January 30, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
339 
stock of small or medium sized plants will always be 
found the most useful and accommodating for general 
decorative purposes. If it is desired to limit size 
then the smallest pots in which the plants can be 
accommodated should be used. A stock of young 
plants can always be obtained from the base of old 
ones ; and even if the shoots should be devoid of 
roots they can easily be rooted when removed from 
the mother plant. 
PELLION1A PULCHRA. 
The stems of this species are of much 'slower 
growth than those of the older and better known P. 
Daveanana ; but owing to this very fact the plant is 
more refined in character and prettier in appearance, 
as indicated by the specific name. The stems are 
procumbent or creeping, and when grown in a basket 
suspended near the glass, or on a conical framework 
of wire filled with soil, the plant is seen to best 
advantage. The leaves are oblong or sometimes 
ovate oblique at the base, and heavily blotched with 
grey on a dark olive-green ground, while the prin¬ 
cipal veins are almost black. The under surface is 
flesh-coloured with reddish veins. The flowers are 
of no horticultural value, as they are of small size 
and insignificant in appearance. As a foliage plant 
of easy culture in a stove, it is however worthy of 
due consideration. It may be seen in the nurseries 
of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons. 
DRAC/EN A AUSTRALIS VARIEGATA. 
In some respects this bears some resemblance to 
D. Doncetti.but is finer and more distinctly varie¬ 
gated. The long slender leaves'are densely arranged 
upon the stems, and doubtless would hang gracefully 
when plants get sufficiently large to allow of it. 
The midrib is reddish, and there is a broad silvery 
band along the margins. The central portion on 
each side of the midrib is green, but very often even 
that is striated with silvery lines. The plant is 
amenable both to stove and greenhouse culture, for 
in fact it is so nearly hardy that it may be grown in 
the open air in the more southern and warmer parts 
of England, We noted some specimens in the 
nursery of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. 
BEGONIA SCH ARFFIAN A. 
The foliage of this plant when well grown is beauti¬ 
ful and interesting all the year round. The flowers 
are equally ornamental but not very freely produced. 
It may be that this species requires peculiar treat¬ 
ment in order to make it flower regularly, as some 
cultivators succeed better than others. The season of 
flowering also varies considerably, and no doubt cor¬ 
responds to the state of growth and the treatment to 
which the plant is subjected. We noted a flowering 
specimen the other day lh the uursery of Messrs. J. 
Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. The leaves are obliquely 
heart-shaped, densely hairy above, of a metallic red 
beneath, and closely arranged on short, stout, fleshy 
stems. The flower scapes just rise above the foliage 
and show off the blooms to advantage. The latter 
are white with a dense cushion of coarse, red hairs 
on the back of the two outer sepals, somewhat 
similar to what we see in B. metallica, B. Haageana, 
and others. 
T1LLANDSIA LINDENI. 
The flowers of this Tillandsia are welcome whenever 
they appear, but doubly so in the winter months. 
The neat form of the plant also assists the flowers in 
making it a very ornamental subject. The leaves are 
narrow, very numerous, arching, densely arranged, 
and beautifully striated with red on the under surface 
as well as on the upper surface near the base ; the 
lines in the latter case become less distinct from the 
middle upwards. The flattened inflorescence, with 
its bracts densely arranged in two ranks, is very 
characteristic of a number of Tillandsias, and in this 
case the bracts are green, although several varieties 
have them more or less coloured. The flowers are 
of large size, bright blue with a white eye, and are 
produced singly or few at a time, so that a single 
plant keeps on flowering for a considerable time. It 
is now flowering in several of the London nurseries. 
IRIS BAKERIANA. 
Hardy flowering plants are rare at this season of the 
year, and it is a pleasure to meet with those possessing 
the beauty and fine appearance of Iris Bakeriana. Of 
pourse no one could expect tender and beautiful 
flowers at this season of the year in the open ground. 
