THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



trees of moderate size, others like Protca aniplexicaidis and Pro- 

 tea cor data almost hug the ground but the vast majority are bushes 

 from six to ten feet tall with erect stems and huge, terminal, hand- 

 some heads of flowers. Such heads consist of very many elon- 

 gated relatively simple flowers having no petals but with colored 

 calyx and bracts enclosed and nestling within serried rows of tall 

 colored scaly, more or less erect, floral bracts — nests of colored, 

 flufify down guarded by projecting stamens and pistils suggesting 

 the quills of a fledgling Bird of Paradise. 



Overflowing with honey are the pink and white heads of Protea 

 mcllifcra and striking are those of Protca spcciosa with tufts of 

 black hairs on the tips of the inner involucral bracts, but none are 

 finer than the glossy-leafed Protea cynaroidcs, common and wide- 

 spread from Cape Town to Grahamstown in the east. The invol- 

 ucral bracts of this species vary from nearly white to silvery rose; 

 the heads are from ten to twelve inches across and the plants 

 anything from one to ten feet tall. It favors rocky places and to 

 come suddenly upon this plant in blossom, to look down into its 

 wondrous beauty as it nestles amid rocks, is a delight never to be 

 forgotten. It has been my good fortune to see either under cul- 

 tivation or on their native heaths nearly all the known flowers of 

 exceptional merit. I have a generous meed of praise for each and 

 every one but in my judgment the most handsome inflorescence in 

 the world is that of Protea cynaroides on its native heath. 



In elegance, beauty, and wealth of blossoms, the Cape Heaths 

 are not excelled by any group of shrubs the world over. Their 

 loveliness is fascinating, their charm irresistible. Their variety 

 is seemingly infinite and every month of the year sees them bear- 

 ing flowers in thousands. In size they vary from prostrate mats 

 to sturdy bushes from five to ten feet tall and as much in diameter. 

 They are mostly social plants and often clothe acres and square 

 miles of the countryside like their near relative, the Heather of 

 the Scots moors. They grow on sandy flats, in swamp places 

 and on bleak, rock-strewn mountain slopes. Their clustered, mul- 

 ticolored flowers are of every hue and often each flower combines 

 two or more color-schemes. In many the stamens are prominent 

 and conspicuously colored. In size the flowers vary from tiny 

 bells or urns each no larger than a pin's head to tubes an inch or 



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