326 



THK ACniMENES PICTA. 



toward the upper part of the stem, the 

 flowers arcprocluced ; their form will be un- 

 derstood from the annexed engraving-, fig. 

 70; their color is very brilliant — the upper 



Fig. 79. The Achimenes picta. 



half of the tube and the two upper seg- 

 ments being orange scarlet, and the other 

 part of the flower deep yellow, mottled with 

 broken lines of scarlet. It flowers towards 

 the end of the summer, but its flowering 

 period may be very much lengthened by 

 the plan of raising young plants at succes- 

 sional intervals. 



The plant is a native of New-Grenada, 

 where, in the wooded heights on the east of 

 Guaduas, Mr. Hartweg, the Horticultural 

 Society's collector, found it growing in a 

 forest of Wax Palms, Ceroxylon andicola : 

 in its native habitat, it prefers dry rocky 

 ground in places not much shaded, where it 

 scarcely grows more than five inches in 

 height, seldom producing more than two 

 flowers on a stem. 



There is a very remarkable difference be- 

 tween the plant in this wild form, and when 



seen under the influence of cultivation. 

 Neither is this Achimenes the only plant 

 upon which horticultural skill has produced 

 a marked improvement. Instead of grow- 

 ing merely five inches high, and bearing 

 two flowers on a stem, it usually grows at 

 least a font in height, and every stem bears 

 six or eight flowers ; but some plants of ex- 

 traordinary luxuriance have been produced 

 far excelling even this state. Plants have 

 been grown to a height of three feet, quite 

 healthy and thick of leaves, and bearing 

 four or five flowers, or even more, together 

 on the axil of one leaf; and " last spring," 

 says Mr. Paxton, "we measured a stem, from 

 which several vigorous branches had issued 

 at a short distance /rom the root, which ex- 

 tended upwards of four feet and a half from 

 the surface of the soil to the top of the 

 plant, and with upwards of forty expanded 

 flowers upon it." .So far do our cultivated 

 specimens surpass those in a natural state. 

 Thejtreatment of the plant is very simple ; 

 after flowering, the stems die away, and the 

 tubers then require to be kept dry and cool. 

 At the proper time, usually in spring, the 

 tubers are to be potted in shallow pots, in 

 light rich compost of loam, leaf mould and 

 peat earth ; and they are best started into 

 growth by the aid of a little bottom heat : 

 about five roots may be placed at regular 

 distances apart, in a pot six inches in dia- 

 meter ; or they may be planted thickly toge- 

 ther in a shallow pan, and finally transplant- 

 ed and arranged when they have grown an 

 inch or two above the soil. There is no ne- 

 cessity for incurring the trouble of repotting 

 them during their aftergrowth, as they may 

 be placed at once in their blooming pots, 

 these being properly and thoroughly drained. 

 They grow best in a warm-pit, where there 

 is a moist atmosphere, and a temperature 

 of 65 or 70 degrees, and where they may 

 be partially shaded during bright sunshine. 



