others have irregular formed blotches, very distinct from the ground colour. We procured a number of these beautiful varieties last spring, which bloomed with us, and formed a very interesting group.

All the Potentillas are easy of culture; they must be in an open airy situation, and will then thrive in a good light loam upon a dry subsoil. The weaker growing kinds must have a good proportion of well-rotted manure and leaf mould mixed with the loam, and by thus promoting their vigour there will be an increase of bloom. Some of the kinds, however, are of a vigorous robust habit, and, when grown in very rich soil, produce a vast proportion of large foliage, but do not bear a proper quantity of flowers. The soil must therefore be regulated according to the habit of the plant in order to have a profuse bloom. In dry summers they should have a liberal supply of water.

They are readily increased by division of the plant, which should be done early in autumn; they soon re-establish themselves, and flourish the following season; but, when the division is effected in spring, they do not succeed so well. Some of the kinds produce offsets freely, and if not rooted ones, pot them in a sandy loam in autumn, and place them in a worn-out cucumber or melon bed, having the frame, and they soon strike root.

The entire tribe are pretty, but the following are the handsomest we have seen in addition to those above noticed, and all deserve a place in any flower-garden, however select the collection may be. P. Garnerianum, primrose, with a large spot of rose at the bottom part of each petal, which unitedly form a circle round the disk (centre) of the flower; Thomasii, rich yellow, large; Hopwoodiana, pink and white; Russelliana, crimson-scarlet; MacNabbiana, crimson and white; Menziesii, rich crimson; Formosa, rose; Atrosanguinea, deep crimson; O'Brienii, orange; Rubra aurantia, red and orange.

NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

CEREUS LEEANUS-MR. LEE'S CEREUS.

(Synonym. Melastoma strigosa.)

A very pretty-flowering species of Cacta was received by Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith Nursery, from France as an unknown species, a native of Mexico. It is one of the stiff erect growing plants, is now a foot high, four inches in diameter at the bottom, and regularly tapering upward from a nearly circular base. It is deeply furrowed, and has sharp angles. At and near the summit, four or five large, handsome, brick-red, inclining to blood-coloured, flowers are produced; the tube being about three inches long, and the flower about the same across. It is a very pretty species, well worth growing. (Figured in Bot. Mag. 4417.)

CHETOGASTRA STRIGOSA-THE STRIGOSE (SHORT HAIRS).

Melastomacea. Decandria Monogynia.

A native of Guadeloupe, growing in beds of sphagnum moss on the top of the Sulphur Mountain. It is a dwarf greenhouse shrub, rising

NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS.

27

about nine inches high, leaves small, branching, and spreading. It is a very profuse bloomer, and the flower is an inch across, of a bright rosy-purple colour, each petal having a darker centre. It deserves a place in every greenhouse. (Figured in Pax. Mag. Bot.)

FUCHSIA CORYMBIFLORA ALBA.

A WHITE flowered Fuchsia, with the blossoms as large and of a similar habit to F. corymbiflora, is a novelty to announce, which all lovers of this elegant tribe will read with pleasure. So great has been the number of seedling Fuchsias raised in all parts of the kingdom and Continent, that we have been almost inundated with varieties possessing scarcely any distinguishing feature to their innumerable predecessors, There can be no doubt, however, about the kind we now mention being perfectly distinct and handsome too. Mr. Salter (late of Versailles) met with it in his travels on the Continent, and purchased the stock. We understand plants will be ready for sale in the autumn, and, in the mean time, doubtless it will be exhibited at some of the metropolitan meetings.

HETEROTRICHUM MACRODON-Long-toothed.

Melastomacea. Decandria Monogynia.

This remarkable and handsome plant was originally discovered in Caraccas, and seeds of it were sent from New Grenada, by Mr. Lobb, to Messrs. Veitch. It is a stove shrub, with velvetty leaves, and the flowers are produced in terminal corymbs, white with red at the base. Each flower is about an inch and a half across. Like many of the Melastomaceæ, it is apt to become naked; to prevent this, the shoots should often be stopped, and thus be kept bushy. (Figured in Bot. Mag. 4421.)

MIRBELIA MEISNERI-MEISNER'S MIRBELIA.

