82 THE FLORIST. 



this will be found one of the best, and most useful for that purpose ; it is an 

 abundant bloomer, has a much branching habit, and will easily form a compact 

 specimen a foot and half hio;h ; the leaves are glabrous, narrow, lanceolate, 

 and dark green above ; the flowers are of a lilac colour, borne in great pro- 

 fusion throughout the branchlets. It is an Acanthad, requiring the tem- 

 perature of a cool stove, or intermediate house. 



RuELLiA GLOMERATA. A rather interesting evergreen Acanthad, 

 introduced to Kew from the Mauritius. It has slender branches, which 

 grow rather straggling, very hairy leaves, and tubular or bell shaped violet- 

 blue coloured flowers. This plant, under the name of Goldfussia glomerata, 

 has been cultivated for many years, but never produced any flowers, while 

 the one introduced to Kew about a year ago flowers very freely, its flowers 

 contrasting well with those of Goldfussia Dicksoni, Eranthemura nervosum, 

 and Barleria flava, other Acanthads which are at present in flower here. 



J. HOULSTON. 



APHELANDRA AURANTIACA. 



Aphelandra AURANTIACA is a remarkably neat and ornamental 

 dwarf, late autumn and winter flowering hothouse shrub, of sparingly 

 branched habit, from 6 to 18 inches high, with large, dark green, 

 ovate, acuminate-pointed, laurel-like leaves, and terminal, closely 

 imbricated flower-sheaths, unfolding a comparatively large raceme of 

 exceedingly rich and brilliant orange or vermilion-scarlet blossoms; the 

 front expanding lobe of a triangular or trowel-shaped form. Under 

 imperfect management it often assumes the appearance of a low, leaf- 

 less plant, and not unfrequently presents a pecuhar character, with its 

 fine large leaves in a collapsed state, being often decurved and pressed 

 to, as it were, in a perpendicular position to the stem. 



As the first imported plants into England were placed under my 

 care for propagation in the Pine-apple-place establishment, London, 

 my attention was first attracted to its habit and consequent treatment, 

 on observing the peculiar position of the leaves in one or more 

 specimens which had been removed from a high to a lower tempera- 

 ture, and this apparent susceptibility to ordinary variations of heat and 

 cold induced me to try its capability of enduring temperature by direct 

 experiment, and also to observe its gradual exfoliation on the approach 

 of winter under ordinary modes of culture. In the course of my 

 practice with this species two facts connected with its physiological 

 structure were noticed — first, the difficulty of obtaining a vigorous and 

 healthy continuous expansion of the leaves upon a plant of two or more 

 years old at all equal to a young well-grown plant of the current year ; 

 second, the equal difficulty of inducing more than one of the tvy^in 

 opposite buds to develop its leaf-organs. (Though the facts now 

 mentioned are not uncommon to certain other plants, they are not 

 less important to a sound theory upon which their successful manage- 

 ment is based.) Though this species is found to luxuriate in a high 

 genial heat, it was ascertained that all transitions of temperature from 

 a propagating pit to a hothouse were invariably attended with a less 

 vigorous expansion of its leaf-organs, and, in many instances, assumed 

 the decurved and apiparently collapsed state previously described. 



