The Echeveria is in the class Decandria, and order Pentagynia of the Linnæan system, and in the order Crassulacea of the natural system. The species portrayed in our group is called retusa, because the lower leaves, when old, are hollowed out at the base.

DENDROBIUM.

How infinite is the variety of flowers with which the earth is decked and beautified! and yet how remarkably indifferent is the mass of mankind to the existence of such variety. They look upon the Primrose, it is a flower, and that is all with them. They look upon the Celandine, the various species of Potentilla, the different kinds of the Ranunculus, and they are all Buttercups. They see the Geraniums, the Cacti, the Fuchsias, and to them they are simply flowers, differing indeed in appearance; but, how rarely suggesting to those who look upon them any idea or train of thought. They never think where they came from, how they first came into existence, nor reflect upon the wonderful power and wisdom of the Being Who must have created such an endless variety of floral beauty. They never think of the omniscience displayed in the adaptation of the organization of each to the respective climates and localities which they were formed to adorn and benefit. Truly did the poet write when he pointed out, in the following lines, the instruction conveyed by flowers :

"There is religion in a flower;

Its small, still voice is as the voice of conscience;
Mountains and oceans, planets, suns, and systems,
Bear not the impress of Almighty Power

In characters more legible than those

Which He hath written on the tiniest flower,

Whose light bell bends beneath the dew-drop's weight."

Why was the Dendrobium made to climb and twist its long, round, and taper pendulous stems around the branches of living trees in the wild woods of East India? Why does it throw its long shoots, after the manner of the English Mistletoe, from its elevated position in pathless forests? Look at its beautiful oblong leaves notched at its extremity. Mark its twin flowers with the oval segments (sepals) of the flower cup, and the pale white petals formed like them, but of larger dimensions and tipped with a light purple-pink tinge, and the rich labellum, the front segment of the flower, dyed without and within with a deeper purple. All this beauty of form and harmonious blending of colour are bestowed upon a flower which spreads its beauty where seldom human eyes behold it. Yes, and not only are the flowers very beautiful, but those of some of the genus yield a powerful fragrance, thus proving the truth of Gray's lines,

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweets upon the desert air;"

and who can tell why such beauty and such fragrance combined are placed where only the feathered fowl and the wild beasts of the forest dwell?

The Dendrobium nobile, so named by Lindley, was brought from China in 1836. It is a pretty flowering perennial, and inhabiting the bark-stove. Its usual height is about two feet. It blooms in February, and

is of a greenish-yellow and purple. All the species of this genus may be cultivated without difficulty by being set in a light vegetable earth. They are planted by some cultivators, occasionally, in baskets among damp moss, but they do not thrive so well when thus treated as when planted in earth. They belong to the Linnæan class Gynandria, and order Monandria, and to the natural order Orchidea.

D

THE Arabian, or as some call it, the Indian Jasmine, from its being brought from the East Indies, is a weak, not very attractive, and an irregularly-growing shrub, yet it is said to be very ornamental to its native forests, where, rising among thickets, it rests its slender branches upon the boughs of trees of more sturdy growth, and thus elevates them to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, adorned with numerous flowers, and covered with an agreeable verdure. With