January 3, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
277 
deemed most worthy of the award. The sum of £10 has 
also been voted to the Royal Horticultural Society, to 
form part of two sets of prizes for naturally-grown plants 
of Chrysanthemums, to be awarded at the meeting on 
November 10th. There were good competitions for 
the prizes offered last season, for which £27 10s. was 
paid as follows :—£10 for Roses at Tibshelf, £10 for 
Dahlias at Edinburgh, and £7 10s. for seedling Tulips 
at Manchester. 
The Fraternity of the most Ancient Art of Gar¬ 
dening.—Such was the old title of what is now known 
in the City of York as “ The Ancient Society of York 
Florists,” and whose annual dinner party was held in 
one of the York hostelries on the 17 th ult., the 
sheriff of the city, Mr. Councillor Milward, an active 
member of the committee of the Great York Floral Gala, 
presiding. This society of florists is the oldest in the 
kingdom, and for a long period of its history the old 
acknowledged florists’ flowers only were invited at 
their meetings. These are still greatly encouraged, but 
within the last eight or ten years, with Mr. John 
FUCHSIA CORYMBIFLORA. || 
I think that of all the plants I became acquainted 
with in my schoolboy days this made perhaps the 
deepest impression on my memory. I came upon a 
fine specimen of it when at its very best in a garden 
near to the place where I was born. The plant was of 
large size, and grandly bloomed, its large corymbs of 
flowers being splendidly developed. It may not be 
generally known that it was the late Mr. John 
Standish who introduced this fine and distinct species 
to English gardens. In remarking on the genus, 
Dr. Lindley said:—“In the flora Peruviana the 
present species is spoken of as acquiring the height of 
a man, with a stem but little inclined to branch. It 
was found in the woods of Chinchao and Muna, places 
to the north-east of Lima, in shady situations. It is 
in this part of the world that the race of Fuchsias 
attains its greatest beauty, and develops those colours 
and forms which have gained for it among the 
Peruvians the name of Beauty Bush (Hollo Scantu).” 
In the Floricultural Magazine for January, 1841, 
'January, 1841. F. corymbiflora is a beautiful species 
for house decoration, and it deserves to be rescued from 
the oblivion into which it has fallen. — R. D. 
- . - 
CELOSIA HUTTONII. 
The most popular of the Celosias are grown for the 
beauty of their inflorescenses, that is the flowers and 
their bracts and the branching peduncle bearing them, 
all of which are coloured. The numerous scaly bracts 
covering the peduncle and its branches when the latter 
is branched, constitute of course the beauty of the 
plant, the flowers being altogether of minor inportance. 
On the contrary, a number of species are cultivated 
solely for the beauty of their foliage, as the inflorescense 
is comparatively insignificant. Amongst this group 
comes Celosia Huttonii, a species introduced from 
Java in 1871. It has a beautiful pyramidal habit, and 
ovate-lanceolate, crimson or claret-coloured leaves, 
amply clothing the stems and branches of the plant, 
giving it a bushy appearance. The illustration shows 
the inflorescense, which consists of an oblong-ovate 
Lazenby as secretary, the operations of the society have 
been extended, and an excellent annual exhibition of 
Chrysanthemums is held. At the dinner, Mr. Alderman 
Rymer gave the toast “Prosperity to the Ancient 
Order of York Florists.” He said that as a member of 
the society he was thankful to know that it was pros¬ 
pering, and that in recent years it had prospered in a 
marvellous way. They had now over four hundred 
members, the largest number the society had ever bad, 
and the treasurer had something like £160 to the good. 
They had records extending upwards of a hundred 
years, and they learnt from reliable tradition that its 
history extended right down into the remote periods 
when York was one of the few important towns in the 
kingdom. He thought the society had done a very 
great deal in developing the tastes of the inhabitants of 
York, as was evidenced by the increased cultivation of 
flowers, and the larger use which was made of flowers 
in beautifying the homes of the people. He thought 
that anything which could make home attractive 
tended very much to the prosperity and welfare of the 
empire, for they might rest assured that the home life 
was the backbone of England’s pre-eminence oyer many 
other countries. 
Mr. Standish has an article on the cultivation of 
Fuchsia corymbiflora, the editor being the late Mr. 
Robert Marnock. Mr. Standish said, “The best way 
to grow and flower this plant is to prepare a border or 
bed in a flower garden with light, rich soil, and in the 
month of May, when all appearance of frost is over, 
to turn the plants out in the place so prepared, where, 
from the easy excitement to growth, it will soon make 
a handsome plant and form a massive ball of roots. 
When showing flower, if desirable, the plant can be 
taken up and potted and kept in a close place for a few 
days, after which it can be taken to the greenhouse or 
conservatory without scarcely feeling its removal. This 
plant can also be placed at once in the conservatory 
border, but care must be taken to have a well-prepared 
place for it, as being a very strong feeder it cannot have 
too much room, depth, or richness of soil, and the more 
vigourous the plant is grown the larger will be the 
racemes of flowers and more numerous will be the side 
ones. To have small-flowering plants, take cuttings 
when in a flowering state, put them in thumb pots and 
place them under a bell-glass, they strike root readily.” 
It is fifty years since the foregoing remarks were 
written, but they are as applicable to these days as in 
spike of red bracts, accompanied by the upper leaves of 
the stem. The foliage is in itself sufficiently ornamental 
to entitle the plant to a place in the stove, and when at 
last flowers are produced the effect is heightened. 
-- 
ASPLENIUM LUNULATUM 
AND ITS VARIETIES. 
In its various forms this species enjoys a wide 
range of distribution in widely separated parts of 
the world within the tropics. The typical form of the 
species has simply pinnate fronds ranging from 6 ins. 
to 18 ins. or more in length, with numerous unequal¬ 
sided pinnae closely set along both sides of the rachis. 
The pinnae are incise-crenate, and strongly inclined to 
form an auricle on the upper side at the base, a fact 
which gives them somewhat of a crescent shape, hence 
the specific name. Owing to the remarkable variation 
of the plant in a state of nature many specific names 
have been given by different authors from time to time. 
For some years the accepted name was A. erectum, but 
A. lunulatum is now by right of priority considered the 
true name. 
One of the most distinct of the varieties is A. 1. 
