i88i.] DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 545 



NOTES ON" DECORATIVE G-REENHOUSE PLANTS. 



THE CHOROZEMA. 



The above genus of plants are natives of New Holland. The name is 

 from two Greek words (choros, a dance, and zema, a drink), and was 

 suggested to the discoverer by the fact that he found it growing near 

 some fresh water, after the party had been a considerable time without 

 any of that very necessary fluid, and the sight of which caused them 

 to dance for joy. The plant is a greenhouse evergreen, and is one of 

 the handsomest, as well as one of the most useful, of our greenhouse 

 plants. It is useful either for cutting, for decorative work, or for ex- 

 hibition ; in fact it is among the very best of exhibition plants. They 

 bear pruning well, so that should they at any time exceed the space 

 allotted to them, one need not be afraid to use the knife freely upon 

 them. 



The soil best adapted to their wants consists of good fibry peat three 

 parts, turfy loam one part, a little charcoal, and a good sprinkling of 

 sharp sand added thereto. They root readily from cuttings of the 

 half-ripened side-shoots about midsummer, and treated in the usual 

 way ; but plants raised from seed are by far the best, and make the 

 finest specimens. The seed should be sown in March, and the pot or 

 pan plunged in a hotbed, and covered with a piece of glass, until the 

 seed begins to vegetate, when the glass may be removed. When the 

 young seedlings have made two pairs of leaves, they should be pricked 

 out singly into small pots, and replunged in the hotbed for a time, until 

 they begin to grow afresh. When the pots are filled with roots, they 

 must be shifted into larger ones, and so on, as they require it. They 

 should be pinched a few times when they are small, so as to induce them 

 to break into numerous shoots and form bushy plants. Their time of 

 flowering is from March to June. They can be set out of doors when 

 the weather becomes warm enough, choosing a sheltered place, and ex- 

 posed to the sun : the pots might be plunged among coal-ashes, which 

 will tend to prevent them from getting over-dry at any time. A winter 

 temperature of from 45° to 50° will suit them. 



tetrathica verticillata. 



The Tetrathica in habit of growth very much resembles the Cape 

 Heath, and the treatment generally given to the Heath will be found 

 to suit it pretty well. It is a native of New Holland, and was intro- 

 duced to this country about the year 1845. It is one of the choicest 

 of our greenhouse plants, and most useful either for house or con- 

 servatory defloration. As it naturally flowers during the months of 

 June and July, it is one of the best of plants for exhibition at that 

 time. It is not nearly so much grown as it deserves to be, for it is 

 worthy of a place in the most select collection of plants. 



The soil best adapted to it consists of good fibry peat with a little 



