two or three, which were selected, and the others thrown away. 
The next season I obtained an upright half-shrubby kind with bronze or salmon 
flowers, the name of which I forget, and began crossing with this and the best 
of my seedlings. In this way I obtained five or six pretty kinds, mostly rosy 
purples, and with them one copper or salmon-coloured sort, which was named 
Parsonsii, and was ultimately distributed by Mr. Turner. About that time 
I procured a plant of Sir Treherne Thomas ; and by crossing between this and 
the best of my own seedlings I obtained Carminata splendens, Gem, and others. 
I had now got Carminata splendens to assist me, so I made Sir T. Thomas my 
seed-bearing plant, and the result was the production of Meteor and Dazzle, 
with a few other nice things. I also had a fine showy seedling of a bluish cast 
that I did not send out,, from which with the assistance of Longiflora major I 
obtained Mauve Queen. 
“ I now come to the batch of 1884—Scarlet Perfection, Yivicans, and others. 
This crop of seedlings was the result of crossing with Meteor and Dazzle. The 
varieties named Stella, Aurora, and Rose Queen, the subjects of the annexed 
plate, are the results of crosses that are not yet in commerce. I am inclined 
to believe that Stella will prove to be a finer and better thing than the Com¬ 
mittee thought; at any rate I think a good deal of it. This is a true and 
faithful account of my stewardship, so far as the breeding of hybrid Achimenes 
is concerned. 
“ The culture of these plants is very simple. For soil they like peat and 
leaf mould in equal parts, with enough silver sand to give a gritty appearance 
to the mass. They delight in plenty of heat, water, and shade during the 
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