Leguminosa. Decandria Monogynia.

A native of the Swan River; seeds of it were sent by Mr. Drummond to Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co., of Exeter. It is a low bushy shrub, much branched, and blooms most profusely in leafy erect The pretty pea-formed flowers, each half an-inch across, are of a red-purple, with the lower half a deeper colour. It is a lovely greenhouse shrub, and ought to be in every collection. (Figured in Bot. Mag. 4419.)

racemes.

PASSIFLORA NEUMANNA-NEUMAN'S PASSION-FLOWER.

A hybrid variety, recently raised 'on the Continent, and named in honour of Mr. Neuman, of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It very much resembles the well-known, handsome old passion-flower P. cœrulea, but not so beautiful. It is supposed to be as hardy as that species. It is in the collection of Messrs. Knight and Perry, and is well worth growing as a companion to the P. cœrulea. (Figured in Pax. Mag. Bot.)

SCUTELLARIA MACRANTHA-LARGE-FLOWERED SKULL-cap.

Labiata. Didynamia Gymnospermia.

Native of Eastern Asia. It is in the Royal Gardens of Kew, and is a truly handsome, dwarf, hardy, annual plant. Grown in masses it would be highly ornamental. The flowers are borne in profusion in erect terminal spikes or racemes, large, of a rich purple. It blooms during all summer. It ought to have a place in every flower-garden. (Figured in Bot. Mag. 4420.)

SIPHOCAMPYLUS MANETTIA FLORUS-MANETTIA-LIKE FLOwered.

(Synonym S. nitidus.)

A dwarf, very neat, bushy plant, with pretty deep green foliage. It blooms profusely. The tube of a flower is about an inch and a half long, of a bright scarlet, with the divided end limb of a rich yellow. It is a beautiful plant, and ought to be in every warm greenhouse. (Figured in Pax. Mag. Bot.)

AT THE ROYAL GARDENS of Kew.
In the Stove.

ANSELIA AFRICANA.-In our last Number we noticed this very handsome plant, then beginning to bloom; now (January 16th) it has six hundred expanded flowers, and forms a most lovely object. Its pale green flowers, beautified with deep chocolate-maroon bars and blotches, render it highly interesting. The species ought to be in every collection of Orchideæ.

COCOCYPSILUM TONTAREA.-A trailing plant, placed upon a shelf near a doorway, and the shoots hanging a-yard down. It bears numerous berries, each about the size of a coffee-berry; they are in clusters of three together, and of the most intense violet-blue colour. It is an interesting plant, and would be very ornamental for the side of a window in a warm dwelling-room. The berries remain perfect for a very long period.

In the Greenhouse.

MINDIA SPECIOSA.-A very handsome erect shrubby plant, having scanty fir-like foliage, and smallish pea-formed flowers, of a beautiful rosy-violet colour, which are profusely produced in long spikes. Blooming at the winter season renders it a most desirable plant.

ACACIA SQUAMATA. The foliage is small, and the branches are drooping, bearing a vast profusion of deep golden-coloured flowers. It is a very interesting and handsome species.

-

ACACIA OVATA. The flowers of a rich yellow, and produced in vast profusion. One of the most lovely.

ACACIA RICEANA.-Small pinus-like leaves. The flowers are borne in cone-shaped heads, profusely, of a pale yellow colour. A very neat species.

ACACIA UNDULÆFOLIA. -Flowers a rich yellow, with singular foliage. A pretty plant.

BEAUFORTIA DECUSSATA.-A fine plant, was in beautiful bloom;

NOTES ON FLORISTS' FLOWERS.

29

its numerous bottle-brush-formed heads of flowers, of a bright red colour, had a very handsome appearance. It was grown in a sandy loam, not vigorously, and this appeared to have induced it to bloom so freely.

The Epacrises we noticed in our last were still in fine bloom, and the following additional ones :

EPACRIS VARIABILIS.-The flowers are bell-shaped, half an inch long, of a deep pink colour. A very pretty kind.

EPACRIS MAGNIFICA.-Long tube, pink with a white end.

EPACRIS TERNATUS.-tube three parts of an inch long, a pretty pink with a pure white end. Very handsome.

