1873.] HARD-WOODED GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 171 



NOTES OK" HARD-WOODED GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



Acrophyllum venosum. — A very pretty greenhouse plant, not nearly 

 so generally cultivated as it deserves to be. It is a compact-growing 

 plant, that may easily, by means of pinching alone, be formed into a 

 handsome specimen. It flowers freely in a large or small state, but is 

 most effective when grown to full specimen size, say about 3 feet by 

 3 feet. When grown in peat, or in a compost in which peat forms the 

 largest portion, its foliage, which is one of its finest features, is rarely 

 so good as when loam is the principal component in the soil. In light, 

 turfy, rich loam, the plant grows very vigorous and compact, and both 

 the foliage and flowers are finer tinted and better developed than in 

 peat, in which it is very often grown. The drainage should be good ; 

 the plant requires ample supplies of water in the growing season, but 

 cannot endure stagnation. It flowers in early summer, and, when 

 a shift is necessary, it should be given soon after flowering is over, so 

 as to enable it to make vigorous growth and preparation for next 

 season's flowering. A good exposure to light in autumn is of essential 

 importance to the thorough ripening of the wood, on which the quality 

 and profusion of the flowers depend ; but during the growing season 

 it is better to be shaded lightly from bright sunshine. The leaves are 

 in whorls of three, oblong, roughly serrated, leathery, light green, with 

 a bronze tint on the upper surface, and somewhat glaucous below. 

 The flowers are creamy-white, tinged with rose, in whorled spikes. It 

 •is easily propagated by cuttings of partially-ripened wood, in very 

 sandy soil, in a cool propagating house. They should not be hurried 

 in rooting by being put into heat ; even if they succeed in forming 

 roots, they never make a healthy start, and too often die. The plant 

 was formerly included in the genUs Weinmannia, but was separated 

 from it by Eentham, and left little or nothing behind of horticul- 

 tural interest under its former name. 



Adenandra. — In this family there are several very handsome green- 

 house shrubs. The two which the writer considers best are A. um- 

 bellata and A. uniflora. The former is the largest-growing species, 

 and the freest-flowering, but the flowers of the latter are individually 

 larger and more showy. They are early spring-flowering plants, com- 

 ing into bloom about the middle or end of Marcli, and lasting about 

 six weeks. The flowers are white suffused with pink, and are borne 

 at the extremities of the branches, in umbels in the case of the first- 

 named species, and singly in the case of the second. They are easy 

 plants to cultivate. Being natives of the Cape of Good Hope, they 

 like a cool greenhouse temperature, similar to that of a heath-house 

 during winter ; but in spring and summer they like a warmer atmo- 



