January 31, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
89 
Round the Nurseries. 
Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, Ltd. 
The present is not the best season for looking round the 
nurseries, but those plants which bloom at this period of the 
year are doubly welcome, and therefore it behoves us, in the 
interests of gardening, to look up those things which bloom in 
mid-winter and prove of tlie greatest value to the cultivator. 
On the 17th inst., during a very foggy day, we had a look 
round the nurseries of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Limited, the 
Royal Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea. We shall first deal with 
flowering plants in general, and then speak of the Orchids 
which we saw. One of the most interesting and effective as 
well as one of the newest plants in bloom at the present season 
is Moschosma riparium, a member of the Mint family, and 
belonging to the same group as the common Basil rf the 
kitchen garden. Something like six species are known, to 
science but as we gave a history of them in The Gardening 
World for February 8th, 1902, page 365, we need not here 
discuss any of them except the subject under notice. This 
has again proved itself to be not only an interesting and 
graceful growing plant, but also- of great importance for decora¬ 
tive purposes during, at least, the present period of the year. 
The leaves are sweetly scented when slightly rubbed, and the 
botanists have compared this to Musk; hence the name, Mos¬ 
chosma. Tire, small nearly white flowers are produced in 
panicles terminating all the principal and smaller branches of 
the plant. It may be propagated by cuttings at any time 
from February to August, in the same way as the Coleus. 
The cuttings should be put in light sandy soil, and placed in 
a case or handlight till rooted. The soil or compost may con- y 
sist of fibrous loam, leaf mould and sand. The plant Is, in f 
fact, in no way particular in the matter of soil, provided always 
the drainage is good. The species, is a South African plant, 
and our illustration of the top of a young specimen propagated 
late in the season shows the general habit and character of 
the plant. 
Very interesting isi another new plant named Biyophyllum 
crenatum, with glaucous foliage and red and yellow flowers. 
It is a succulent plant, and may be treated much in the same 
way as Kalanchoe. Very showy was the better-known Aphel- 
andra aurantiaca Roezeli, with bright orange-scarlet flowers. 
The blue flowers of Coleus thrysoideus, produced in large quanti¬ 
ties at this season of the year, have a bright and cheerful 
effect in the intermediate house, or warm conservatory during 
the winter months. The flowers are produced in succession, 
from the cymes or clusters arising at the- end of the short 
branches of the panicle. 
One most interesting feature was the Javan Rhododendrons, 
the hybrids having been produced or evolved at Chelsea,. We 
have visited the establishment at various periods of the year, 
and have never found them out of bloom. The varieties are 
now, however, numerous, presenting all shades of colour, the 
flowers having attained, in many cases, large size for this type. 
Their refined and beautiful colours and large trusses have a 
wonderfully brightening effect at this period of the year. They 
may be kept in any warm conservatory. 
In passing through the Orchid houses, we noted a, large 
number of Cypripediums in bloom, consisting chiefly of hybrids. 
Among the varieties, however, there are numerous forms of the 
old C. insigne, one of which was very richly blotched on the 
dorsal sepal with brown, and below the apex with violet. Two 
of the finest are C. leeanum superbum, in considerable variety, 
and C. Niobe, one of the fairieanum hybrids. A handsome 
hybrid also is C. Prospero majus, having a white dorsal sepal, 
and yellow base spotted purple. 
Much newer is C. Katherine', which has been derived from 
C. callosum Sanderae and C. superbiens, the resulting progeny 
being particularly intermediate, and requiring no, description 
beyond stating that the effect of the first-named parent has 
been generally lost, and the colour imparted by C. superbiens, 
Near by it was thei beautiful C. Dryope, whose parentage was 
C. liarrisianum superbum x Charlesworthii. The dorsal sepal 
is a rich purple, with white edge, while the petals and lip are 
both a dark purple-brown. A useful and showy form also was 
C. Leonidas, having the dorsal sepal white, with a greenish- 
yellow and spotted base; the rest of the flower is light brown 
and shining with a waxy lustre. We noted considerable variar 
tion amongst the seedlings of this hybrid. Better known is C. 
lathamianum, fairly well known in collections, and veiy in¬ 
teresting, owing to the number of colours that appear amongst 
seedlings. 
C. winnianum is very different (parentage C. villosum x 
Druiyi), and distinctly shows the effect of the latter in the black 
band along the mid-rib of the dorsal sepal and also' of the 
petals. The colour consists of various shades of brown over- 
lying yellow, and the surface is lustrous. 
A considerable interest still attaches to the old C. Schlimii, 
Zygocolax Veitchi. 
which has been one of the parents of a large number of hybrids, 
having much stronger constitutions than itself, and therefore 
more easily cultivated. The flowers are white, with a rose lip. 
The Orphan Slipper-wort, C. orphanum, has light purple-brown 
and white flowers. A veiy handsome hybrid is that named C. 
Chantino-villosum. The dorsal sepal is spotted with large 
brown-purple markings. An interesting species is C. purpura- 
tum, the reflexed dorsal sepal of which is white, the petals and 
lip being dark purple. 
One of the most interesting of the small bigeneric hybrids is 
Zygocolax Veitchii. The whole plant is of dwarf, compact 
habit, and proves of easy culture in cool Orchid houses. The 
parentage was Z. ernutum x Colax jugosus. The sepals and 
petals are pale yellow, richly ornamented and blotched with 
deep chocolate-brown or black. The lip is white, closely lined 
with violet, and margined with purple. The crest and column 
are coloured in the same way. In view of its dwarf habit, we 
