The Nuotiana colossea must be placed in the first rank of the foliage plants exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1889. The history of this plant is curious enough. Several years ago I sold some fine plants of Brazilian orchids to a lady of St. Germain les Corbeil. Her gardener, Mr. Maron, a skillful cultivator, took the trouble to plant in his greenhouse the trimmings and dust of the orchids. A goodly number of plants sprang up, and among them was the Nico-tiana colossea. This is not the only case in which a new plant has been introduced in the soil adhering to other plants. Pleris tricolor and Begonia Rex were discovered in the same way. Mr. Maron at once divined the proper mode of culture for the stout young seedlings, and transplanted them to the open air. Mr. Andre introduced the plant to the horticultural world in the Revue Horticole, Nov. 16, 1888, as follows: "The plant is annual when grown in the open air, perennial in the greenhouse. The stem is simple, very stout, cylindrical, herbaceous and fleshy, green in color, and attains a height of 6 to 10 feet in a single year. The leaves are of enormous size, 40 inches in length by 22 in breadth. When young they are purplish red and erect; afterwards they become spreading, and in color a dark glossy green.

The leaf stalk is very stout, flattened, red above ; the blade is entire, oval, pointed ; narrowing at the base and forming two wings (or stipules) with wavy margins which run down the stem as far as the next leaf. The veins of the young leaves are dark red and very prominent on the under surface, which is ash-colored and pubescent, young shoots start from the axils of the leaves. A red spot marks the stem just below each leaf stalk." Unlike the cultivated species of tobacco, the N. colossea does not bloom in the open air. It did not seed until last year, 1889. - L. LEBOEUF, France.