July 31.J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
267 
on all hands that genera have been needlessly multi¬ 
plied, and hy none more so than by Decandolle himself. 
In proof of the above opinion, we need look no farther 
than to the genus before us Hebeclinium is a genus which 
naturally falls in between Ageratum and Eupatorium, and by 
common observers might be taken for either. The meaning 
of the word is derived from hebe, down, and klinc, a bed; 
that is, a soft or downy bed, and this bed is the receptacle, 
or that part on which the florets rest. Owing to some very 
slight variations in the covering, or shape of this bed, 
Decandolle has formed five genera—a new genus for each 
variation, of which Hebeclinium is the middle one; Goclinium 
and Conoclinium being on one side of it, and Campyloclinium 
on the other, to which Endlicher added Lophoclynium ! All 
these beds stand so close together in the same room, and 
their furniture is so very nearly alike, that it is no wonder 
even such skilful botanists as Professor Morren, of Ghent; 
and Mr. Henfrey, of London, should mistake one of these 
beds for the other ; but so it was on a recent occasion, and 
the eagle-eye of Sir W. J. Hooker, was necessary to convince 
these gentlemen—experienced though they certainly are in 
such matters—which of the five beds was the right one in 
which to place a young bantling, a native of Mexico, “ near 
Vera Cruz and Xalapa." This mistake occurred relative to 
the subject of our present biography. The Belgian cultiva¬ 
tors gave it out that this plant is a native of Brazil, and we 
think Ave could assign the reason why they did so, if that 
could serve any good purpose. Mexico and Guatemala, 
however, have furnished more “ Brazilian plants" for conti¬ 
nental gardens of late years, than English collectors could 
believe, and this is but one of them, as the herbarium of 
Sir W. J. Hooker has just proved! Hebeclinium ianthinum 
will probably be as hardy as some of the Mexican Salvias, 
and as easily increased and managed; indeed, we should 
not be surprised to hear that Mr. Beaton had a bed of it in 
a year or two in the Shrubland Gardens. 
It was introduced by Messrs. Henderson, of St. John’s 
Wood Nursery. It is rather herbaceous than shrubby, stems 
round, and covered with brownish down ; leaves veiy pointed 
egg-shape, on long stalks, doubly saw-edged, and in pairs ; 
flowers in clusters at the end of the branches, remarkable for 
their long purple styles, looking like many-flowered rays; 
the corollas also are purple. 
Stalkless-flowered Sobralta (Sobralia sessilis ).— 
Botanical Magazine, 4570.—This is a genus of ground, 
or terrestrial orchids, having an aspect widely different 
from that of the rest of the assemblage of plants known 
to us as air plants and terrestrial orchids. When the 
Sobralias are not clothed in their splendid blooms, they 
look like so many marsh reeds; and were it not that the 
localities, where they abound in a state of nature, were 
made known to our cultivators when this race was. first 
introduced, some fifteen years ago, the probability is that 
our gardeners would have begun to treat them as marsh 
plants; indeed, we have heard of some gardeners who 
made the attempt, but we know not how far they suc¬ 
ceeded. Mr. Appleby deprecates the system of attempt¬ 
ing to grow Sobralia macrantha as a marsh plant, not¬ 
withstanding that fine species inhabits such places as 
are Hooded during the rainy season (see Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, vol. iii., page 335). 
Sobralias grow in dry, rocky places beyond the equator, on 
both sides of the Andes chain of mountains ; and the finest 
of them have not yet been introduced, though they are said 
to be among the most beautiful orchids known. 
Sobralia sessilis was first sent to the Messrs. Loddiges by 
Sir Robert Schomburgk, and is allowed to be the least con¬ 
spicuous of the genus yet introduced. The first account we 
have of the Sobralias is by the authors of the Flora Peruviana 
(Ruiz and Pavon), who named the genus in compliment to 
their own countryman, Don Sobral, a Spanish botanist. It 
belongs to the same section of orchids as the Vanilla; and 
all orchids whatever are classed by Linnaean students in the 
20 -Gynanclria 1-Monandria of their great master. 
Sobralia sessilis flowers here in October. Stems about 
eighteen inches high, upright, jointed, reed-like, clothed 
with dark leaves ; leaves, broad-spear-liead shaped, and very 
pointed, large, round, and plaited, dark grass-green above, 
