The Aquilaria Agallochum is an immense tree in its native forests; its branches clothed with alter¬ 
nate, subsessile, oval acuminate, glossy leaves, from the axils of which grow the flowers, hi compact 
simple clusters; these flowers are small, apetalous, consisting of an urceolate calyx with five reflexed 
teeth, the orifice closed with ten hairy scales, alternating with ten sessile anthers, surrounding the 
capitate stigma; they are succeeded by obovate mucronate reddish brown two-valved fruit. It belongs 
to the order Aquilariaceae, a group of arborescent plants, confined to the tropical parts of Asia, and in 
thefi botanical affinities connecting the group of the Buckthorns with that of the Spurge laurels. 
-*- 
lUtrmtts. 
Hortus Britannicus : A Catalogue of all the Blunts, Indigenous, Cidtivated in, or Introduced to Britain. By the late 
J. C. Loudon, F.L., H., G., and Z.S. A New Edition, with a Supplement, including all the New Hants, down 
to March 18-50 ; and a New General Index to the whole Work. Edited by Mrs. Loudon; assisted by N. H. 
Baxter, and D. Wooster. London : Longmans. 
Loudon’s Hortus Britannicus is well known in the gardening world as the most complete in its details of any of 
the catalogues of plants which have issued from the press. “ After the appearance of the first edition, in 1830, 
additional supplements were published from time to time, as the introduction of new plants rendered fists of them 
necessary; hut as these supplements were separate from each other, it was found they were troublesome to refer 
to, and it was at last thought desirable to amalgamate them into one, which has been done in the present edition, 
adding all the new plants which have been introduced since the publication of the last supplement, up to March 
in the present year. The whole work has also been carefully revised, and fresh references to engravings of plants 
have been added, so as to make the work as perfect as possible.” These statements, which form part of the Preface, 
explain the peculiar features of the present edition ; to which we can add but little, except that the supplementary 
matter—which now occupies from p. 479 to p. 686—is prepared in the same detailed manner as that forming the body 
of the work. The flowering and cryptogamic plants are separated, each being arranged alphabetically; this divi¬ 
sion would, however, have been more perfect and convenient, had the Ferns been placed with the latter instead of 
the former class. The alphabetical arrangement, though it has been objected to by some, we have found to be, 
practically convenient, facilitating reference to the genera enumerated; and, on the whole, it is the most generally 
useful that could have been adopted, although, doubtless, the profound botanist—if indeed such a person would 
require to use a garden catalogue at all—would prefer a more “ systematic’' plan. 
There are some minor defects apparent; as, for instance, the publishers give the title-page the date of March 
1850: it would have been more fairly printed 1849, as the new plants, “up to March 1850,” are but partially 
introduced. Again, on turning over a few pages at random, we find such inadvertencies as the following 
Under Pentstemon (p. 604), the specific names are inserted with varying terminations : for instance,—azur sum, 
speciosc, heterophylUs ; the two first of which are erroneous ; or allowing this to be a point upon which “doctors 
differ,” two of the three forms of construction must still be wrong. The authorities for both generic and specific 
names are not always correctly given. The genus Phaius is referred to Paxton instead of Lom’eiro ; Alloplectus 
to De Candolle instead of Martius ; Philodendron to Lindley instead of Schott; and so on. The species 
Franciscea acuminata is referred to Paxton instead of Pohl; Hakea Victoria to Hooker instead of Drummond ; 
Ixora javanica to Paxton instead of De Candolle, &c. Considering that gardeners, for the most part, take the 
“ Catalogues” of this class as their authorities, in all that relates to the orthography of the names of plants, these 
inadvertencies should have been avoided. Xiphea rubra (p. 594), inserted doubtfully, is no doubt X. rubida, 
Lemaire. Xordmannia cordifolia (p. 595), is stated to be a Thymelaceous perennial herb ; the plant grown under 
this name appears to us to be the old Borago orientalis. Xuttallia cerasiformis, a Bosaceous shrub, is associated 
with those Malvaceous plants which have borne a similar generic name. Poa Balfourii is fully inserted at 
least three times, and under different generic names. Lender Passiflora, we find a species Billottii—which is prob¬ 
ably the correct orthography of that figured as Belotti in our first volume. 
Practically, and notwithstanding the existence of such errors as we have named, this edition of Loudon’s 
Hortus Britannicus may be regarded as a complete register of introduced plants up to the autumn of 1849 ; quite 
as free from errors of importance as any book of its class, and much more useful than any other yet produced, on 
accoimt of the greater amount of information embodied in its close-printed pages.-—M. 
A Bopidar History of British Sea Weeds, Sc. Sc., with notices of some of the Fresh-water Algce. By the Bev. D. 
Landsborough, A.L.S., &c. London, Beeve, Benham, & Beeve. 
A pretty volume, forming one of a series on the principal branches of Xatural History, issued by Messrs. Beeve 
& Co., the object of which is to popularize the subjects treated of, and to present them in a form especially attractive 
to the young. Of course in a small book of some 360 pages, the depths even of any single branch of natural 
science cannot be fully explored. We find, nevertheless, in the instance before us, a sufficiently complete sketch 
of the British Algae, for beginners in algological investigations; and the reverend author has thrown in a rich variety 
of pleasing and instructive information on the structure, vegetation, fructification, distribution, and uses of the 
generally little known plants to which his volume is devoted. 
