74 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 29, 1894. 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
At the Meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
at Chiswick, on Tuesday, the under-mentioned plants 
were certificated according to merit as stated 
Gladiolus Little Dorrit. —The large flowers of 
this variety are of a delicate creamy blush, edged 
with purple on the lower segments, and deeper purple 
in the throat. Award of Merit. Exhibited by 
Messrs. Burrell & Co., Howe House, Cambridge. 
Gladiolus Muriel. —The segments in this case 
are scarlet, thinly striped with crimson near the 
edges. Four or five of them have a white mid-rib, 
and one or two of the lowest are white for three- 
parts of their length. Award of Merit Exhibited 
by Messrs. Burrell & Co. 
Gladiolus Cygnet. —Ten flowers of this variety 
were open upon a spike, and several others were on 
the point of opening. The segments are of a 
delicate blush, tinted with pale yellow on the lower 
one, and sometimes streaked with pink on the edges 
of several. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. 
Burrell & Co. 
Dahlia The Bishop. —The blooms of this Cactus 
Dahlia are of average size, but the florets are very 
long, narrow, and pointed, giving the flower a light 
and thin appearance. Award of Merit. Exhibited 
by Messrs. Keynes, Williams & Co., Salisbury. 
Dahlia Earl of Pembroke. —The blooms in this 
case are of large size of the true Cactus type. The 
sharply pointed florets are violet-purple, tinted with 
crimson on the upper face, and in that respect very 
distinct. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. 
Keynes, Williams & Co. 
Dahlia Harmony. — As the flowers of this 
Cactus variety expand they are yellow, lightly edged 
with orange, but the long narrow florets ultimately 
become suffused all over with a charming orange 
tint. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. Keynes, 
Williams & Co. 
Dahlia Mrs. Horniman. —This is a decorative 
variety, but at some stages of its growth seems to 
approach the Cactus type. The blooms are large, 
the florets mostly flat and pointed, and yellow edged 
with reddish-purple, but the central area soon 
becomes suffused with a soft tint of the same hue as 
the edge. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex. 
Dahlia John Welch.— The flowers of this Cactus 
variety are of great size, with long pointed florets of 
a bright scarlet. Award of Merit. Exhibited by 
Mr. G. Humphries, Chippenham. 
Dahlia Novelty. —In this we have a fancy 
variety of good average size, and pink or nearly 
white striped and mottled with soft purple. Award 
of Merit. Exhibited by Mr. Mortimer, Rowledge, 
Farnham. 
Dahlia Shotesham Hero. —This is an edged 
Dahlia belonging to the show section, with good 
sized blooms that are nearly white with a deep purple 
edge. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Mr. C. Turner, 
Slough. 
Dahlia Mrs. Turner. —The blooms of this 
decorative variety are of large size, and of a beauti¬ 
ful clear yellow, with broad and flat florets. On 
the whole it is bold and handsome. Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by Mr. C. Turner. 
Holly Lawsoniana. —The leathery leaves of this 
variety are oval or elliptic, flat, furnished with a few 
spiny serratures near the apex, and dark olive-green, 
variously splashed and blotched with yellow and 
bright green in the centre. First-class Certificate. 
Exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt. 
Acer purpurascens Nizelli.— This is a sub- 
variety of the Sycomore (A. Pseudo-Platanus) with 
the under surface of the leaves purple and the 
upper one variegated or splashed with buff yellow. 
Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son. 
Veronica cupressoides.— The stems of this 
species seldom exceed a foot in height, but are erect, 
excessively branched, with the slender twigs covered 
with leaves like small scales. First-class certificate. 
Exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son. 
Veronica salicornoides. —The stems in this case 
are decumbent at the base, then the branches 
assume an ascending and spreading habit. The 
whole plant is of a greenish yellow hue; but in 
other respects has a close resemblance to V. 
cupressoides. First-class certificate. Exhibited by 
Messrs. Paul & Son. 
Veronica lycopodioides, —This species is of 
very dense habit, with square branches and small 
subulate leaves arranged in four ranks. The leaves 
on sheltered branches are pinnatisect, or cut up into 
three or five very small pointed segments. First- 
class Certificate. Exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son. 
