April 25, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
361 
The Best Flowering Plants at Kew. 
“ There are more plants in. the garden than ye wot of.” 
Oncidium macranthum. 
This, designated as “ The large-flowered Oncidium,” is a 
superb species, one plant in flower being sufficient to- ornament 
I a house of considerable dimensions. A native of the Eastern 
I Cordillera of Ecuador, where it occurs on the mountains at an 
elevation of 10,000 ft., by reason of which a moderately cool 
atmosphere suffices for it. The flowers, which are freely pro¬ 
duced in a panicle, are 3 in. to 4 in. in diameter, the upper 
! sepal being fuscous yellow-brown; lateral orange, and with 
yellow petals and lip. 
Cypripedium rothschildianum. 
A truly handsome plant, producing two- or more large flowers 
having a large posterior yellowish sepal, profusely marked with 
black stripe®, yellowish-green lined and blotched black petals, 
and a cinnamon-coloured lip. 
Ansellia africana. 
A genus closely allied to Cymbidium, but differing widely in 
habit, requiring for its cultivation the highest available amount 
of heat. This species, frequently confounded with A. confusa, 
forms a handsome' plant. Its stems terminate in a many- 
flowered panicle. Flowers, yellowish-green, spotted purple- 
brown. 
Rudgea macrophylla. 
A magnificent stove shrub, delighting in an abundance of 
heat, finally attaining a height of about 5 ft. The branches 
bear large handsome shining leaves frequently 14 in. long, and 
terminated by globose clusters of flowers in a dense head. The 
flowers are white, turning to cream, thick, fleshy, and of a 
waxy appearance. Native of Rio de Janeiro. 
Crowaa angus ifolia. 
This genus is so closely allied to' Erio-stemon—differing 
chiefly by possessing much larger hairy appendage to its 
anthers, that, for horticultural purposes, it maybe considered as, 
and certainly cultivated as one. A desirable adjunct to our 
greenhouse flowering shrubs, of recent introduction, forming a 
slender glabrous plant 16 in. high and much branched. In 
their axils are produced, usually solitary starry, rose-coloured 
flowers, of five oblong petals, each \ in. long. Native of 
Australia. 
Scutellaria mociniana. 
A showy, soft-wooded plant, requiring intermediate-house 
treatment whilst growing, and useful for greenhouse stages 
when in flower. Struck from cuttings in spring, it forms a 
; sparsely-branched, erect plant about 18 in. high, producing 
terminal clusters of showy scarlet flowers lj in. long. Native 
i ( of Mexico. 
Celsia cretica. 
A herbaceous biennial which is very effective as a pot plant 
in, the greenhouse. It has, large, spreading yellow flowers. 
Native of Mediterranean region. 
Libertia paniculata. 
| An elegant, free-flowering iridaceous plant, with white 
flowers, desirable for the greenhouse. From a tufted root- 
stock linear leaves 2 ft. long, and a scape bearing numerous 
flowers in umbellate heads, alternately arranged in a panicle. 
Flowers f in. in diameter, of horizontal oblong segments, each 
flower possessing the characteristic bracteole of Iridaceae 
opposite their insertion. Native of Australia. 
Prunus pseudocerasus florc rosco pleno. 
As a specimen tree, when grown with a clean stem about 
5 ft. long and a spreading head, it is exceptionally attractive, 
producing abundantly in corymbs on short spurs large, Cherry¬ 
like double flowers tinged rose. China and Japan. 
C tisus praecox. 
A very showy Broom, producing long flexible branches, pro¬ 
fusely clothed with primrose-coloured flowers, forming one of 
the most effective of present flowering shrubs. It is a plant 
of garden origin, being derived from C. purga-ns x a-lbus. 
Anemone hortensis var. fulgens. 
For naturalising or grouping in beds or borders the dazzling 
scarlet flowers of this plant- have not a compeer at present. 
The Flora of Krakatoa. 
“ The Island of Krakatoa,” says “ Knowledge,” “ lost all its 
vegetation in the terrible volcanic eruption of August, 1883, 
which covered the island to a depth varying from 1 to 60 
metres with a bed of red-hot ashes and pumice-stone. Its 
appearance afterwards was that of a mountain isolated in the 
sea, rising with almost perpendicular sides to a height of 
2,500 ft. The island, which is twenty-one miles from Java 
and twenty from Sumatra, was visited by Dr. Treub in 1886. 
He found it uninhabited, and not easily accessible. On the 
narrow beach he found fruits or seeds of seven species of 
phanerogams, and young plants of nine species, all the latter, 
excepting one grass, being the usual littoral plants of tropical 
Tetratheca pilosa. (See page 357.) 
islands. In the interior the vegetation was quite different 
Ferns, both in the number of species and individuals, pre¬ 
dominating. Dr. Treub concluded that Ferns in such a flora 
precede and prepare the soil for a phanerogamic vegetation. 
Their minute spores would be brought long distances by the 
wind, but it was remarkable that these would germinate and 
develop into plants on the intensely arid soil of Krakatoa. A 
close examination of the ashes and pumice-stone, however, re¬ 
vealed the presence almost everywhere of Algae, coating the 
soil with a thin gelatinous layer in which the Fern-spores would 
find a suitable place for germination. Besides lower crypto¬ 
gams, Dr, Treub found, in 1886, fifteen phanerogams and 
eleven Ferns; but in 1897 the flora consisted of sixty-two 
species- (fifty phanerogams; and twelve vascular cryptogams) 
belonging to twenty-four orders. The Ferns still predominated 
in the interior, and several species of tall grasses formed a 
striking feature of the vegetation. Seeds or fruits of thirty 
species were found on the beach, and here and there seedling 
plants, showing that the seeds were capable of germination. 
Of the fifty phanerogams, it is estimated that seventeen were 
introduced by the agency of the wind, thirty-two by water, and 
four by birds.” 
