and smaller, ovate-lanceolate in outline, with a wavy obscurely 
toothed margin. The flowers are numerous, forming a tolerably 
close raceme, which in our specimen was nearly two feet long. 
The corolla-tube is three-fourths of an inch long, split along 
the back; the segments of the upper lip erect, lanceolate, those 
of the lower lip oblong acute, all having a central nerve. These 
flowers are of a bright reddish-purple colour, with a pale or 
whitish blotch on the lower lip, just about the mouth of the 
tube. The principal merit of the variety, which is certainly a 
very fine one, consists in the large size and fine form of its 
flowers, and in their pleasing and novel shade of colour. 
To have them in perfection, these tall herbaceous Lobelias 
require very liberal culture. The methods described in the 
horticultural periodicals thirty years since were eminently suc¬ 
cessful. One of these was to take off the suckers in November, 
pot them singly in four- or five-inch pots, and plunge them in a 
warm bed, in a temperature of about 55°. These pots were 
filled with roots by the middle of January, when they were 
shifted into larger ones; they were again shifted in February 
and in April, this last time using eleven- or twelve-inch pots. 
The plants were well supplied with water, and kept in a vinery 
till the beginning of June, when they were moved to a green¬ 
house. The compost used was equal parts sandy loam, leaf- 
mould, and peat. They grew six feet high, with stems eight 
inches in circumference at the base, covered with branches five 
feet long, all beset with flowers, the plants continuing in bloom 
from July to October. 
Another simpler plan was to take up the old plants in au¬ 
tumn, and pot them in sand, placing them where they might be 
kept from frost and damp. Early in March the offsets were 
potted in small pots in sand and leaf-mould, and plunged in a 
frame with slight bottom heat, where they soon rooted and 
formed plants fit for planting out towards the end of April. 
They have a fine effect planted in groups, the colours separate. 
They should be planted in rough rich loamy soil, and require a 
very abundant supply of water while growing. The least pro¬ 
tection will suffice in winter. Mr. Kinghorn mentions having a 
quantity merely laid in at the foot of a wall, the crowns being 
covered with earth, which are uninjured by the past winter, 
and are now pushing up suckers freely. 