That under notice may be seen in the nursery of 
Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, where it 
enjoys merely the protection of a cold frame. The 
bulbs are potted singly in very small pots. The 
leaves make their appearance about the same time 
as the flowers or soon after them, and are slightly 
flattened above and rounded on the back, but 
strongly ribbed. The scape bears a single flower, 
and the whole to the top of the latter is only 3 in. 
high. The falls are white on the middle, and 
blotched with deep blue, and the upper portion is 
blackish blue; the ridge-like crest is yellow, while 
the claw is striated with deep blue on a white 
ground. The standards are spathulate and of a rich 
blue. The stigmas are of a somewhat paler blue. 
The flowers are delicately fragrant. 
PLATYCERIUM WILLINCK1I. 
In general appearance, Willinck's Stag's-horn may 
be compared to Platycerium grande, but it is smaller 
and more graceful. The barren fronds are erect, or¬ 
bicular in outline and deeply lobed except the small 
ones surrounding the crown, and which are altogether 
undivided. The fertile fronds are slender, compared 
with those of either P. grande or P. alicorne, nar¬ 
rowly wedge-shape at the base, and drooping grace¬ 
fully. A specimen in the nursery of Messrs. J. Laing 
& Sons, Forest Hill, is grown in a small basket, hung 
up near the light; the barren fronds dry up in 
winter and appear pale brown, but they persist 
evidently for a number of years. They also stand 
erect as if they were rooted on a block, stood upright 
in the basket, but the fertile fronds show that the plant 
is well suited for basket work. The species was intro¬ 
duced from Java in 1875, and requires the tempera¬ 
ture of a stove. 
BEGONIA ARTHUR MALET. 
Amongst the smaller leaved kinds with dark purple 
foliage, B. incarnata atropurpurea is certainly one of 
the most meritorious. Now Arthur Malet is a gar¬ 
den hybrid with leaves somewhat of the same type, 
but two or three times as large. The upper surface 
may be described as of a warm purplish-red except 
the principal veins, which are of a deep green, and 
the whole is thinly covered with coarse, bristly 
hairs. The under side is dull purple. On the whole 
the plant is dwarfer and less branched than in 
B. incarnata atropurpurea or other of its varieties, 
but that is what might be expected in consideration 
of the greater size of the leaves of the plant under no¬ 
tice. The fact that it retains its leaves and their colour 
during winter should tell greatly in its favour for 
decorative purposes. The colour is the brightest of 
any in a collection of different kinds in the nursery 
of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. 
MAMILLARIA FLAVOSP1NA CR1STATA. 
The Mamillarias generally are of very slow growth, 
and in order to render small pieces more conspicuous, 
they are sometimes grafted on stems of another 
kind. The stems of the Mamillaria in question are 
furnished with glaucous protuberances tipped with 
short grey spines. It gets the name of cristata from 
the stems being reniform and somewhat resembling 
a Cockscomb in shape. Double plants so to speak 
possess more interest than when grown naturally, 
because half the effect is lost by the short and slow 
growing stems being partly hidden jin the pots. 
Grafting is a very simple operation amongst the 
Cacti, because if a cleft is made upon the top of one 
and another inserted upon it and kept steady for a 
time, union will take place. Specimens so treated 
may be seen in the nursery of Messrs. J. Carter & 
Co., Forest Hill. 
THE REIGATE AND DISTRICT CHRYSANTHE¬ 
MUM SOCIETY. 
It may be of interest to some of your readers to 
know of the good work this society has accomplished 
during the past year. It was thought by the com¬ 
mittee that it would be enhancing the interest of the 
society if we kept our charity at home, and several 
suggestions having been discussed it was ultimately 
decided to give thirty guineas to the Royal St. Ann’s 
Schools, Red Hill, an institution for fatherless 
children, and one that is in much need of help. We 
were of opinion that by making this departure, for 
the one year only, we should enlist the sympathies 
of those who had hitherto refrained from helping us, 
and J think I may safely venture to assert that our 
efforts were crowned with success ; for we not only 
handed the above sum to the executive of St. Ann’s 
Schools, but were enabled also to give ten guineas to. 
