128 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
grows four yards long, and produces twenty or more flowers near the apex, 
the sepals lanceolate, equal, white, tinged towards the apex with rosy lilac; 
label]um three-lobed, the two side lobes yellow edged with purple, the 
middle lobe yellow tinged with purple, having a darker stain of the same 
colour in the centre. This is a very strong growing species, requiring to be 
hung up either on a log or in a basket, in a mixture of turfy peat, sphagnum, 
and a little rotten wood, and an abundant supply of water during its growing 
season, with a temperature of about 60° to 64°. — Native of Guatemala. 
J. Henshall. 
( To be continued .) 
ON THE PREVALENCE OF GANGRENE. 
Never in any season previous to the present have we witnessed 
and heard of the so frequent and deplorable recurrence of 
sudden deaths among plants of all classes, from the hardy ever¬ 
green to the tender and delicate exotic. The majority of the 
cases which have come under our own observation may be cer¬ 
tainly referred to that infectious, sudden, and almost irre¬ 
mediable disease commonly known as gangrene; and, as it 
appears probable that the evil will be widely and rapidly 
extended, through the influence of the present hot, dry wea¬ 
ther, we think some explanation of the causes may not be ill- 
timed, and probably be the means of arresting its further 
progress;—at least in cases where plants are dying, without 
the cultivator being able to assign any reason, it may assist him 
to conjecture the cause, a knowledge of which is the first 
step towards a remedy. Gangrene in the vegetable is analogous 
to an epidemic in the animal kingdom : it originates in the same 
cause, acts in a similar manner, and is followed by the same 
results. There are two kinds of gangrene, the dry and the 
moist; the first is by far the worst, seldom becoming evident 
until the death of the plant proclaims it. The symptoms are — 
a sudden cessation of the vital powers of the plant; the leaves 
and young shoots assume a black or dark-brown appearance, 
which extends itself to the inner bark, and is terminated only 
by the death of the entire plant, and that so suddenly, that we 
could instance some plants which in the morning were in the 
most robust health, and before noon were shrivelled bundles of 
twigs without a leaf on them. This variety of the disease js 
that which ericaceous plants are peculiarly subject to. It is 
chiefly occasioned by excessive degrees or changes of the tern- 
