THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[January, 



These few plants I picked out, and with the great- In a botanical point of view the improvement 

 est care I selected again and again the proper will have a special interest. Even those with little 



plants to produce, 

 by-and-bye, a double- 

 filled flower. 



Now I have suc- 

 ceeded in getting this 

 novelty nearly con- 

 stant — about twenty- 

 five per cent, of seeds 

 only, sown last har- 

 vest from good filled 

 flowers turned out 

 single flowers — and 

 after a period of six 

 years' unceasing care, 

 I offer my new Acro- 

 clinium roseum flore 

 'pleno (J. C. Schmidt) 

 as a very valuable 

 addition to the class 

 of everlasting flow- 

 ers. 



The single Acro- 

 clinium being a very 

 favored flower, with- 

 out which the com- 

 position of flower- 

 work can not be 

 thought of, the new 

 Acroclinium roseum 

 flore pleno will doubt- 

 less obtain double 



Acroclinium roseum flore pleno (J. C. Schmidt.) 



FRESH Cl'T FLOWERS. 



botanical knowledge 

 know that a compos- 

 ite flower, such as 

 this, asters, dahlias, 

 and so on, is not a 

 single flower, but a 

 mass of small flow- 

 ers. To form a com- 

 pound flower, we 

 may imagine a long 

 branch, with a flower 

 in the axil of each 

 leaf twined in a cir- 

 cular manner round 

 the branch ; but in 

 the compound flower 

 nature draws the 

 elongated branch 

 down, and coils it 

 around, as we would 

 make a coil of rope 

 on the floor. We 

 may assume that the 

 flowers would not be 

 as large as if they 

 had been left to grow 

 on an elongated 

 branch, nor is the 

 leaf in which the 

 flower would be ax- 

 illary expected to be 



the favor from consumers, similar to Helichrysum ' so large. Indeed, in many composite flowers ail 



and Xeranthemum, of which flowers the filled '. trace of the leaf is lost, and in others it only 



varieties are always preferred exists as a mere scale beneath 



to single ones. -^ I6£ii^'^^jj/-A each floret. In the original 



The demand for material to , NrCI^'R i V^'n'^^i^ Acroclinium we find the original 



work wreaths and bouquets of l^^'V'^riii V* } ^ ii 'fi^ ^*^^^ ^'- ^^^^ ha.se of each floret; 



dried flowers is increasing from ^^^P^^%\t U ^'^^J^'^k^^^^/' ^" '-^'^ improved form this pri- 



year to year, and every good Jg^^f^sl^ ' "'' '"w"^^^^ mary leaf, or scale, has devel- 



novelty in this department is ^^^^^ ^^^y '/"'l^^'"^ y^^i oped until it is very nearly as 



generally accepted with great ^^^^^^^^^ , ^^^^^^^^ large as the first tier of meta- 



joy. ^^^^^^K^^y*«!^^^V'^"?^^^^fe morphosed leaves, usually 



[Mr. Schmidt is in error in ^^^Sw^^rxr^'^^^^^^^ known as the involucre. 



regard to this pretty plant being S^BO^P%fXA^^f^\^^^f^t^ Usually in making " double " 



a native of Texas. It is an ^^Ww^illillkMfcF'^^^^ flowers nature operates on 



Australian. In America those .. ^t^&^fSkilByMO^^ stamens or petals. In this 



who prepare annuals for bed- _W\7\W ■^^ case the flowers are un- 



ding out in May, often make good \Vl\ li changed, but the leaf scales 



use of the Acroclinium. It is ^mlf have grown up among the 



very beautiful even in its natural ^^ ^^i florets. It is the only case of 



condition. In its present shape ^ the kind we remember in the 



it will be still more desirable. dried flower. vegetable kingdom. The 