Eriocnema Sanderae. —The leaves of this plant 
are oval with a cordate base, and light olive green, 
with a metallic tint sometimes, and have five to 
seven silvery gray bands along the principal nerves, 
the middle band being by far the broadest. The 
flowers are purplish pink. Award of Merit. Ex¬ 
hibited by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans, 
Rose Maman Cochet. —This Tea Rose has 
creamy flowers, more or less tinted with pink, and 
often decidedly so. The petals are of good substance, 
the outer ones being reflexed or spreading as the 
bloom becomes fully expanded. Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son. 
Dahlia Mrs. Francis Fell. —The blooms of this 
beautiful Cactus variety are of good average size, 
with long, pointed florets and white. Award of 
Merit. Exhibited by Mr. T. S. Ware, Hale Farm 
Nursery. Tottenham. 
Dahlia Cissie. —The flowers in this case are 
single and circular, with broad, over-lapping rays of 
a soft rosy-purple, with a crimson zone round the 
golden disc. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Mr. 
T. S. Ware. 
Chrysanthemum Miss Dorothy Frankland.— 
The blooms of this Japanese variety measure about 
6 in. across, and are of a clear bright yellow. The 
florets are long and tubular, spreading, then incurved 
at the tips, which are spread open and variously 
cut, giving the bloom a distinct and handsome 
appearance. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Mr. 
W. Wells, Redhill, Surrey. 
Chrysanthemum Rose Wells. —In this we have 
a dwarf and branching early flowering variety about 
18 in. high. It would belong to the Pompon section, 
and bears light, rosy-purple flowers very freely. The 
plants were lifted from the open ground. Award of 
Merit. Exhibited by Mr. W. Wells. 
Zephyranthes carminata —- This bulbous plant 
is closely allied to the Amaryllis, and has tubular, 
rich rosy flowers, becoming paler, almost white, 
deep down in the tube. The anthers are orange. 
First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Earl Cowper 
(gardener, J. Fitt), Panthanger, Hertford. 
New Vegetables. 
Potato The Field King.— The tubers of this 
variety are round, flattened, white, moderate in size, 
and finely scurfy. First-class Certificate. Ex¬ 
hibited by C. W. Howard, Esq., Bridge. 
Potato Boston Bountiful.— This is a white, 
smooth-skinned kidney, usually about 4 in. in length, 
with very shallow eyes. First-class Certificate. 
Exhibited by Messrs. W. W. Johnson & Sons, Boston. 
Potato The Poor Man’s Friend. —The tubers 
in this case are oblong or sometimes roundish, and 
flattened with a more or less scurfy white skin. 
First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Mr. J. S. 
Eaton, 4, Highurst Street, New Radford, Notts. 
Potato Daniel’s Special —This might be de¬ 
scribed as a pebble-shaped, white variety of good 
average size, with a slightly scurfy or nearly smooth 
skin. First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Messrs. 
Daniel Brothers, Norwich. 
Potato Hillside Superb. —-The skin of this 
variety is very scurfy and white. The tuber is round 
and slightly flattened, with shallow eyes even at the 
top end. First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Mr. 
Stokes, Hilperton Marsh, Trowbridge. 
Veitch’s Climbing French Bean.— The stems 
of this variety climb much in the same way as the 
Scarlet Runner and bear very heavily. The narrow 
but thick and smooth pods are of a light green, and 
when boiled are of excellent flavour and almost 
without fibre. First-class certificate. Exhibited by 
Messrs. R. Veitch & Sons, Exeter. 
Plum Monarch. —The fruit of this variety is of 
great size, and deep purple with a glaucous bloom. 
The suture is very shallow. First-class Certificate. 
Exhibited by Messrs. H. Lane & Son, Berkham- 
stead. 
Cucumber Blendworth Perfection. —Four 
specimens of this were shown, each measuring 
about 17 in. long. They were cylindrical, with 
little waste at the neck, and of a rich dark green 
colour. First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Mrs. 
Long (gardener, Mr. John Busby), Blendworth 
Lodge, Horndean, Hants. 
