VIBURNUM. 
The common viburnum, or wayfaring tree, or 
pliant meally tree, Viburnum laniand, inhabits 
the hedges and thickets of Britain and of most 
other parts of Northern Europe. It commonly 
has a height of about 10 or 12 feet, and some- 
times attains a height of 20 feet or upwards; 
but, in culture, may be kept down to any height 
desired. In places where it abounds, it is little 
esteemed for ornament; but in places where it 
is rare, it attracts and delights almost as much 
as the most admired exotic of the shrubbery. 
The branches are rather few; and, in winter, are 
covered with a smooth greyish bark, inclining to 
brown; and are long and exceedingly tough, 
sometimes shooting six feet from the bottom in 
the course of a single year, and generally making 
prime bands for fagotting. The young branches, 
as they shoot, are white and downy; and their 
ends, especially in winter, feel soft and woolly. 
The leaves are opposite, heart-shaped, serrated, 
of great size, full of large veins, dark green above, 
and white and cottony below. The flower-buds 
begin to form in the preceding summer, and 
increase throughout the autumn and winter, and 
eventually have the appearance of rough but- 
tons; and about May they begin to divide, and 
are developed into floral umbels or bunches. 
The flowers are wholly out in June, and make a 
pretty good show; and the fruit, which succeed 
them, are highly ornamental berries, and have 
at first a fine red colour, and afterwards a deep 
black. Two well-marked varieties of this species 
are in cultivation, —the large-leaved and the 
variegated-leaved ; and both are more esteemed 
in shrubberies than the normal plant. 
The saw-leaved or tooth-leaved viburnum, JV. 
dentatum, is a native of Virginia, and was intro- 
duced to Britain in 1736. Its branches, leaves, 
and flowers are not so large as those of the com- 
mon viburnum; but they have a more elegant 
appearance. It has commonly a height of about 
5 feet, but sometimes grows so high as 10. The 
| bark is smooth, and of a light colour. The leaves 
are opposite, and stand elegantly on longish foot- 
stalks, and are roundish, strongly veined, and 
beautifully serrated, and have a fine light green 
| colour, and are tolerably large, though by no 
means so much so as those of some of the other 
species. ‘The flowers come out in very large 
round bunches at the end of the branches, and 
bloom in June and July, and are rarely succeeded 
by fruit in Britain. 
The naked or entire-leaved viburnum, V. nu- 
dum, is a native of North America, and was 
introduced to Britain in 1752. It has much the 
appearance of a laurustinus, but is deciduous, 
and almost twice as tall. The bark of the younger 
| branches is smooth and of a deep red colour; 
and that of the older branches, though also 
smooth, has a dark brown colour. The leaves 
are opposite, entire, ovate - lanceolate, pretty 
large, much veined, of a beautiful shining green 
colour above, and paler below. The flowers come 
VICTORIA REGINA. 989 
out in large umbels at the ends of the branches, 
and bloom from May till July, and have a hand- 
some appearance, and resemble those of the com- 
mon laurustinus, but are rather smaller; and 
they are succeeded by berries, which seldom or 
never ripen in Britain. 
The plum-leaved viburnum or black haw, V. 
prunifolium, is a native of North America, and 
was introduced to Britain in 1731. It is hardy 
and deciduous, and commonly about 8 or 10 feet 
in height. The bark is smooth and reddish. 
The leaves are chiefly opposite, and stand on 
shortish footstalks, and are oval, and finely ser- 
rated, and not so large as those of most of the 
other species, and have a pleasant light green 
colour. The flowers come out in large umbels at 
the ends of the branches, and bloom in May and 
June. And the berries have somewhat the ap- 
pearance of haws, though of a black colour, and 
occasion the plant to be commonly called the 
black haw; but they seldom come out in Britain. 
VICIA. See Vurcu. 
VICTORIA REGINA. A magnificently flower- 
ing plant, one of the wonders of the vegetable 
world, belonging to the water-lily family. It was 
long ago described and figured by the German bo- 
tanist M. Poppig, under the name of Luryale ama- 
zonica; but it is very rare, very tender, and very 
refractory to. artificial treatment, and seems to 
have become generally forgotten among botanists; 
and, in 1837, it was rediscovered by M. Schom- 
berg, and, by permission of the British Queen, 
was called Victoria regina. “On the Ist of Ja-— 
nuary 1837,” says M. Schomberg, “ while con- 
tending with the difficulties nature opposed to 
our progress up the river Berbice (in British 
Guiana), we arrived at a point where the river. 
expanded and formed a currentless basin. Some 
object on the southern extremity of this basin 
attracted my attention; it was impossible to 
form any idea what it could be, and, animating 
the crew to increase the rate of paddling, shortly 
afterwards we were opposite the object which 
had raised my curiosity,—a vegetable wonder. 
All calamities were forgotten; I felt as a bota- 
nist, and felt myself rewarded. A gigantic leaf, 
from 5 to 6 feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with 
a broad rim ofa light green above, and a vivid 
crimson below, rested upon the water. Quite 
in character with the wonderful leaf was the 
luxuriant flower, consisting of many hundred 
petals passing in alternate tints from pure white 
to rose and pink. The smooth water was cover- 
ed with them; and I rowed from one to another, 
and observed always something new to admire. 
The leaf on its surface is of a bright green, in 
form almost orbiculate, with this exception oppo- 
site its axis, where it is slightly bent in. Its dia- 
meter measured from 5 to 6 feet. Around the 
margin extended a rim about 3 to 5 inches high ; 
on the inside light green, like the surface of the 
leaf; on the outside, like the leaf’s lower part, 
ofa bright crimson. The stem of the flower is 
