1873.] NEW OR RARE STOVE PLANTS. 549 



NEW OR RARE STOVE PLANTS. 



Pandanus Veitcliii. — There are a good Diany Screw-Pines in cultiva- 

 tion now, but none more strikingly ornamental than this. It is a 

 variegated sort with broad shining leaves, banded and striped with 

 bright green and clear creamy white. The old well-known P. javani- 

 cus is the nearest approach to it in style, but it quite eclipses that sort 

 in its striking bolder beauty. It differs from P. javanicus in having 

 wider and flatter leaves, and in the variegation being less regularly 

 marginal : some leaves are nearly wholly white, others broadly mar- 

 gined with white, and some striped in an irregular way with alternate 

 bands of white and green. The leaves are also less dangerously armed, 

 the spines on the margin being small and few, while on the midrib 

 there are scarcely any. The leaves are also shorter in plants of the 

 same size than those of P. javanicus. It is vigorous and free grow- 

 ing, and one of the handsomest foliage plants of recent introduction. 

 Small plants are particularly well adapted for table decoration, being 

 both elegant and effective. 



P. ornatus. — This sort has been longer in cultivation, but does not 

 appear to be more generally distributed. It is more elegant, but not so 

 showy. The style of growth is not so bold and vigorous. The leaves 

 are narrow and comparatively short, but more numerous and densely 

 crowded than in any other Pandanus with which we are acquainted, 

 and they arch from the centre of the plant over the sides of the 

 pots most gracefully ; they are also deep olive-green, and armed closely 

 on the margins with short white spines, which impart an interesting 

 feature to the plant. 



Monoloena prlinidoides. — This is a very pretty stove herbaceous 

 plant, belonging to the natural order Melastomaceas, and nearly allied 

 to the pretty Sonerilla margaritacea. It has a somewhat woody root- 

 stock, whence spring the broadly oval, deep brownish-green, strongly- 

 ribbed leaves. The flowers are supported on stout stalks, which raise 

 them clear above the foliage : they are about an inch across, and bright 

 rose pink. If kept growing, it may be had in bloom at almost any 

 season ; but it is most useful in the stove in the winter month?, during 

 which, if kept in an open light position near the glass, it will bloom 

 continuously. The whole height of the plant does not exceed 4 or 5 

 inches, but it may be grown to any reasonable width. It should be 

 grown in pans, or wide shallow pots, well drained, and slightly elevated 

 in the centre ; done in this way, it is a little gem of the first water, one 

 of the most attractive things that can be placed on the margin of a 

 stove stage. 



Urceolina pendida. — This is a most distinct and beautiful bulb, 



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