THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
381 
September 18.] 
produced a great acquisition in the shape of Cantua 
dependens, a free-flowering, half-hardy shrub, from 
Peru, whose introduction to this country has long been 
a desideratum. Owing to the accounts which had been 
published of the great beauty of this plant in its native 
country, much had been expected from it, and it is 
satisfactory to be able to state that the highest expecta¬ 
tions formed of it are likely to be fully realised; for it 
not only promises to be one of the most charming, but 
also one of the most useful shrubs that has been intro¬ 
duced to our gardens for years. When it is stated that 
the flowers are more than twice the size, and far more 
brilliantly coloured, than those of the two-coloured 
Cantua, some idea of the beauty of a well-bloomed 
specimen will be obtained; and then it possesses this 
j value, that it is not only a plant suited for the gardens 
| of the wealthy, but also for those of the cottager, where 
it will be just as much at home as the Euchsia, requiring, 
| as it does, about the same kind of treatment.” In the 
account of the May exhibition of the Horticultural 
Society, we find, from the same authority, that among 
the “ interesting novelties ” the “ Messrs. Veitch had 
their lovely Cantua dependens." 
The genus Cantua was named by the elder Jussieu, about 
sixty years ago, from Cantu, the Peruvian name. Ten years 
afterwards, the authors of the Flora Peruviana, not aware 
of the name having been published already, re-named it, 
and called this species dependens; but their generic name, 
Periphragmos, has given way to the elder one, Cantua; and 
their name of the species, we fear, must also succumb to 
that of buxifolia, an irreconcilable one given by Lamarck 
six or seven years previously, although we find Persoon in 
1806, and Dr. Lindley, as above, in 1851, attempting to 
establish the more appropriate name fixed on by Ruiz 
and Pavon. It will rest with the public whether de¬ 
pendens or buxifolia is to be the current name, and the latter 
will probably prevail. It is adopted by Sir W. Hooker and 
Dr. Lindley. Cantua belongs to the Nat. ord., Pldoxworts 
[Polemoniaceae], and to the first order of the fifth class 
in the system of Linnaeus, Pentandria Monogynia. 
Cantua buxifolia is a downy branched shrub ; leaves not 
at all like those of the Box, except in colour, though part of 
them are acutely pointed oblong oval, but others are like 
those of the ivy—sometimes with smooth edges, but some¬ 
times notched—sometimes downy, but as often smooth. 
Flowers , scarlet and yellow, or scarlet and white, rosy with- 
insidc, and crimson whilst in the bud state; calyx, live¬ 
toothed, tubular, striped with dark green ; corolla, five-lobed, 
shaped like that of the Cowslip, hut longer tubed, the 
flowers, which open in May, being four inches long; the 
stamens show well, having purple anthers; the stigma is 
three-cleft. It is a native of the Peruvian Andes, whence it 
was introduced by Messrs. Yeitcb, of Exeter, in 1850. 
Lowly-growing Pleione ( Pleione humilis).—Paxtons 
Flower Garden, ii. 65.—This is a genus of orchids 
founded on the present species some years ago by the 
late Mr. David Don, and, we believe, from a dried spe- 
i cimen. Dr. Wallich called it Gomphostylis, and it is 
the Epidendrum humile, and Cymbidium humile, of 
Smith. Dr. Lindley once named it Ccelogyne humilis, 
but he has seen reasons to alter his opinion, and now 
lie describes it in the work referred to, adopting the true 
name given bv Mr. Don. 
Pleione , after whom this orchid is called, was the reverse 
of humble ; she was a gay dame of poetic romance, a flying 
goddess ; and one of the mythological tales about her makes 
her and Atlas the parents of the seven sisters who were 
transformed into the “ seven stars,” the Pleiades, in the 
constellation Taurus. Our young readers will find the 
question, How many stars are in the “ seven stars ? ” one of 
subject to point out to the young an easy way of remem¬ 
bering hard names in natural history, by first associating 
such names with objects or ideas already familiar to the 
mind: thus, the “ seven stars ” are the Tleiades, whose fabled 
mother was Pleione, a name in gardening, applied to a pretty 
little Indian orchid, from the Kasijah Hills, in Northern 
India, as high up as some seven thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, where the indefatigable Mr. Lobb met with 
it, during his botanical rambles, and whence he sent it over 
to his patrons, the Messrs. Veitch, nurserymen at Exeter, 
who are so expert in the growth of such curious plants as 
to enable them to run away with half the prizes offered at 
the great London competitions. Upon the proper culti¬ 
vation of so great a little stranger we must let Mr. Appleby 
speak. The sepals and petals are white, and the lip white, 
spotted closely with red, and barred with purple. B. J. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Transplanting Fruit-trees. —It now becomes a duty 
on our part to sound a premonitory note as to this part 
of fruit culture. There is nothing like early autumn- 
planting, the reasons for which will be found in preced¬ 
ing papers on root-pruning, &c., for one great principle 
lies at the bottom of all these procedings. There is no 
occasion, however, to ride this hobby hard; and we do 
not mean that the moment our advice becomes “ gude 
black print,” as Burns said, that the operator must trans¬ 
plant forthwith. Now very young trees, as everybody 
knows, may be transplanted almost at any time; but 
not so with trees of considerable size; and as many per 
sons are frequently necessitated to disturb, or remove, 
trees of many years standing, to make way for altera¬ 
tions, or in the event of a removal of residence, it 
becomes a point so to remove them, that as little time 
may be lost as possible. In pursuance of these objects, 
then, we must here point to a previous root-pruning as 
one of the great essentials. There is no occasion to take 
nature much by surprise in this matter; these things 
may be so managed, that a whole twelvemonth may 
be saved in point of returns, and very much injury 
averted as to the permanency of the tree. 
We have before observed, that trees of considerable 
size are particularly liable to become the prey oi insects 
the season after planting. This arises from the ex¬ 
tensive disruption of the roots, which is, ol course, the 
more prejudicial to a fruit-tree in proportion to its bulk 
and age. The tact is, we suppose, that the vital action 
may bo presumed to decrease in proportion as the stem 
becomes older wood; or, to say the least, it may be 
fairly supposed that the ascending sap meets with more 
