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NOVELTIES AT THE LONDON EXHIBITIONS. 
honoured by the presence of her Majesty and the Prince Albert. The exhibition was very similar in 
all respects to that at Chiswick ten days previous, but time had somewhat altered the Azaleas for the 
worse, and the Roses and Pelargoniums decidedly for the better. 
Many of the same new plants were present at both places, namely—Messrs. Veitch’s Hexacen- 
tris mysorensis, Collinsia multicolor , Streptocarpus biflorus, which latter proves a very ornamental 
species and Fitz-Roya patagonica ; M. Van Houtte’s variegated Aplielandra , and hybrid Nymphcea ; 
accompanied however, on this occasion, by a brilliant orange half shrubby composite with zmm’a-like 
flower-heads named “ Conoclinium ” aurantiacum; Messrs. Standish and Noble’s Azaleas vittata and 
amcena: Messrs. Rollisson’s Caraguata lingulata and Cissus marmorea, the latter, however, in 
beautiful state, proving this to be a most charming variegated plant for an orchid house, climbing 
vigorously, and having the oblique elongate-ovate foliage richly marbled with purple, dark velvety 
green, and gray. The following were additional:— llemiandra ptmgens, a showy labiate with awl- 
shaped pungent leaves, and large delicate lilac flowers spotted with rose, and Gastrolobium gracile, a 
slender plant with yellow pea flowers in heads, from Mr. Colyer’s garden at Dartford. A graceful New 
Holland species of Pultensea, with coppery red blossoms and fine taper leaves, under the erroneous name 
of Gompholobium Rrownii, from Messrs. Jackson of Kingston. Sarauja caidijlora, a tall shrub with 
a crest of large elliptic-lanceolate leaves, and small white lily-of-the-valley-like flowers on the older 
parts of the stem, from Messrs. Rollisson. JEToya Paxtoni, a neat growing species, like H. bella , but 
the flowers having a rather paler central star, and the leaves broader at the base and more elongate; 
and H. suaveolens, a slender rooting-stemmed kind, with oval acute leaves, and umbels of minute 
whitish papillose flowers ; together with Tropceolum Hockerianum, a species with entire peltate leaves, 
and moderate sized yellow flowers with dark blotches, from Messrs. Henderson of St. John’s Wood. 
Gastrolobium calycinum and G . trilobum, two very showy yellow-flowered papilionaceous shrubs, from 
Messrs. Henderson of the Edgeware Road. Trollius cldnensis, one Mr. Fortune’s introductions, a hardy 
perennial with deep orange globe-cupped flowers remarkable for the length of the nectaries ; and four 
fine varieties of Moutan , one having bright rose-red flowers, from Messrs. Standish and Noble. Calo- 
dracon nobilis , a very ornamental foliaged plant, with broader leaves and a denser more compact habit 
than the species commonly known as Draccena terminalis, was sent by Messrs. Rollisson. A good 
plant of the Hoy a Paxtoni was also sent by Mr. Over, gardener to — McMullen, Esq., of Clapham. 
The only new Orchids of any importance were the Javanese Phalcenopsis Lobbii, a species intermediate 
between amabilis and rosea, the flowers being whitish with a rose-coloured lip ; and a species of 
Dendrobium having something the habit of macrostachyum, and flowers greatly resembling nobile. 
These were both sent by Messrs. Veitch of Exeter. 
These exhibitions, though they now leave little or nothing to be desired at the hands of the 
cultivator, do most urgently call for some improvement on the part of the managers, as to the manner 
in which the objects are displayed. Plants with striking and elegant foliage, such as Palms, large- 
growing Ferns, the variegated Draccenas and Calodracons, 8fc ., or with ample massive foliage, such as 
some of the hothouse species of Ficus and others ; or of such exotic aspect as Cannas, Musas , &c., 
ought to be largely introduced, and some plan devised by which the present mode of staging collections 
might be altogether abandoned, and grouping for effect only, adopted instead. We throw out the 
following as a hint to those concerned. The element of competition cannot probably be dispensed 
with, and it would therefore be necessary to adopt some plan under which the prizes might be duly 
allotted. Now to effect this, why should not the plants (which should bear the exhibitor’s private 
mark) be set temporarily in competition groups where convenient, and their merits adjudicated 
early in the day—say by eight o’clock, or so that this might be completed by nine. This would leave 
ample time for the arrangement of the plants, which, under the direction of persons of taste, should be 
afterwards disposed on the stages with a view to produce the highest effect of which the materials 
at hand are capable ? It appears to us that very little forethought would, with very little difficulty, 
reduce some such scheme as this into good working order; and no one surely can doubt the effect on 
the beauty of the exhibition if it were properly—that is, tastefully—carried out.—M. 
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