64 



JOUBNAIi OF HOBTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



( July 24, 1873. 



oiently severe to destroy the stems of the paler-sepaled Fuchsias 

 growing in the same bed, it may be inferred that dryness and 

 elevation had a considerable influence in the matter. Cen- 

 taurea candidissima has stood many years in a similar position, 

 withstanding rather severe winters. Those who have plants 

 of this Gazania occupying dry sheltered position ought not to 

 be in any hurry to remove them in autumn, for they may prove 

 useful at a time when bedding plants, so called, are far from 

 plentiful. — J. EoBSON. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 We are informed that Mr. Peaeson, of Chilwell, was 

 so gratified by the display of GEEiNiniis which was made at 

 the last meeting at South Kensington, in competition for the 

 prizes he offered, that he has decided to offer a similar set of 

 prizes next year. 



It is announced that the Manchester Inteenational 



HoETiccLTfEAL ExHiDiTioN, to bc held iu September, will be 

 opened by the Earl of Derby on the 3rd of that month, and 

 that he will also take the chaii- at the dinner in the City Hall. 



Messes. J. Weeks & Co. have just issued an Illus- 

 trated Book of Designs foe HoETieuLTnEAL BniLniNGS, in a 

 very tasteful style. These designs are in chromo-lithography, 

 and are shown in connection with the dwelHng houses to which 

 they are to be attached. Besides the chromo-lithographs, there 

 are numerous other hthographic illustrations of every imagin- 

 able form of glass structures. 



TACSONIA MANICATA (Gauntletted Tacsonia). 



The Passionworts comprise some of the most gorgeous of 

 tropical climbers, but there are few, even of the tender 

 species, which surpass or equal in beauty this magnificent 

 plant. Although it is brought to us from equatorial regions, 

 yet, from the altitude at which it is found growing (often 

 7000 feet above the level of the sea), it is a greenhouse 

 chmber. 



In their habit of growth the Tacsonias resemble vei-y closely 

 the common Passion-flowers, being, Hke most of them, of 

 vigorous growth, the shoots extending 10 or 20 feet in a season, 

 according to the age of the plant. The resemblance between 

 the two genera is indeed carried so far, that some of the most 

 acute botanists of the present day are unable to give the pre- 

 cise grounds for the separation of the Tacsonias from the true 

 Passion-flowers. 



This leads us to the botanical structure of the plants of this 

 order, which is too remarkable to allow of being passed over ; 

 and as the Tacsonias possess its chief characteristics, our 

 illustration will serve as the text of our remarks. The climb- 

 ing stems (which are somewhat rounded, and not four-sided, 

 as in T. pinnatistipula), and three-lobed foliage, do not claim 

 any special notice, unless it be to point out the glands on the 

 npper edge of the leafstalks, and which are found in most 

 Passion-flowers. Occasionally they are placed at the base of 

 the leaf, near its junction with the petiole, and sometimes on 

 the back of the leaf. These glands, although not conspicuous, 

 are easily perceptible to the naked eye, and have the appear- 

 ance of small greenish yellow projections rough to the touch. 

 The stipules, or small wing-like expansions at the foot of the 

 leafstalk, are another peculiarity of the true Passion-flowers. 

 In T. pinnatistipula they are deeply divided, as the specific 

 name implies ; and in T. manicata they are toothed in a 

 crested manner. 



The chief interest of the plants of this order, however, 

 centres in their elegant flowers. These are, at a glance, seen 

 to consist of ten segments or divisions, the lower portions of 

 ■which are united into a tube, surrounded at its base by three 

 leaf-like bodies termed bracts. These bracts, which are shown 

 in the engraving, are common not only to the Tacsonias, 

 but also to nearly all the other Passion-flowers, though in a 

 few species they are placed at a considerable distance below 

 the flower, and are extremely small. In one or tv;o species 

 they ar-e cut into hair-like segments, and give a very interest- 

 ing appearance to the flower, as in the P. ciliata and P. fatida. 

 These bracts are not much larger in T. manicata than in 

 many other Passionworts ; but from the shortness of the tube, 

 which is almost concealed when the flower is expanded, " it 

 may not unaptly be compared to an arm thrust into a largo 

 loose glove ; " from which circumstance it is presumed that 

 Jnssieu gave it its specific name of manicate, or gauntletted. 

 Some difference of opinion exists with regard to the real 



nature of the coloured portions of the flower. Lindley con- 

 siders the five outer segments to be the true calyx, and the five 

 inner ones as the corolla ; whilst others look on the filaments, 

 or ray-like appendages, as the true petals, and consider all the 

 segments as sepals. Each segment of the outer series is ter- 

 minated by a horn-like process, which is, in fact, a prolonga- 

 tion of the keel-like ridge on the back of the sepals. The 

 inner segments, which we will call the petals, are rather 

 broader and more rounded at their ends. 



Tacsonia maiiicata. 



The remarkable appendages arising from the base of the 

 petal, and which are termed the rays or crown, vary exceed- 

 ingly in the different species. In the Tacsonia manicata they 

 are very short and tooth-like, and are arranged in two concen- 

 tric series ; but in some of the Passion-flowers these filaments 

 are nearly as long as the divisions of the corolla, and are 

 grouped in four or five rings, the innermost series being 

 generally much the shortest. They are regarded as modifica- 

 tions of the petals, between which and the stamens they are 

 probably intermediate in theu' nature. The stamens are mou- 

 adelphous — that is, the stalks supporting the anthers are united 

 into a tube, above which is borne the ovary seated on a long 

 stalk, which passes to the bottom of the calyx-tube. Both the 

 anthers and stigmas are unusually large, and the pollen or 

 farina from the former forms one of the most interesting 

 microscopic objects that can well be imagined. Each grain of 

 pollen appears, when viewed under a rather high power, as a 

 spherical body covered with a delicate network, and bursting 

 by opercula, or lids, of which there appear to be four, to allow 

 of the protrusion of the pollen-tubes. The fruit is not the 

 least remarkable part of the plant. In Tacsonia pinnatisti- 

 pula it is 5 or G inches in circumference, spherical, and when 

 ripe of a yellow tint, hanging by the very long peduncle to 

 which the remains of the flower are usually attached. The 

 seeds are surrounded with a pulpy arillus of an edible nature, 

 especially in a few species, which are not unfrequently culti- 

 vated for the sake of their fruit, as P. eduUs and P. quad- 

 rangularis. 



T. manicata may be increased by cuttings either of the old 

 wood in spring or of short young shoots in summer, under a 

 beU-glass with a little bottom heat. When grown under glass 

 most of the Tacsonias will ripen seed, from which they may be 

 readily increased. 



The specific name has been already explained ; the name of 

 the genus appears to be a latinised form of Tacso, that by 



