1880 . ] 
CYPRIPEDIUM LAWRENCIANUM. 
Ill 
— 0ur Belgian friends report that the 
New Pine-apple, Ananassa Mordilona , intro¬ 
duced in 1871 by M. Linden, from the cold dis¬ 
tricts of Columbia, where it bears the name of 
Mordilona, has just been fruited in the garden of M. 
F. Massange, of Louvrex. The fact is noted in the 
Belgique Horticole, where the fruit is described to be 
nearly cylindrical and of a vermilion-red colour, the 
pips slightly prominent, rounded, smooth, and with¬ 
out prickles. The flesh is pale yellow, extremely 
tender and sugary, and of an exquisite flavour. The 
fruit iu this instance weighed about 3 lb., but it is 
stated that it acquires a weight of 10 lb. in its 
native country. The leaves are leathery and spine¬ 
less. It would thus appear to be distinct, and if of 
permanently good quality, with a hardier constitu¬ 
tion than the varieties of A. sativa, the cultivation 
of Pine-apples may be considerably influenced by its 
introduction, since it might be usefully employed 
for hybridizing purposes. 
— ®he resinous substance found on the 
branches of the Creosote Plant, Larrea 
mexicana , has been proposed as a substitute 
for lac in the preparation of lac-dye. The plant be¬ 
longs to the order Zygophylleae, and is a shrub from 
4 ft. to 6 ft. high, growing in dense scrub-like 
masses in Mexico, especially on the borders of the 
Colorado desert, its presence being a sure indication 
of a sterile soil. The common name is derived from 
the fact that the plant has a strong creosote-like 
smell, which is so powerful that no animal will 
touch it. The ruby-coloured resinous matter to 
which the odour is due is abundant in all parts of 
the plant, the branches being frequently covered 
with it, in the same manner as true lac. It is used 
by the natives in the treatment of rheumatism, and 
also for fixing their arrow-heads to the shafts, and 
for forming into balls, which they kick before them, 
as they journey from point to point of their trail. 
— ®he rare Rheum nobile has bloomed 
this summer in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 
for the first time in Europe, and is of a very 
ornamental aspect. The flower-stem is about 4 ft. 
high, and is clothed with large yellow or lemon- 
tinted membranaceous bracts overlapping each 
other, rendering it a very striking object. The 
bracts at the base of the flower-stem are fully 6 in. in 
diameter, gradually diminishing upwards and entirely 
hiding the insignificant green flowers. A notice of the 
plant, accompanied by coloured drawings made by 
Miss Woon, was read at the last meeting of the 
Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 
— £ioWHERE in the British Isles, says the 
Gardeners Chronicle , is the handsome North 
American Yucca filamentosa variegata 
“ grown to so great an extent, or with so much success, 
as in the neighbourhood of Manchester. We lately 
saw a fine lot of plants at the Firs, Fallowfield, where 
Mr. Smith, Sir Joseph Whitworth’s gardener, had a 
large three-light frame full of plants of various sizes. 
The method of propagation adopted by Mr. Smith 
is that of cutting up the roots in the same way as 
Dracaenas are treated, and in a compost of peat, 
sand, and loam, in which the two former prepon¬ 
derate, the young plants appear to thrive like evil 
weeds in good ground. Although a native of North 
America, it will not make much growth in a cool 
greenhouse, but in a little warmer temperature grows 
with great luxuriance.” 
Ett fEUmtomm* 
— m - John Scott, latterly bead of tbe 
herbarium department. Botanic Garden, Cal¬ 
cutta, died recently at Garvald, East Lothian, 
aged 42. Some sixteen years ago Mr. Scott was 
employed in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 
whence he obtained an Indian appointment, and 
after a short sojourn in Calcutta, was sent to Dar¬ 
jeeling. On the hills he had excellent health, and it 
was only in his subsequent sojourn in Calcutta that 
he contracted the disease to which he has suc¬ 
cumbed. 
— &. B. Stewart, Esq., of Ascog Hall, 
Bute, one of the most enlightened and liberal 
patrons of Horticulture in Scotland, died a few 
weeks since. He was at the head of one of the 
most extensive mercantile concerns in the kingdom 
—Messrs. Stewart and M'Donald, Buchanan Street, 
Glasgow—but found opportunity to share in nearly 
all good and benevolent undertakings. Mr. Stewart 
contended that there was no better way of getting 
at the heart of man than through flowers, and hence 
the gardens of Rawcliffe Lodge were laid under con¬ 
stant contribution, to make the exhibitions held 
under the auspices of the Glasgow Horticultural 
Society attractive and entertaining. Mr. Stewart 
was for many years President of the Society, and 
gave assistance and aid, which will be greatly missed 
by the directors and friends of the association. 
— fJT. Jean Nuytens Versciiaffelt died 
at Ghent, on May 30th, at the age of 44. This 
amiable horticulturist was the adopted son of 
M. Jean Verschaffelt, to whose extensive nursery 
business at Ghent he succeeded on the retirement of 
the latter. M. Nuytens Verschaffelt was deservedly 
a favourite for his genial straightforward character, 
while his collection of plants was one of the most 
remarkable, even in that town of nurseries, Ghent. 
CYPRIPEDIUM L A WREN- 
CIANUM. 
g HIS fine species of Lady’s Slipper was 
introduced recently from Borneo, 
through Mr. F. W. Burbidge, by 
Messrs. Veitcli and Sons, of Chelsea, and has 
been named in compliment to Sir Trevor Law¬ 
rence, Bart., M.P., one of the most liberal 
patrons of orchid-culture, and whose collection 
of these plants at Burford Lodge, near Dorking, 
probably stands pre-eminent, both in respect to 
the choiceness of the varieties, and the excellence 
of their cultivation. 
The plant, it will be seen, has something the 
character of C. harhatum. The leaves have on 
their upper surface a dark green mosaic on a light 
ground of whitish green. The flower is equal 
in size to that of C. harhatum majus ; its upper 
sepal very broad and rounded, white with pur¬ 
plish shining veins, the larger of which run 
out to the edge. The petals are divaricate, 
narrow, green, purplish at the tip, ciliate, and 
