DESFONTAINEA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
143 
and moderately close, but not confined 
under a propagating glass or frame, which 
would most likely cause their destruction. 
Shade and give no more water than will 
just keep the soil slightly moist. The 
suckers will form roots and get established 
through the summer; winter in a tem- 
perature of 45°, and in spring, if the soil is 
filled with roots, move them into pots 2 
inches larger, using good loam with a 
moderate quantity of sand added. The 
plants, as already said, are very slow 
growers, and from this time onwards will 
require nothing more than the usual 
routine of greenhouse treatment, with 
water given freely to the scil through the 
‘growing season, but more sparsely in 
winter, during which time they may be 
kept at about 40° in the night. If suffi- 
cient root-growth is made to admit of their 
being put into pots a size or two larger each 
Spring, they must have this attention ; if 
the progress is slower than this only pot 
each alternate spring, regulating the size 
of pots by the progress made. As they 
get large the shifts should be larger and 
not so frequent ; large specimens, say when 
they get into 18 or 20 inch pots, will doa 
number of years without moving if given 
manure-water during the growing season. 
There are several forms, differing princi- 
pally in the length of the leaves, and their 
dlense or sparse production. 
The following are distinct and desirable 
kinds :— 
D. acrotrichum. A kind with long arched 
green leaves. A native of Mexico. 
D. glaucum. The leaves of this sort have 
a bluish metallic hue. From Mexico. 
D. gracile. Is distinct in appearance 
from both the above. Mexico. 
D. latifolium. A handsome form with 
stout foliage. A native of Mexico. 
Insects.—The hard texture of the leaves 
of Dasylirions is such that few insects 
molest them, except scale, which, if trouble- 
some, can be removed by sponging. 
DAVALLIA. 
This genus is amongst the finest of 
creeping stemmed Ferns; it comprises 
both stove and greenhouse kinds, and con- 
tains a large number of species, from the 
elegant little D. Tyermanii to the noble D. 
Mooreana, and D. polyantha. The magni- 
ficent fronds of both of these species extend 
under liberal cultivation to a length of 6 
or 7 feet. The stout, heavily-clothed, 
creeping stems of many of the Davallias is 
not their least attractive property ; in D. 
canariensis this appearance is so marked as 
to give it the name Hare’s-Foot Fern. 
For propagation and cultivation, see 
Ferns, general details of culture. 
STOVE SPECIES. 
D. aculeata. West Indies. 
D. fijiensis major. Fiji Islands. 
D. Maries. Japan. 
D. Mooreana. Borneo. 
D. polyantha. Java. 
D. Tyermann. Africa. 
GREENHOUSE SPECIES. 
D. bullata. Nepal. 
D. canariensis. Canaries. 
D. canariensis pulchella. 
D. dissecta. Java. 
D. elegans. Malay Archipelago, 
D. heterophylla. 
D. pyxidata. New South Wales. 
D. tenwifolia. East Indies, Japan, and 
China. 
DAVIESIA. 
Evergreen greenhouse plants that used 
to be much more frequently met with 
when hardwooded subjects were more in 
favour than of late. They are distinct in 
the appearance of their flowers, but not 
equal to many things requiring to be grown 
under similar conditions. They succeed. 
with treatment such as recommended for 
Chorozemas, which see. 
The following will be found to sufii- 
ciently represent the genus :— 
D. cordata. A very distinct looking 
species, bearing in summer numerous 
corymbs of yellow flowers. It comes from 
New Holland. 
D. latifolia. This species also has yellow 
flowers, borne in racemes; a summer 
bloomer. From New South Wales. 
DESFONTAINEA SPINOSA. 
The handsome appearance that this 
plant has even when not in bloom, densely 
clothed as it is with bright green, Holly- 
like foliage, renders it at all times inte- 
resting, and when studded with its brilliant 
crimson and yellow flowers it is one of the 
most distinct and attractive subjects in 
cultivation. When, in addition to its 
other good properties, the plant is found 
easy to manage, it seems strange that we 
do not much oftener meet with it ; but 
this may be explained by the fact that to 
flower it well the usual treatment given to 
the generality of greenhouse plants will 
not answer. The wood when grown under 
ordinary conditions appears never to attain 
a sufficiently hard, ripe state to induce 
the free formation of flowers. It is one of 
