Plate 517. 

 APHELANDRA AURANTIACA, var. 



Among winter flowering stove plants (which are always 

 exceptionally welcome) the genus Ajihelandra furnishes some 

 striking examples of gay and remarkable flowers, combining 

 freedom of growth with brilliancy of colouring, and in a small 

 state making admirable plants for dinner-table decoration. 



To grow these plants successfully, they should be potted in a 

 mixture of good loam, peat, and sand, and placed in a tem- 

 perature of about 75° ; they should be abundantly supplied 

 with moisture until the season of flowering is over, and then 

 placed in a cooler and drier atmosphere ; during the whole period 

 of growth great care should be taken to keep them clear of those 

 pests of the stove, scale, and bug. 



One great difficulty is to keep them dwarf, and therefore we 

 think that the variety now figured (for the opportunity of 

 doing so we are indebted to the Messrs. Veitch and Son, of 

 the King's Eoad, Chelsea) will be a welcome addition. The 

 habit is very dwarf and compact, the plant flowering when it is 

 only six inches high ; the flower spike is also much broader and 

 finer, and it is much more free in growth than the older variety ; 

 in other respects it resembles the normal type. As exhibited 

 by Messrs. Veitch at the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Show 

 in December, they formed capital examples of plants for the 

 dinner-table, the dark green ovate leaves, and the brilliant 

 orange-tinted flowers, just forming that combination of colour 

 which is so desirable for that purpose, and for which we often 

 find most unsuitable plants employed. 



