820 
.THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 27, 1892. 
NOTEWORTHY PLANTS. 
In this short article it is my intention to call the 
attention of the readers of The Gardening World 
to a few noteworthy plants, some of which are com¬ 
paratively new and others which, although not 
strictly new, are not so well known amongst the 
gardening community as their merits deserve. It 
seems a great pity that plants which are truly 
beautiful, useful, and, above all things, easy of culti¬ 
vation, should after they have once been noticed in 
the horticultural press be allowed apparently to fall 
into oblivion. Is this kind of thing to go on for 
ever ? There are plants that have but little to 
recommend them, which are quite common, and 
indeed are as uninteresting as are commonest weeds ; 
still we are constantly hearing of them, but of many of 
the master works of nature one scarcely ever hears. 
I for one deplore this state of things, and earnestly 
long for the time when those new introductions 
which are really meritorious should be more regularly 
noticed. Who now, for instance, ever hears of 
Ipomcea rubro-ccerulea ? — Nevertheless it is 
one of the most beautiful of the family to which it 
belongs. There is a fine specimen of it in the 
Victoria House at Kew, trained along the roof, and 
which at the beginning of last February was truly 
most beautiful and was universally admired. It 
seems a great pity that a plant so charming and so 
distinct should be allowed to fall out of cultivation, 
and it seems very likely that such is doomed to be 
its fate. It is far more beautiful than its ally I. 
Horsfallias ; and yet we cling to the latter whilst the 
former is neglected and forsaken. Truly in no other 
stove plants do we get such a lovely shade of blue. 
It owes its somewhat paradoxical name to the fact 
that the limb of the flower when opening is of a 
reddish colour, changing to a very delicate blue when 
fully expanded. 
Tacca pinnatifida is another subject that should 
be oftener met with in collections of stove plants. 
There are at Kew some very good specimens of this 
in the intermediate house there. This plant was in¬ 
troduced from either the East Indies or Society Is¬ 
lands (it is a native of both) as early as 1793, and is 
known as the arrow-root plant. It has a tuberous 
rhizome from which spring its large, pinnatifid 
leaves. The flowers are small, and are borne well 
above the foliage in dense umbels surrounded by 
leafy bracts. It has a very striking appearance. 
Bilbergia decora is a subject which if the public 
were acquainted with it would soon become popular. 
It somewhat resembles B. (Bromelia) Zebrina, but it 
is superior to that species. It was first cultivated at 
Ghent in 1864, and was introduced into Europe from 
New Granada. It is figured in the Botanical Mag¬ 
azine (t. 6937). The plant from which this plate was 
taken flowered in the garden of the late Sir George 
Macleay, of Pendell Court. The leaves are strap¬ 
shaped, about two feet in length, and two or three 
inches across. These are disposed in rosettes, and 
are finely marked with transverse bands. The flower 
spike is-pendulous, about six inches long, and borne 
on a peduncle about a foot in length. The flowers 
are a greenish colour, the petals being about a couple 
of inches long and spirally twisted. The flowers are 
almost entirely hid by the large, oblong-lanceolate, 
bright red bracts, which are the principal feature in 
the plant. 
Monoch;etum sericeum multiflorum is another 
beautiful subject which I have not seen for years. 
The last plants I did see were growing in the 
nurseries of Messrs. Fisher, Son & Sibray, Sheffield. 
This is a dwarf, compact, shrubby, evergreen plant, 
only a few inches in height. The flowers are a rosy 
mauve colour, about one inch in diameter, and 
produced in great abundance during the early 
months of the year. It is a very desirable green¬ 
house plant and thrives in a compost consisting of 
peat, loam and leaf mould in equal parts. This 
plant should be shaded in hot weather. It grows 
well in a temperate greenhouse. 
Brownea Crawfurdi is a plant which excited 
some little attention a short time ago. It is a hybrid 
between the graceful B. grandiceps and B. 
macrophylla, and was raised by the late Mr. Shar- 
man Crawfurd, of Cork. At the R. H. S. meeting 
held on the 9th of February last, a head of it was 
exhibited and was very favourably commented on. 
It flowers are of a dazzling red colour, which are 
produced in globose heads about nine inches in 
diameter. The fully developed inflorescence is a 
most beautiful sight and one which is not readily 
forgotten. The flowers of this species is much 
richer and deeper than in either of the parents. 
