THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 15, I85G. 
SWAMMERDA'MIA ANTENNA'RIA. 
Antennaeta-like Swammeedamia. 
Tms belongs to tlie Natural Order of Composites (Aster- 
acete), and to Syngcnesia Supetflua of the Linn man System. 
“ This is a small compact evergreen bush, not at present 
more than three feet high. It has angular viscid shoots, 
and a foliage the colour of Euonymus Japonicus. The leaves 
are at the largest not more than an inch long, and generally 
smaller, obovate, apiculate, or perfectly blunt, veinless, 
concave, with a little mealiness on the under side when 
young. The dower-heads are small, white, and collected 
in little lateral corymbose panicles. 
“ It is found wild in Van Diemen’s Land, on the sides of 
Mount Wellington, where it flowers in the months of 
January, February, and March. The late Professor De 
Candolle gave it its name, in allusion to the form of the 
pappus, which he thought resembled the antennte of an 
insect—a very obscure peculiarity. 
“ A hardy evergreen small shrub, growing freely in any 
common garden-soil, and easily increased by cuttings in the 
usual way. Its clusters of small dowers open here in June, 
but add little to its beauty, which is confined to the foliage.” 
—Horticultural Society's Journal. 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY, REGENT’S PARK. 
Tiie last Exhibition of this Society for the present season 
took place on Wednesday last; and although the day was 
somewhat cold, and a little rain fell at intervals during the 
afternoon, there was a fair attendance of company. The 
Exhibition itself was a good one for July, more especially 
as respects fruit, which was very plentiful. Orchids were 
comparatively scarce, and, with one or two exceptions, 
scarcely reached mediocrity. Stove and greenhouse plants, 
however, were abundant, and many of the specimens were 
in beautiful condition. Allamandas, Dipladenias, and Kalos- 
anthes were just at their best, and their large, bright yellow, 
rose, and scarlet blossoms may be classed among the more 
279 
striking features of the general display. Heaths, too, were 
better this time than we have seen them at any Show 
during the season ; and Fuchsias and Pelargoniums lacked 
little of their Midsummer splendour. Ferns, in shady 
corners, formed, as it were, a kind of background to 
the picture, and the lively green of their beautiful fronds 
served to set off their more gaudy companions to much ad¬ 
vantage. Of groups of plants remarkable for fine foliage 
there were several excellent collections, more especially one 
from Messrs. Yeitch, which contained Palms, Crotons, the 
singularly brown blotched-leaved Coleus Blumei, Dieffen- 
bachia picta, with great pale green leaves, spotted and 
splashed with white, Marantas, Caladiums, and other plants, 
with leaves handsomely formed, or beautifully marked with 
well-defined and striking colours. This is a class of plants 
which, together with Ferns and Lycopods, we are glad to say 
has of late years been gradually and deservingly progress¬ 
ing in public favour. Even the Lycopods are now scarcely 
less interesting than the Ferns, so various have become 
their forms, and so beautiful their foliage. 
Among rare plants Messrs. Standish and Noble sent a 
fine specimen of Clematis lanuginosa pallida, with great round 
flowers, quite eight inches in diameter, pale blue in colour, and 
full and broad in the petal. This is a real acquisition, and 
it is said to be as hardy as Clematis azurea grandijlora. 
Achimenes Vivid, shown by Mr. Parsons, of Welwyn, is a 
charming plant, with a colour quite as brilliant as that of 
the old A. coccinea, but with more pink in it, and with 
flowers more than twice the size of those of that favourite 
kind. This is evidently a cross in the right direction. 
Rondeletia anomala we saw, but uot in good condition. 
Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Co. bad the beautiful white 
Eucharis grandijlora. Messrs. Yeitch showed Philesia buxi- 
folia; theirlilac-flowered Leptoclactylon ; their beautiful pink 
Rhododendron Princess Royal; Dcsfgntainea spinosa, an ever¬ 
green shrub, said to he hardy, with long tubular blossoms, 
scarlet, and tipped with yellow; the Rice Paper-plant, Welling- 
tonia, Lomatia, and, last, but not least, their scarlet Larkspur 
{-Delphinium cardinals). This last fully bears out all that 
has been said of it; its blossoms are produced in the 
greatest profusion in spikes quite eighteen inches in 
length, and bright orange scarlet in colour. In short, it 
is a noble addition to the genus to which it belongs, and 
in time will doubtless occupy a prominent place in every 
garden in the country. 
From Mr. Glendinning, of the Chiswick Nursery, came 
Cerasus ilicifolia, young plants of the C’husan Palm, which 
has been proved to stand ordinary winters out of doors in 
this country, the bluish-lilac Erica Spenceriana, Ksempfer’s 
Larch ( Abies Kampferi), which promises much in the way 
of a timber tree, a Hardy Orange, and other plants intro¬ 
duced from China by Mr. Fortune. These form the bulk 
of the novelties exhibited on this occasion, with the excep¬ 
tion of a new white-blossomed Cattleya from Messrs. Back¬ 
house, of York. This will, no doubt, be much prized by 
Orchid growers. 
In Gloxinias a great improvement has taken place of 
late, especially in regard to the upright-growing kinds, of 
which Fifeuna is the type. Messrs. E. G. Henderson 
showed a beautiful collection of them. They were not 
named ; but those marked X, white, with a pink ring round 
the inside of the throat; No. 3,white, with a blue belt; 172, 
a drooping-flowered kind, lilac, with a white tube; and 139, 
dark violet purple, were unquestionably the best. 
The names of the different Pelaegonitjms which made 
up the various collections exhibited on this occasion we 
have often given in former reports, and, therefore, need not 
repeat them here; but the following list of some of the 
newer sorts in Mr. Turner’s group may, perhaps, he ac¬ 
ceptable to some of our readers. They were Wonderful, 
Meteora, Fair Ellen, Phaeton, Conqueror, and Una. Mr. Gaines 
had some very singular-looking French kinds, which were 
quite out of the common way, and were much admired. 
The more striking of them were Talma, pink, with a dark 
top ; Roi dcs Pourpres, dark crimson, spotted on all the 
petals; Dr. Andry, crimped round the edges of the petals 
like the pretty Azalea .crispijlora; G. Odier, rosy-lilac, and 
spotted on all the petals; and J. Odier, crimson, with a 
large white centre. Though somewhat imperfect in shape, 
these were really fine-looking varieties. Messrs. Yeitch 
