96 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
distinct, did not seem novel enough to make it a lion. This expression scarcely conveys an 
idea of the extreme beauty of the plant we figured, and one can hardly imagine so fine a sub¬ 
ject being allowed to sink into oblivion in an establishment so noted for hardy trees as that at 
Sawbridgeworth. A comparison of specimens at the flowering season would, however, set the 
question at rest. 
- ^Ender the name of Philageria Veitchii , Dr. Masters has recently 
described a remarkable hybrid raised by Messrs. Veitch and Sons, between Lapa- 
geria rosea and Philesia buxifolia , the latter being the pollen parent. This plant 
is the more interesting, as hybrids between two genera are very uncommon. Messrs. Yeitch’s plant 
is a scrambling shrub, with slender, cylindrical, flexuose, rigid, smooth, wiry branches, having 
alternate, petiolate, oblong-lanceolate, pointed leaves, about l£ in. long by § in. broad, leathery, 
smooth, and dark shining green above, paler and marked by three prominent converging ribs 
below, and with a cartilaginous very finely serrulated edge. The flower-stalks are axillary, and 
bear numerous overlapping, ovate concave, glabrous bracts ; and the flower is solitary, pendulous, 
with a calyx of three fleshy, glaucous, pale rosy-purple, oblong-lanceolate, boat-shaped sepals, 
and a corolla of an equal number of fleshy, bright, rose-coloured petals, w T hich are slightly 
unequal in size, overlapping, broadly ovate-acute, with a circular honey pore on the inner 
surface at the base. The stamens are six in number, free, hypogynous, or attached at the 
very base of the segments of the perianth, a little shorter than the petals ; the filaments fleshy, 
subulate, spotted with pink; and the anthers yellow, linear-oblong, tubular at the base, so that 
the extremity of the filament is concealed at its point of insertion by a kind of sheath. The 
ovary is 1-celled, with three parietal placentae, and the numerous ovules are anatropal. 
— f*t. Bert, desiring to test the Effect of Green Light on the Sensitive 
Plant (Mimosa pudica), placed several examples under bell-glasses of different- 
coloured glass, and set them in a warm greenhouse. At the end of a few hours 
a difference was apparent; those which had been subjected to green, yellow, or red light 
having the petioles erect, and the leaflets expanded ; while those under blue and violet glass 
had their petioles almost horizontal, and the leaflets hanging down; those under blackened 
glass were les3 sensitive in a week, and in twelve days were either dead or dying. At that 
time those under green glass were entirely insensitive, and in four days more were dead, the 
plants under the other glasses being perfectly healthy and sensitive, but unequally so. The 
white had made great progress, the red less, the yellow a little less still, whilst the violet and 
the blue did not appear to have grown at all. After sixteen days, the vigorous plants from 
the uncoloured bell-glasses were moved to the green ; in eight days they had become less 
sensitive; in two more the sensitiveness had almost entirely disappeared; and in another 
week they were all dead. From these experiments, it would appear that green rays of light 
have no greater influence on vegetation than complete absence of light. 
cOliittiarp. 
-iUR. Thomas Ingram died on March 9th, at Upton Lodge, Slough, at 
the ripe age of 76. He was in charge of the Royal Gardens at Windsor for 
upwards of 50 years, and was the trusted and faithful servant of four of our 
Monarchs, having entered the Royal service a3 head gardener to Queen Charlotte in 1816. In 
1883 he was appointed by William IV. to the superintendence of the whole of the Royal 
gardens then scattered about the parks at Windsor ; and during the reign of Her Majesty he 
formed the present magnificent gardens at Frogmore. Mr. Ingram devoted much attention to 
the development and improvement of our useful and ornamental plants, and in this way his 
name is honourably associated with Melons, Strawberries, Pears, Apples, Cherries, and Plums, 
amongst fruit; and, amongst other things, with Roses, Pelargoniums, and Begonias, amongst 
flowers. In 1865 he was presented by his horticultural and personal friends with a handsome 
testimonial, the subscriptions to which amounted to £230. 
— fait. William Osborn, of tlie Fulham Nursery, died somewhat 
suddenly on March 7tli. He was the elder brother of Mr. T. Osborn, whose 
death we had the sorrowful duty of announcing but a few weeks since. Few 
names connected with commercial horticulture have been held in such esteem and regard as 
those of Mr. Robert Osborn, who died about four years since at an advanced age, and of his 
sons, who have now, within a few weeks of each other, been taken from amongst us. 