Rudgea macrophylla. —This beautiful Brazilian 
plant is a most charming late .spring and early 
summer flowering subject. It is sometimes met with 
under the name Psychotria leucantha, and possibly 
some of our readers may be acquainted with it under 
that synonym. It is figured in the Botanical 
Magazine (t. 5653). The leaves are very large, 
glossy, dark green, and are arranged in opposite 
pairs on stout stems. The flowers are pure waxy 
white, and in the bud have a close similarity to 
Orange blossoms. They are produced in large, 
dense, terminal, globose heads. This plant thrives 
in a moist warm stove. 
Sarmienta repens is a charming little Gesnera- 
ceous plant admirably suited for cultivating in pans 
suspended from the roof. It is a native of Chili, 
from whence it was introduced in 1862. The flowers 
are rather small, urceolate, scarlet, and are produced 
in May. It should be planted in peat, charcoal, and 
sphagnum, and liberally supplied with water. 
Thunbergia (Hexacentris) mysorensis is a 
handsome climber and flowers during the months of 
April and May. It is a native of India and is figured 
in the Botanical Magazine (t. 4786). It has large 
crimson and yellow flowers depending in long 
racemes from the shoots of the plants, which should 
be trained along the rafters of the house; thus 
trained it has a very pleasing effect. It grows freely 
and blooms satisfactorily either in an intermediate 
or stove house. 
Leucopogon lanceolatus, figured in the Botanical 
Magazine for 1832, but not a good representation, is 
a very old greenhouse shrub, flhe flowers are small, 
white, and are borne in terminal and axillary droop¬ 
ing spikes in great profusion. It is a native of 
Australia and requires much the same treatment as 
other hard-wooded greenhouse plants. 
Greyia Sutherlandi.— This monotypic genus 
was recently exhibited at a meeting of the R.H.S., 
w'here it received considerable attention. It is a 
native of Natal, and was introduced to cultivation by 
the late Dr. Moore, of Glasnevin Botanic Garden, 
who in 1859 raised plants from seeds imported from 
Natal, and it first flowered in the Chelsea Botanic 
Garden in 1874, and from that plant a coloured plate 
was prepared for the Botanical Magazine (t. 6040). 
It is a greenhouse shrub ; is deciduous, and requires 
full exposure to the sun to ripen the wood. It also 
requires to be kept rather dry during its period of 
rest. The flowers are scarlet and are borne in 
terminal racemes, a single raceme often bearing a 
hundred flowers. Unfortunately this subject re¬ 
quires a lot of room if it is to be well done.— C. H. B. 
-- t - —- 
GARDENING IN EAST LONDON. 
This was the second exhibition held by the East 
London Amateur Floricultural Society, the opera¬ 
tions of which are included within a circle, the 
centre of which is a point close to the Bethnal Green 
Museum. It takes in Clapton, which is perhaps as 
favourable to plant growing as any suburb of London, 
but it was pleasant to note that many of the things, 
and not the least meritorious of them, came from 
Bethnal Green. The show took place on Monday, 
in the Oxford Hall, Victoria Park Square, just 
behind the Museum, and the objects of the society 
are well set forth in the schedule as seeking to 
"extend the cultivation and love of flowers in East 
London.” That it is doing this in a remarkable 
degree was seen at this second exhibition. The 
society is governed by an active committee of work¬ 
ing men, the exhibitors are working men, not a few 
of whom have put up homely glass erections in 
small back gardens, and where, in spite of smoke, 
dulness, and mist, fog, and lack of sunshine, they 
grow and bring to perfection plants that in my 
opinion are relatively equal to the finest seen at the 
Regent's Park or at the Crystal Palace. 
The Royal Horticultural Society gives one of their 
Bronze Medals for competition, and the possession 
of this is longed for with the same largeness of 
desire as an aspiring politician does to a seat in the 
House of Commons. The Oxford Hall is commo¬ 
dious and convenient, but badly lighted, and the 
plants are not seen to the best advantage. They are 
placed on tables running lengthwise and round the 
sides of the hall, and they were filled. Fuchsias 
appearing to be the leading East London plant, and 
some of the specimens were highly meritorious con¬ 
sidering it is a plant requiring an abundance of light 
and air. Zonal Pelargoniums, Coleus, Cannas, and 
Petunias came next in point of numbers, some of 
them remarkably good considering the localities in 
which they are grown. 
