IRISH GARDENING 



99 



with a felt -like 

 species also the 



face, and densely covered 



tomentum below. In this 

 outer florets are white. 



C. incana is a choice and rare species not 

 often met with in cultivation. It early forms 

 a woody stem bearing rather 'spoon-shaped 

 leaves some one and a half inches long, densely 

 covered with 

 white silk}' hairs 

 and feeling sticky 

 to the touch. The 

 flower heads are 

 very pretty, one 

 and a half inches 

 across, the outer 

 fi o r e t s pure 

 white. 



C. longifolia is 

 distinct with 

 bronzy- green 

 leaves from a 

 quarter to half an 

 inch in width, 

 o c c a s i o n a 1 1 y 

 forked, hairy on 

 the upper surface, 

 and covered with 

 a white felt below, 

 and lying along 

 the siu'face of the 

 soil. Flower heads 

 two inches across 

 on stems nine 

 inches high. 



C. spectabilis is 

 one of the best 

 doers, increasing 

 by offsets and 

 llowering freely. 



Leaves some four 

 inches long by one 

 inch wide, stiff 

 and erect, slighth 

 hairy above, and, 

 like others, 

 densely woolly 

 1) (! 1 o w . T h e 

 llower heatls are 

 the florets white. 



Exacum macranthum. 



I'/iototn J 



Cki.alisia 



almost two inches across, 

 and the stems reachhig a 

 height of five or six inches. 



C. holosericea is a branching s])ecies with 

 leaves al)()ut six inches long by one and a half 

 inches wide, green above, and furnished with a 

 dense felt-like tomentum below. The flower 

 heads are two and a half inches across on stems 

 seven to eight inches long, the outer florets 

 white. 



B. 



The genus Exacum contains upwards of a 

 score of species, but the one quoted above is 

 perhaps the most popular. It is a stove biennial, 

 and not an easy plant to grow, but it is well 

 \\ovX\\ the trouble to secure even moderate speci- 

 mens. It attains 

 a height of 

 eighteen inches, 

 and the flowers, 

 ^ome two inches 

 across, are a deep 

 rich purple-blue, 

 with large bright 

 \ellow stamens. 

 The flowers are 

 produced in 

 terminal and 

 axillary coryni 

 bose heads, and 

 the flowering 

 ])eriod is usually 

 the winter months 

 when blooms of 

 this particular 

 colour are rather 

 scarce. E. ma- 

 cranthum is 

 raised from seeds, 

 which may be 

 sown in April or 

 early July. The 

 seed is very flne, 

 and should be 

 sown on the top 

 of the compost, 

 which should 

 have a fine sur- 

 face. Cover with 

 a piece of glass, 

 a n d plunge in 

 l)()ttom heat or 

 tile propagating 

 case. Directly the 

 seedlings are 

 large enough they 

 should be pricked olf in small ])ots containing a 

 mixture of loam," peat, leaf-nu)ukl, and sand. 

 Pot on as required, and grow on a shelf in the 

 plant stove, remembering that such a tempera- 

 ture is needed throughout the plants existence. 

 Good drainage is essential, and a careful hand- 

 ling of the water pot is necessary at all times. 

 Insect pests are not very troublesome, but a 

 look out must be kept for thrip, which can be 

 destroyed by vaporising the house with " XL 

 All " or some other fumigant. T. W. B. 



