THE 



FLO! 



GABBEI^ GUIDE, 



CULTUEE OF GAEDENIA. 



July, 1863. 



HE Gardenias are known best under the 

 general designation of Cape Jasmines, and 

 are valued for their elegant, sweet-scented 

 flowers, and their free, shrubby, substantial 

 habit of growth. They are eminently adapted 

 for conservatory and greenhouse decoration, and are 

 held in the highest esteem among growers for market, 

 who, in spring, can always make sure of good prices for 

 any quantity of Gardenias in bloom. G. radicans is 

 largely grown for market, and is sold at a cheap rate, 

 owdng to the case with which it may be multiplied and 

 got into bloom in a small state. G. citriodora is largely grown 

 to supply "orange blossoms" for weddings in early spring, 

 and in beauty and fragrance its blossoms surpass those of the 

 orange. Notwithstanding that the Gardenia has so many good points to 

 recommend it to the attention of amateur gardeners, it is not so often met 

 with in mixed collections as it should be, through the prevalence of an 

 opinion among gardeners that without the aid of good stoves it is impos- 

 sible to grow any of the species. It has been our privilege on many 

 occasions to show how some of the most liighly-prized stove-plants may 

 be successfully managed in an ordinary greenhouse, and we shall now be 

 able to place some of the best species of Gardenia within the reach of such 

 of our readers as have nothing better than a greenhouse and a few frames 

 for all their practice in the culture of tender plants. 



EoTANT AND UsES. — In the Natural system, the order Siibiacece is 

 appropriated to the plants of the madder family, including the Cinchonas, 

 Gardenias, Coffeas, Woodroofs, and other allied plants, the majority of 

 which produce an astringent bitter principle variously used in medicine. 

 The order is one of the most important in an economical point of view, as 

 from its members we severally obtain Peruvian bark, coffee, ipecacuanha, 

 yellow and scarlet dyes, and " simples," which have some repute with the 

 herbalists. The order is nearly allied to Gompositw and CajyrifoUace^, 

 VOL. VI. — >ro. vir. a 



