25G 



SELECT GEEENIiOUSE PLANTS. 



lESCHENAULTiA SPLENDlNa. , part?, sandy loam one part, and cliarred 



The Leschenaiiltias take their family | ^"I'f o^e part. They mutt be stopped 

 name from an eminent French botanist, ^^''b'l '»"tl ugain and again stopped, as the 

 They are evergreen shrub.s from Australia, [ ^i^^e branches push, till the plants are 

 and belong to I he naturalorder Goodeniads, i dense, bushy, and symmetrical. Tubiilora 

 and to the Linnajan, Pentandria Mono- ! ^'""'"^ i" May, and produces a profusion of 

 gynia. They are greenhouse evergreens of searlet epacris-like blossoms at every joint, 

 very distinct and delicate growth, and the ' liolding on in good condition till July, 

 best of tliem are biloba, arcuata, formosa, Whether in bloom or out of bloom, it is 

 oblata, andsplendens. Of these, splendens' i """^ °^ ^'^e most beautiful of greenhouse 

 is the most showy, and the best habited • j ^^lirubs, and as easily managed as the com- 

 biloba is the next best, but more rambling ! iiaonest erica, 

 in its growth When making new growth i lAGrKbTB.EMiA INDICA. 



the pomts of the young shoots strike readily ' 



in sand under a'bell-glass in a moist bot- , -^ greenhouse evergreen shiub from 

 tom-heat. When struck, they should be ; China, named after M. Lagerstrscni, a 

 potted in turfy peat, kept open with fine | German. It belongs to the natural order 

 sittings of pol sherds and silver-sand, but i Lythraccfe, or Loosestrifes. Propagated 

 with no admixture of loam or manure, i ^7 inserting cuttings of small firm side 

 Use the smallest pots at first, and shift i slioots in sand under a bell-glass in spring, 

 only as the roots require it, being at all I "^^'*li ^ ^i''sk bottom-heat. Soil, equal 

 times careful not to over-pot them. In ' P^''** of turfy peat and turfy loam, and 

 winter they require an average tempera- i I'eq^ii'es plenty of water at the root and 

 ture of 15% with plenty of air, and when overhead, except when in flower, when the 

 of good size will bear a temperature as i ^oo^s alone should be liberally watered, 

 low as 35" or 33' without injury. In ! I* ^^^^ hitherto been usually grown in the 

 summer theyrcqnire to be partially shaded, ; stove, but its proper place is a cold grceu- 

 aad to have very free ventilation. The ; J^ouse, where, under proper treatment, it 

 most important point in growing them is ^ Produces abundance of its white or rose 

 to stop frequently. If lel't to themselves, ' I'lossoms in August and September. There 

 they ramble into very weedy shapes, there- ^^^ ^"'o varieties, Indica alba and Indica 

 fore pinch out the points of the shoots of ' ^'^^^^^j '''"^ ^o^^' "''^ desirable. Success in 

 the young plants, and, after blooming, rut \ ma"f>gcment turns very much on the 

 old plants back regularly, so as to induce a '. treatment after flowering, when it requires 



bushy growth for the next blooms. The 

 stopping of young plants should be con- 

 tinued until they are quite bushy and sym- 

 metrical, and they should then be allowed 

 to push into bloom. Splendens produces 

 an abundance of its pretty scarlet blooms 

 under the above course of treatment ; but 

 biloba, which has blue flowers, should be 

 stopped before it is two inches high, and 

 every shoot stopped again at the same 

 length, as it is more inclined to ramble 

 than the otliei-. 



STTPHELIA TTTBIFLOEA. 



A useful member of the popular family 

 of Epaeris, which takes its name froni 



to be pruned, and allowed a season to 

 rest, and to be kept then rather dry. It 

 may be wintered in ordinary greenhouse 

 temjiierature, and started in spring with a 

 brisk heat to ensure plenty of bloom in 

 the autumn. Managed as above, it flowers 

 in great perfection at Kew. 



GLOXINIA TUBIFLOEA. 



This is an old friend, long since all but 

 discarded as out of fashion, but which it 

 would be a pity to lose entirely. We had 

 not seen it for many years, but two tubers 

 came at last in a parcel of plants to be 

 named. We knew it at once by its potato- 

 shape, deep set eyes, and gcnersil contour. 



siyphelos, referring to the hardness of its 'One (uber was given to a friend, and the 

 wood. It is a greenhouse evergi-een from ' other was thrown on to the sand tray of a 

 Australia, and there are four good species Waltonian ease, along with dahlia tubers, 



in gardens, namely, epacrioides, tri 

 latifolia, and tubiflora. The first and the 

 last are the two best. Tliey are propagated 

 by inserting young shoots, taken off with 

 a heel, in sand, in March and April ; to be 

 potted into small pots in sandy peat four 



where with them it started well, and had 

 plenty of roots formed before it was potted. 

 Whoever can flower a gcsneria or gloxinia 

 will find tubiflora a willing and remunera- 

 tive subject, and if we ask why it should 

 be elbowed aside for novelties, we can see 



