THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
365 
September 11.] 
no gall in the case. A principle of flower-judging was 
involved, a principle which we from the first defended, 
and which we censured one of the southern judges for 
abandoning, but gave him credit for more than he de¬ 
served; we made too sure of his pure taste, and accorded 
him the merit of being one in four reluctantly compelled 
to act against his taste and judgment. 
What was there to cause the irritation that has been 
shown? What was there to justify a personal attack 
upon the supposed writer ? There was nothing new in 
condemning the northern taste; and, mark this, there 
was nothing in the decision to show that the northerns had 
conformed to the southern rules. We have now the evidence ' 
of Mr. Wood, of Nottingham, that they have done so gene¬ 
rally, although in some parts they still hold out; and all we 
can say is, we are glad of it; there will he no more bicker- 
, ings about foul bottoms. It may be considered one great 
proof of the advancement of floriculture, that an experienced 
florist of Mr. Wood’s standing admits the propriety of a j 
pure base and stamens as the sine qua non of tulip showing ; 
but, be it remembered, that one prize given to one foul 
flower would be a perfect justification of all we said of the 
show and judgment; and Mr. Wood will recollect it was not 
to one, two, nor three instances that we alluded. We do not 
wish to renew this controversy, but we believe it to be a very 
mistaken notion that floriculture suffers from an occasional 
spurt of this kind. Mr. Wood’s paper might never have 
appeared, had it not been for our warm condemnation of the 
judgment that gave a single foul flower a prize ; and nobody 
can read that paper without rejoicing that such a manifesto 
on the part of the northern growers will confer the greatest 
possible advantages. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Two-rowed Aponogete (Aponogeton lUstachyon). — Pax¬ 
ton's Flower Garden, ii., 31.—This hardy aquatic is a 
native of marshy places at the Cape of Good Hope, 
being a well-known water plant in our Botanic Gardens 
and collections of the curious; for we must regard it j 
more in the light of a botanical curiosity than as a 
showy plant. It is reported, in many instances, to have 
stood out our climate in standing waters which were not 
frozen so deep as the roots were planted; and it is not 
uncommon to see it, during the summer, flowering with 
the freedom of a native in such places. 
We are now the more anxious to make such plants better j 
known, as a great impulse has lately been given to the inter- i 
est in water plants, through our success in the cultivation 
of the queen of the waters, the Victoria Lily. This impulse, 
we fain hope, will not lose its moving power until every lake, 
and pond, and rivulet, in or about our pleasure grounds, are 
planted with the gorgeous, rare, or curious vegetation from 
the temperate regions of both hemispheres, which have 
hitherto been left to the sole care of the naiads or water 
nymphs of romance. The genus Aponogeton derives its name 
from a compound of the Celtic and Greek — apon, water, 
and geit.on, near, alluding to their place of growth. The name 
originated with the great Linnaeus, and in his system of 
botany is referred to his sixth class, and the third order of 
it, Hexandria Trigynia. The name of the Natural Order to 
which it belongs is Arrow-grasses (Juncaginaceas). 
Aponogeton distachyon has narrow, seven-nerved, spear¬ 
head leaves; its spike bears its flowers in two rows; stamens 
twelve. It was first introduced into the Botanic Garden at 
Edinburgh, and grows, as in its native country, in the south 
of Devonshire. At the Cape it is called Water Uintjies , and 
its flowering tops are there used as a pickle, and boiled as 
asparagus. 
Pointed-i.eaved Holbollia ( Holbollia acuminata ).—• : 
Ibid , 35.—This is a genus of greenhouse climbers; . 
natives of Nepaul, where their berries are eaten by the 
natives. Their flowers arc not very conspicuous, but . 
they are agreeably fragrant. They belong to a small ob¬ 
scure Natural Order, called Lardizabalads (Lardizaba 
laceac). This order was separated from the Menisper- 
mads, in 1837, by M. Decaisne, who wrote an excellent 
memoir in illustration of it. 
These plants are readily known from the Menispermads 
