the centre of the flower, and laid particularly flat and even, over 
one another. They are of a pure white colour, excepting a small num¬ 
ber of the centre petals, which frequently have a very delicate yellowish 
tinge at their base. Most of the petals, on first opening, are slightly in¬ 
volute, or incurved at their edges, and even a few of them may occa¬ 
sionally be seen with their edges partly ciliated, in the manner of those 
of the Fringed Double White. When the flower has been some days 
open, the outer petals, which are each of a roundish form, and about an 
inch in diameter, spread nearly flat, and ultimately become so much 
recurved, that their edges almost touch one another. They gradually 
diminish in size, the nearer they approach the centre of the flower, in 
which they are small, erect, and pointed. When not very numerous, 
the centre is pitted or hollowed, but generally it is elevated, and so com¬ 
pletely filled with petals, that not a vestige of stamina can be discovered, 
and the flower altogether has the appearance of a large imbricated white 
globe. 
It is one of the varieties most esteemed in China, as well as in this 
country, where it is now a common plant in every Collection. It varies 
a good deal in the size of its flowers, which are sometimes much smaller 
than those we have described; but we are not aware of any distinct 
variety of it being cultivated, with this peculiarity, although one is 
mentioned in Mr. Curtis’s Monograph, p. 8, to have been introduced in 
1816, by the late Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith. In 1824, a plant was 
imported for the Horticultural Society, by their collector, Mr. J. D. 
Parks, which, on its flowering in 1826, we were inclined to consider 
perfectly distinct. The same plant, however, in 1827, and the three 
succeeding years, produced flowers that differed in no respect from those 
of the Double White above described. 