The R.H.S. Medal was offered for a miscellaneous 
group occupying a space of some 26 ft., and there 
were seven or eight of these, and the subjects 
had been grown in small and homely greenhouses. 
It was won by a Mr. Robson, who resides near to 
the Cambridge Heath Station, a carpenter, who has 
but a little garden, as may be supposed in such a 
locality, and it consisted of Cannas, Plumbago 
capensis alba, Fuchsias, Zonal Pelargoniums, 
Begonias of the metallica type, Gloxinias, Ferns, 
Lilium auratum, etc. Very close indeed to it came 
that contributed by Mr. Ransom, a dock labourer, 
who resides at Stepney, and who is an enthusiastic 
amateur gardener, who finds among his plants during 
times of enforced leisure from labour, pleasant 
recreation. The third prize went to Mr. Mears, 
Hopetown, just at the back of Shoreditch Church, 
who is an assistant in an ironmonger’s shop. Mr. 
Ransom had Plumbago capensis, Lilium speciosum, 
Petunias, Tobacco plants, Fuchsias, etc. In some 
of them could be seen small, admirably grown plants 
of Gloxinias, and some essay to produce the tuberous 
Begonia in exhibition form. 
Mr. Bass, Potato Dealer, Green Street, Bethnal 
Green, had the three best Fuchsias of any age, and 
the three best zonals, which were remarkably good, 
considering they were grown in a small, dark back¬ 
yard. The best plant in the show was a Begonia of 
the metallica type the name of the exhibitor I failed 
to get. Mr. Richards, a cabinet maker, had the best 
double Petunias, and very good they were. Some 
specimen Cannas and Coleus were grown by Mr. 
Bass in Green Street. A capital brace of Telegraph 
Cucumber was shown by Mr. Bone, bootmaker, who 
has a little glass arrangement heated by means of a 
pipe from the kitchen boiler ; and from the Seward- 
stone Road came a dish of six excellent Tomatos. 
The secretary, Mr. J. Richards, took the 1st prize 
with a capital hanging basket of plants, worthy a 
place in any conservatory. 
Cut flowers were represented by very good 
Dahlias and Asters; and Mr. A. Rawlings sent from 
Romford a stand of capital Dahlias, the following 
being very fine: T. W. Girdlestone, John Rawlings, 
Willie Garratt, Mrs. McIntosh, Glow-worm, Gen. 
Gordon, T. J. Saltmarsh, W. Rawlings, Mrs. N. 
Halls, Miss Cannell, Mrs. Gladstone, and Rev. J. 
Godday, etc.— R. D. 
THE BEGONIA CONFER¬ 
ENCE. 
Begonias of all classes were well represented at the 
Conference held on Tuesday and Wednesday in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chis¬ 
wick. They were arranged on staging in a large tent 
upon the lawn near the Council Room, illustrated on 
the opposite page. A large collection of species and 
garden hybrids and varieties was exhibited by Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, including B. Froebelli, 
and a hybrid between it and one of the tuberous 
sorts; also B. Sedeni, B. picta, B. Thwaitesii, B. 
Dregei, B. Socotrana, B. Burkei, B. Martiana, 
B. insignis, B. corallina, and others. Many of those 
grown solely for their foliage were also well repre¬ 
sented in Sambo, Arthur Malet, Marie Louise, B. 
Rex, Potheosii, and many others too numerous to 
mention. A Silver Floral Medal was awarded for 
the collection. A few kinds were brought up from 
the Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, amongst which 
were the curious but fine one named B. gogoensis, 
also B. Haageana, B. Beddomei, etc. B. semper- 
florens rubra Vernon var. and others from Messrs. 
Vilmorin, Andrieu & Co., were also shown. A large 
collection of cut flowers of double tuberous varieties 
came from Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley. 
The scarlet, rose, pink, salmon, white, and yellow 
varieties were well mixed and backed up by varieties 
of B. Rex and Palms. They also had a collection of 
species and garden hybrids in pots. 
A collection of tuberous Begonias in pots was 
exhibited by Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill 
All the varieties were double, and included some of 
the best and most recently named varieties, such as 
Picotee, Lady Theodora Guest, Lord Esher, Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Comtesse d'O'Gorman, and others 