the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution, and 
£10 to the Gardeners' Orphan Fund, thus making 
the total given to the three institutions during the 
three years the society has been established of 
ios., made up as follows :— 1889, Gardeners' 
Royal Benevolent Institution, ^52 ios. ; Gardeners* 
Orphan Fund, /50 ; 1890, Gardeners’ Royal Bene¬ 
volent, ^42; 1891, St. Ann’s Schools, /31 ios. ) 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent, £10 ios. ; Gardeners' 
Orphan Fund £10. The foregoing figures speak for 
themselves, and are I think a guarantee of the 
success attained .—Harry Bailey, The Briars, Reigate. 
[The philanthropic efforts of our friends at Reigate 
deserve the best thanks of all interested in the gar¬ 
dening charities.—Ed.] 
HEATING SMALL GREENHOUSES. 
I was very pleased to see your remedy on this subject 
in a recent issue. Yes! the writer is quite right; it 
does seem hard that so many should lose their plants 
in small greenhouses for want of proper means of 
heating. I have two small greenhouses, one 6 ft. by 
10 ft., and the other 6 ft. by 18 ft., full of beautiful 
plants, but the frost never gets into them. Why ? 
because I have also got a little hot water boiler and 
pipes. The stove is placed in the greenhouse, and 
when the fire is lighted I have a bucket filled with 
small coal, costing about three-half-pence, which is 
put inside and lighted on the top with wood, when 
once alight this burns for twenty-four hours, and by 
no chance can it go out. I wish that the writer 
could see this, and then for once he would find that 
a small greenhouse could be heated well at hardly 
any expense.—C. W. Butlin, Rirydail Gardens, Leonard 
Stanley, Gloucester. 
EUPATORIUM RIPARIUM VARIEGATUM. 
The green form of this plant is well known all over 
the country, and is grown solely for the production 
of flowers, which in all cases of good culture are 
borne in great profusion. Young plants are always 
best, and for this reason it is well to raise a quantity 
every year from cuttings, growing them on in the 
same way as other winter-flowering subjects. The 
variegated form is very distinct as regards the varie¬ 
gation, but some might object to it by reason of its 
clashing with the flowers which are very nearly 
similar in hue. The leaves have a broad, creamy 
margin, and occasionally a few are produced w'hich 
are wholly pale yellow. Some variegated plants 
have a tendency to throw off the variegation and to 
revert partly to the green state, but the Eupatorium 
under notice keeps its acquired colour, or rather 
absence of colour, very well. 
©leattituts fra ut flic Hhnrlir 
nf Bet cun'. 
Flowers of Veronica Buxbaumii. —The normal 
four-parted flower of Veronica is well-known to 
botanists, but some species are evidently liable to 
considerable variation, notably V. Buxbaumii, as 
recorded in the Journal of the Linnean Society, by Mr. 
W. Bateson. The four-lobed form of the corolla 
v'as supposed by Eichler to have been derived from 
the five-lobed form of corolla characteristic of most 
of the order of Scrophulariacese. The upper lobe 
he supposed had been formed by the complete fusion 
of the two constituting the upper lip. Variations or 
what are considered to be reversions should unravel 
the true origin of now existing forms; but the 
observations of Mr. Bateson evidently do not 
confirm Eichler’s views in this case, although they 
do not definitely negative them. The first case he 
records was that of a single flower having the small 
anterior segment of the corolla duplicated. On the 
contrary, however, he found seven flowers with the 
posterior lobe duplicated, which would be more 
favourable to Eichler’s supposition. Corollas with 
three segments are however extremely common and 
formed about six per cent, of the total. Corollas 
with two lobes constituted about one per cent, of the 
whole. Taken altogether the variations do not 
confirm the conclusions about the absence of the 
fifth lobe of the corolla. There can be little doubt 
however that the whole flower including sepals, 
petals, stamens, and pistil, is simply a case of 
reduction. 
