1884 .] 
BEGONIA OLBIA.-DESCRIPTIONS OP THE BEST CARNATIONS. 
17 
BEGONIA OLBIA. 
[Pl.ite 603.] 
¥ E have here a new Begonia, which is 
decidedly pretty, and which is likely 
to become popular as a free-growing 
decorative plant, the habit being 
similar to that of B. Drcgei, B. weltoniensis, 
&c. ; it is also distinct, one of its most striking 
characteristics being that the leaves are dotted 
with white a=! if besprinkled with small silver 
coins, wdiich it would seem has suggested the 
name B. olhia from the Greek olbios, rich. 
This novelty has been introduced into Europe 
from Brazil by M. Ed. Pynaert Van Geert, of 
Ghent, who is well known amongst us as one of 
the most energetic horticulturists of his own 
country—Belgium, and as a most estimable 
man. It has been named and described in the 
Revue de L'Horticulture Beige et Etrangere, 
1883, 241—where a plate, corresponding wnth 
that we now issue, has also been published— 
by Count Osw-ald de Kerchove, Governor of the 
Hainaut, himself a spirited and distinguished 
horticulturist, and one who as an amateur 
had acquired a special knowdedge of Begonias, 
through possessing some few years since one of 
the finest collections of living plants to be met 
wdth in the continental gardens. M. de Ker¬ 
chove compares this Begonia olhia with Begonia 
diadema, a silvery-spotted species from the 
same country ; the present is, however, w'ell 
characterised by its short fleshy or succulent 
stems, its erect petioles, its oblique five-nerved 
irregularly dentate slightly bullate leaves, and 
its remarkable colouring, the upper surface 
being of a very dark bronzy green, covered with 
small reddish hairs, and studded with small neat 
round white spots, while the under surface is 
of a deep red. The flowers are white, in small 
cymes, which are freely produced from the 
axils of the leaves. 
Irrespective of its utility as a free-growing 
decorative plant, this new Begonia may probably 
be turned to good account by the hybridiser, 
who will seek to combine its neat habit of 
growth and its attractive foliage, with flowers 
of larger size and more striking colour. Who 
can doubt with the thousands of hybridised 
Begonias before him, which have been raised 
wntbin the few years which have elapsed since 
the introduction of B. Veitchii and B. holiviensis, 
that if this task were to be seriously under¬ 
taken it w'ould surely and perhaps speedily be 
accomplished. 
The Begonia olhia will, we understand, be 
quite amenable to cultivation. The temperate 
house, wuth an atmosphere kept moderately 
moist, will suit it while growing, the moisture 
both at root and top being moderated when at 
rest after blooming ; and a light rich soil, in 
which leaf-mould abounds, will supply it with a 
fitting compost for its roots.—T. Moore. 
DESCPJPTIONS OF THE BEST CAKNATIONS.—I. 
¥ E have pleasure in presenting to our 
readers a first instalment of a de- 
scriptive list of Carnations and 
Picotees, which at our request our 
friend Mr. Dodwell has consented to prepare. 
Seven years have passed since a similar list 
was published in these pages, and in the inter¬ 
val so many and such important additions have 
been made to these flowers, that we felt con¬ 
strained to urge our friend, whose experience 
and study so especially qualify him for the 
task, to undertake the work. 
In a note accompanying the instalment now 
given, our friend says : “In obedience to your 
order I have commenced the task you are 
pleased with complimentary wmrds to lay upon 
me. As you say, there have been many 
additions made to these flowers since I last 
wrote a descriptive list, and many varieties 
then thought highly of, have waned in their 
excellence and been displaced. 
“ A considerable number of these new varieties 
have been of my own raising, and in describing 
these, I am necessarily liable to the common 
error of parents, who see an undue amount of 
beauty in their progeny. It is proper that 
readers of these lists should have a full know¬ 
ledge of this fact, but I hope at its close they 
will be ready to admit, that if I have seen 
and attempted to portray the beautiful in 
seedlings of my own, I have also had a deep 
and keen appreciation of the beauty, the 
exceeding beauty, of those obtained by my 
many friends and brothers, and that I honour 
and respect their work in a very high degree.” 
We have no doubt as to the reception Mr. 
B 
