1873.] NEGLECTED DECORATIVE PLANTS. 465 



K"EGLECTED DECORATIVE PLANTS WORTH GROWING. 



In our eagerness to obtain new and rare plants, we are often apt to 

 overlook older ones of infinitely more real and practical utility to the 

 gardener for greenhouse, stove, or conservatory decoration. In this 

 paper I shall enumerate a few of these, and add such remarks as may be 

 useful either in their culture or propagation. 



Cantua dependens. — This is a fine plant for a pillar in the green- 

 house or cool conservatory, flowering very freely when in a healthy 

 state. It may be propagated from cuttings, and grows best in a com- 

 post of turfy loam, peat, and sand, while a little leaf-mould may be 

 added with advantage. It bears drooping clusters of crimson or 

 magenta coloured flowers, which are tubular, each being about 3 

 inches in length. When well flowered, the plant is highly effective, 

 and its flowers are w^ell adapted for cutting. It flowers well out of 

 doors in Devon, but the cool conservatory is its proper place. When 

 growing, syringe freely, as it is apt to become infested with red-spider. 



Centropogon Lucyanus. — Grown in 48-sized pots, this makes a 

 nice little decorative plant, being bushy in habit and only about 1 foot 

 in height. It bears rosy tubular flowers on the ends of the shoots, and 

 these are very freely borne on healthy specimens. Plants may be 

 obtained in any quantity by inserting cuttings in the spring or summer, 

 which strike easily in a genial bottom-heat. It is specially valuable as 

 flowering during the winter or early spring months. It may either be 

 grown in a warm greenhouse or in the stove. 



Hsemantlius magnificus. — All the plants in this genus are bulbous, 

 and many of them produce dense heads of dingy inconspicuous flowers. 

 The present species is, however, a noble exception, and bears a large 

 globular head of scarlet star-like flowers on a scape which varies from 

 1 foot to 18 inches high. It is one of the most effective plants for a 

 warm greenhouse, and ought to become as popular as it is beautiful. 

 It is now in flower, and grows well in sandy loam on a well-drained 

 bottom. 



Jasminium grandiflorum. — This is grown by Mr A. E. Barron in 

 the Koyal ELorticultural Gardens at Chiswick, and found extremely 

 useful either as a pot-plant, or it furnishes nice sprays of its white 

 Bouvardia-like flowers for cutting during winter and spring. It can be 

 readily increased by cuttings; and these, potted in loam, leaf-mould, and 

 sand, soon form nice flowering plants. It may be pinched, and then 

 has a dwarf bushy habit. Its pure-white, delicately-perfumed flowers 

 are very acceptable for bouquets or dinner-table decorations. 



Myoporum album. — This plant does not appear to be grown very 

 extensively in this country, though there can be but one opinion as to 