THE SAGO PALM. 
We take the following interesting communication 
on the recent fruiting of a specimen of Cycas 
revoluta in the gardens at Abney Hall, Cheadle, 
from the pen of Mr. Leo. Grindon, who, writing to 
the Manchester City News, says :—“ I begin with a 
glance at its place in nature, which is remarkable, to 
say the least, the Cycas being one of a little family 
which a few tens of thousands of years ago had 
plenty of indigenous living representatives in 
England—say, rather, upon the bit of terrestrial 
surface which became England in course of time— 
though none of the race are now extant in any part 
even of Continental Europe. Fossilized remains of 
various members of this ancient family occur in 
plenty in the geological formations called the oolite 
and the lias, as at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, 
and at Portland, Dorsetshire. Vegetation served 
then for the food of animals just as it does to-day, 
so that when we contemplate these wonderful fossils, 
we may picture to ourselves, if we please, the 
Deinotherium and the Iguanodon quietly breakfast¬ 
ing upon the foliage. One population departs; 
another takes it place. No wonder that the living 
representatives of a family older far away than the 
Roses and Lilies present so weird and often grotesque 
an appearance; they belong in truth not so much to 
the present order of things as to the pre-Adamite 
ages. 
Botanists call them collectively the Cycadaceae. 
At present, to the number of about seventy-five 
species, they have their metropolis in South Africa 
and Australia. Illustrations are found also in the 
East and West Indies, throughout South America, in 
Madagascar, and the South Sea Islands. In point of 
relationship to other plants they are outsiders. 
Scattered memorials of a royal house in so many of 
its forms extinguished, like the equiseta of our 
woods, they have no near ties of relationship with 
any other class of plants; and such points of con¬ 
tact as we discover are with families of correspond¬ 
ing and even greater antiquity. They resemble 
Palms in their almost invariably simple stem, though 
they never attain the majestic stature common to 
Palms. The venation of the leaves is similar to 
that of many Ferns ; there is agreement with both 
the Palm and the Tree Ferns in their coronals of 
huge leaves; and lastly, the peculiarities of the 
reproductive organs are such as pertain to the 
Conifers, for which reason they are referred to the 
great primary class of plants called the Gymnos- 
perms. Though sometimes quaint, always perhaps 
a law to themselves, they seldom fail to carry a 
certain air of old-fashioned dignity, or, it may be, 
of native grace, especially when the prodigious and 
plume-like leaves curve outwards and unite into a 
kind of cupola. All count with the loDgevals—in 
their entire nature they are the beau ideal of the 
deliberate ; the rigid leaves themselves seem able to 
endure .for, say ten years. All the species, too, are 
dioecious: they make no pretension to ‘ flowers,’ 
popularly so called ; like the eminent among man¬ 
kind, they can afford to dispense with finery ; the 
inflorescence is still always remarkable, often very 
handsome, and in a few cases fragrant. Very many 
develope the reproductive parts cone-fashion, in 
which case the female plant is immensely the more 
tasteful and elaborate. Singular to say, the ovules 
grow to their full size without being fertilised by 
pollen from the staminate plant. 
“ In other species, Mr. MacKellar’s beautiful 
Cycas revoluta to wit, we have 1 carpophylls,’ green 
leaves that might have been, but now so short, only 
a few inches in length, as to give the idea of claws 
or fins the size of a man's hand, along the margins 
of which the ovules are put forth. The cluster of 
carpophylls is, in its earliest stage, nearly spherical, 
and gives the idea of a child’s head, covered with 
short flaxen hair. In Mr. MacKellar’s species (the 
revoluta) the ovules are the size of a plum, flattened 
at the sides, of an exquisite crimson-rose colour, 
and covered, like every part of the claw, with a 
delicate pale brownish yellow wool, as soft as the 
down of a Peach, and coming off with the least 
touch. The number of these pretty nuts is about 
half a dozen to every spray, so that the total produce 
amounts to several hundreds. A plant more truly 
ornamental, as well as uncommon in appearance, it 
is impossible to desire. Happily the revoluta is one 
of the most accommodating that can be desired. 
" No plant is more easily dealt with ; when once 
