188 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ December. 1878. 
The tone of the book is excellent, and the informa¬ 
tion given is quite calculated to excite and hold the 
interest of the youthful student. 
— She name of Conophallus Titanum 
has been proposed for a gigantic Sumatran Arad, 
which must rank amongst the most extraordi¬ 
nary of plants yet discovered. It was found by 
Dr. Beccari, an Italian botanist, and seeds sent over 
to Florence have already germinated. The tuber is 
nearly 5 ft. in circumference. From this tuber one 
leaf is produced, the stalk being 36 in. in girth at 
the base, and 10 ft. in height; its surface smooth, 
green, with numerous small nearly orbicular white 
dots. The three branches into -which it is divided 
at the top are each as large as a man’s thigh, and 
are several times divided, the whole leaf covering 
an area of 45 ft. in circumference. The spadix of 
a plant found in fruit had the fruit-bearing portion 
cylindrical, 20 in. long, and densely covered with 
olive-shaped fruits of a bright red colour. 
— JIeat little specimens of Stephanotis 
floribunda, in small pots, loaded with blossoms, 
are offered for sale, during tbe spring, in Covent 
Garden Market. They are grown in 6-in. pots, and 
trained round a few stakes. Plants of this descrip¬ 
tion are exposed during summer and autumn to 
plenty of air and sunshine, in order that the wood 
may get thoroughly ripened. They are shortened 
back and brought gently on in spring, and nearly 
every break produces a flowering shoot. 
— ©he New Arctic Saxifrage, Saxifraga 
flagellaris, a native of Arctic America, lias 
been blooming lately at tbe York Nurseries, 
and is a distinct and highly interesting addition to 
our alpine rarities. It forms dense rosettes of 
obovate glaucous leaves of thick texture, beautifully 
ciliated with spiny teeth, or strong viscid glandular 
hairs, the whole surface looking “frosted” to a 
larger or smaller extent. The flowers are solitary 
at present, though from one to five flowers are 
borne on the stalk, rather large, bright yellow, 
spotted at the base of the petals with orange, in the 
style of S. Hirculus. From the axils of the leaves 
slender stolons, 11 in. to in. long, are emitted in 
all directions, which root again at the extremities, 
and produce fresh rosettes. 
— iklR. Grieve, of Culford, bas found that 
Torenia Fournieri, referred to by bim in our 
volume for 1877, forms an exceedingly beauti¬ 
ful bedding plant. Some examples of it put out-of- 
doors at Culford in the early part of last June, 
though for a time checked by very dry weather, 
grew vigorously on a change taking place, and were 
in full bloom the first week in September. They 
are, he says, very beautiful, dwarfer and more 
robust in habit than others growing in the plant 
stove. This Torenia may be propagated by means 
of cuttings, but they are are apt to damp off in 
winter, and plants raised from seed are to be pre¬ 
ferred. 
— ©iie Large - flowered Semidouble 
Pelargoniums, so called, arc of much value 
for flowering early in tbe spring. To 
have them in bloom thus soon, however, propaga¬ 
tion must take place early in the year previous. 
They must have plenty of time to acquire 
strength for the wood to become firm, and 
for the roots to well fill the pots before the winter. 
The cuttings should be struck about the time they 
are coming into bloom, when the tops of the young 
shoots, if moderately firm, will strike freely in a 
brisk bottom-heat. They should get their last shift 
into 5-in. pots about the first week in August, and 
the last stopping not later than the third week in 
that month. The most desk-able varieties are—■ 
Album plenum, white ; Beauty of Oxton, maroon and 
crimson, with white margin ; Captain Bailees, crim¬ 
son marked with black; Elegantissimum, vermilion, 
with white crisped margin; Queen Victoria, ver¬ 
milion and white; and Ville de Caen, dark crimson, 
with maroon markings. 
— Fn reference to tbe hardiness of Clematis 
indivisa, Mr. A. 0. Walker, Nanty Glyn, Col- 
wyn Bay, Conway, states that notwithstanding 
snow-storms and cold winds, Clematis indivisa 
has been in full bloom on the side of his house 
facing S.E. and unprotected; it had hundreds of 
flowers expanded, and was a most beautiful object. 
— Pn a paper on tbe Flowering of 
Agave Shawii, Dr. Engelmann records tbe 
rate of growth during tbe day and night in tbe 
flower-stalk of this species. The growth from 
7 p.m. to 7 a.m. was uniformly larger than that from 
7 a.m. till 7 p.m. The total growth for a period of 
sixty days was 16.j 1 inches, of whioh 27j inches took 
place in the night, and 19J inches in the day, the 
greatest advance being made about the middle of 
the period. Temperature appeared to have but 
little influence on the rate of growth. 
— ©he most remarkable Spanish Chest¬ 
nut tree known in England, and perhaps tbe 
oldest, if not one of those originally introduced 
by the Romans, is, according to the Journal of 
Forestry, the gigantic tree at Tortworth Court, the 
seat of Earl Ducie, in Gloucestershire. It grows on 
the north-west slope of a hill, on a rich, loamy clay, 
and is said to have been called the “great tree of 
Tortworth ” or “ great chestnut ” in the reign of 
King Stephen. In 1820 Strutt gives it a circum¬ 
ference of 52 feet at five feet from the ground, and 
the contents he puts at 1,965 cubic feet. Later 
measurements make it about 46 feet in circumfer¬ 
ence at the top of the swell of the roots. 
©bttuai’fi, 
- m - James McNab, Curator of the 
Boyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, died on 
November 19, in bis 68tli year. He was born 
in 1810 at Richmond, Surrey, and in his younger 
days visited Canada and the United States. Sub¬ 
sequently he had the management of the then 
adjacent, now annexed, gardens of the Royal Cale¬ 
donian Horticultural Society, and on the death of 
his father, in 1848, was appointed to the caro of 
the Royal Botanic Garden, in which, in fact, the 
greater part of his life was passed, successively 
as apprentice, journeyman, foreman, and finally 
curator. The high position which the garden has 
attained under his management bears evidence to 
the zealous and skilful manner in which his duties 
have been discharged; while, in reference to his 
personal qualities, those who have known him per¬ 
sonally will deeply mourn the loss of a true-hearted 
friend. Mr. McNab was one of the founders of the 
Edinburgh Botanical Society, of which, in 1872, lie 
was President. A sketch of his career, accom¬ 
panied by a portrait, will be found in the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle for 1871, the portrait being repeated with 
the obituary notice published in that journal on the 
23rd ult. 