EPACRIS RUBRA-GRANDIFLORA.-Foliage small, neat. The flowers are bell-shaped, half an inch long; when in bud a bright red, but a pretty pink when expanded. The contrast is very interesting and handsome.

EPACRIS SPLENDENS.-Flowers bell-shaped, bright red in bud, and a pretty flesh colour when expanded.

EPACRIS DELICATISSIMA.-Flowers bright red, tube one inch long. Very showy.

EPACRIS PUNGENS.-Flowers white, tube short, and broad end, produced in spikes about half a yard long.

EPACRIS PURPURASCENS.-Tube short, with a broad star-shaped end. Nearly white outside, but the inside a purplish-red.

We have given the particular descriptions of this lovely winterblooming tribe of plants in our last and present Numbers, to enable our readers to make a selection of the most handsome, or of dissimilar coloured flowers.

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S MEETING, January 16.

SERICOGRAPHIA GHIESBREGHTIANA.-A plant was exhibited by Messrs. Hendersons, but it was a sickly specimen, the foliage being pale, when naturally it is of a deep green; the red tube-shaped flowers were not so bright in colour either, for when properly grown they are of the brightest scarlet. When this Justicia-like shrubby plant, now considered half-herbaceous, is properly managed, it is one of the handsomest winter-flowering plants we have, and blooms for a very long time. It requires to be grown in a warm greenhouse or stove. It flourishes admirably in the stove at the Chiswick Garden of the Horticultural Society.

NOTES ON FLORISTS' FLOWERS.

THE VERBENA.

THIS pretty little flower is not only one of the most valuable for the flower-garden, but a very interesting and increasingly popular one for exhibition. In making choice selections for these objects, the principal considerations are very different. For the first-named purpose, those which are brilliant and decided in their colours appear most hardy, and

so compact in their growth that, as the plant spreads over the ground, it forms a close and even surface of green. The object in view, however, with those who grow for show, is not so much the colour and habit as the form; indeed, as they are now exhibited in stands of cut blooms, habit has there no part in the question. There can be no doubt the correct and best way to exhibit the Verbena as a florist's flower is in stands of cut blooms, but kinds more adapted for garden ornament should be shown in pots, and trained over a wire trellis so as fully to develope their manner of growth. When exhibited in stands,

they should be in a single truss of each sort, neatly supported with two or three of their leaves, in the manner represented by the accompanying figure. We have been surprised to observe the display of taste made by some exhibitors in the production of stands containing confused bunches of each kind as large as an ordinary cauliflower, and this at some of the great exhibitions of

London !

Hitherto, the greatest fault in the Verbena as a show-flower is the unevenness and unequal

expansion of the trusses, and the narrow segments and deep notches in the flower. It will be seen, therefore, the improvements necessary to correct this, and bring the flower up to the florist's standard, are, wider segments, of nearly equal size, and rounded at the ends as much as possible; so that, by laying close together, they form a circle. The truss should have all the flowers arranged close and regular, but not crowded or overlapping each other; the whole forming a half-globe, the rounder and more even the better. Looking at the improvement which the last few years has brought forth, we may anticipate soon to have varieties closely approaching the circle, and entirely free from the notch.

The following are a few of the class with widened lobes, and the best we have yet seen for exhibition :-Lady Cathcart (Barker), blush ; St. Margaret (Barker), rich crimson with a violet shade in the centre; Minerva (Chauviere), pale rose; Junius (Barker), deep rose with dark crimson centre; Venus de Canova (Chauviere), pale lilac with purple centre; La Reine (Dufoy), light pink with carmine centre ; Heloise (Dufoy), heavy purple with dark eye; Orpha (Chauviere), lavender with dark eye and two or three others.

Of new flowers coming out in spring we have seen but few we thought worth noting; these we transcribe below. Doubtless there are others deserving mention; we have heard of many, one said to be a clear yellow, but we have not seen them, and therefore must leave our friends to place what confidence they please on the representations of others.

JUNIUS (Barker).--Rose with a ray of deep crimson around the eye; of good substance, and a very even trusser. In form after the way of St. Margaret, to which it will be not an unworthy companion.

PRINCESS ALICE (Wyness).-Blush-white with a distinct ray of bright rose around a white eye, giving the flower a very pretty