CENTRADENIA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
97 
close to the glass and attend regularly to 
giving air, as without this and abundance 
of light the plants become drawn. As the 
bloom appears and the soil gets full of roots 
give manure-water twice a week. When 
the combs are fully grown the plants may 
be removed to the greenhouse or conser- 
vatory, where they will last fresh for a 
good many weeks. The pyramidal form, 
which is much the most elegant and useful, 
requires to be similarly managed, and 
especial care should be taken that the 
treatment is such as to favour short 
compact growth ; if this is not attended to 
it is apt to get so tall as to lose much in 
appearance. It is well to sow seeds of this 
variety early in spring, again in May, and 
later on at midsummer; these sowings 
will give a succession that will keep in 
fresh condition until the end of the year. 
The different hues of this plant, from straw- 
colour and yellow through the various 
shades of pink and red to brilliant crimson, 
are very handsome. 
Insecrs.—The regular use of the syringe 
advised will keep down red spider. If 
aphides make their appearance fumigate 
carefully. 
CELSIA ARCTURUS. 
One of the best of a somewhat curious 
genus of cool greenhouse plants now 
seldom met with. It is evergreen her- 
baceous in habit. It can be raised from 
seeds sown in spring in an ordinary hot- 
bed or greenhouse, and when large enough 
potted singly and grown on under green- 
house treatment; it will do in either peat 
or loam. It bears yellow flowers, which 
appear in spring or summer. A native of 
Candia. 
Insects.—If affected with thrips fumi- 
gate ; syringe regularly to keep down red 
spider. 
CENTRADENIA. 
These pretty dwarf-growing plants, be- 
longing to the Melastomads, are especially 
adapted for amateurs who have only the 
convenience of a small stove, as they 
can be grown and flowered well in 6 or 
8inch pots. The flowers are small and 
individually of short duration, but they 
are produced in quantities successionally 
for many weeks ; the leaves are long and 
narrow, proportionate in size to the plants, 
deep green above and violet or deep red 
on the under surface—in this latter respect 
the oldest introduced species, C. rosea, is 
the darkest. The leaf-colouring renders 
this variety particularly useful for cutting 
in the winter to mix with flowers, as the 
leaves retain their colour for a month in 
water, and although the plants require 
heat to grow and flower in, the leaves will 
keep their beauty in a room with little or 
no warmth. Used in this way, altogether 
independent of the flowers, C. rosea is one 
of the most serviceable plants that can be 
employed for decorative purposes. Its 
dwarf, compact habit adapts it for stand- 
ing upon shelves near the glass, and 
thus placed, it receives that amount of light 
which is indispensable to induce the free 
opening of the flowers; for if Centradenias 
are stood at a distance from the glass, and 
at all darkened by the shade of other plants, 
or are put ina house or pit that is dark, the 
blooms fall off without opening. Owing to 
this, many have been so disappointed with 
them as to give up their cultivation, affirm- 
ing that the flowers dropped unexpanded 
owing to the absence of sun in winter, 
whereas failure should be attributed to the 
plants not having been placed where they 
can receive sufficient light, and to over- 
watering at a season when the root action 
is very slight. Nor are these the only 
Melastomads that are thus affected, as 
several of both the stove and greenhouse 
species are subject to the same drawback if 
they do not receive sufficient light. 
Centradenias will grow in either peat or 
loam, or a mixture of both, but we have 
always found that any plant that is at all 
subject to throw off its flower-buds is more 
liable to do so when grown in peat, or a 
mixture containing peat, than when loam 
alone is used. This points to the greater 
strength imparted by loam, although peat 
generally produces freer growth with a 
larger development of the leaves, and also 
imparts a deeper colour. Centradenias 
root freely from cuttings put in in 
spring or summer when the wood is ina 
half-ripened state, but it is better to pro- 
pagate them early. If the cuttings are 
ut in during March in small pots drained, 
and filled to within an inch of the rim with 
a mixture of one-third sifted loam to two- 
thirds of silver sand, and one inch of sand 
is placed on the surface, they will root in 
a fortnight or three weeks in a temperature 
of 70°. Keep them moderately confined, 
but not too close, or the leaves are liable 
to damp; when rooted, gradually expose 
them to the full air of the house, and when 
the little pots are fairly filled with roots, 
shift into others 4 inches in diameter, use 
good turfy loam, pulled to pieces about the 
size of acorns, and add one-fifth of sand ; 
place them ona front shelf where they will 
receive plenty of light, but shade slightly 
when the sun is powerful. It is not well 
