DESMODIUM GYRANS. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
145 
wards the end of May ; again place them 
in the full sun, but screen the pots from 
its influence; give regular attention in 
watering and syringing overhead in the 
evenings during bright weather, and occa- 
sionally turn the plants round so that all 
sides alike may come under the sun’s 
power. 
Continue this treatment until the be- 
ginning of August, when discontinue the 
use of the syringe ; let them remain out 
until the end of September, when they 
must be brought in and wintered as before. 
It must now be determined whether they 
are to be used for indoor decoration, with 
what bloom they will make, or be grown 
on another season ; the latter course will 
generally be most advisable, and if decided 
upon they should be again potted in spring, 
turned out as in the last season, and any 
shoots that need it stopped. If they are 
removed to the conservatory during the 
time of flowering their next year’s bloom 
will be interfered with, as the plant can 
seldom be induced to produce a full sheet 
of flowers on two seasons consecutively. 
Again in the autumn remove them inside ; 
the shoots will now require a few sticks to 
keep them in shape, although com- 
paratively little support is needed. It 
will be better not to pot in the spring, as 
it may in some measure interfere with 
their flowering, but turn them out about 
the same time ; they may be expected to 
bloom freely during the summer, at which 
time the plants can be used in the con- 
servatory or greenhouse, but there should 
not be shaded more than required. If 
they appear to want more pot-room, they 
should have a shift after the flowering is 
over, placing them out-of-doors as soon as 
they have got hold of the new soil if the 
season is not too far advanced—if it is, 
they had better be kept under glass and 
treated through the winter as before ad- 
vised. Again in the spring expose them 
in the open air ; they will most likely not 
produce a full crop of flowers this season 
if kept long indoors during the previous 
summer—the object should be to prepare 
them for making a full display the ensuing 
year. It can easily be arranged to bloom 
a certain number each summer. By pre- 
paring them in the way described the 
plants will last for many years, if given 
increased root-room as they require it, and 
they can be kept in a vigorous, healthy 
condition with less pot-room if they are 
assisted through the growing season with 
manure-water. 
Insects.—The hard texture of the leaves 
renders them little subject to the attacks 
of the smaller insects ; should they appear 
they can be easily removed by a free use of 
the syringe ; if brown scale gets upon them 
sponging may be resorted to with effect. 
DESMODIUM GYRANS. 
(The moving plant.) 
A warm stove species, belonging to a 
family of plants most of which possess 
little beauty. Nor can it be said that this 
has anything effective in its flowers; the 
interest attached to it les in its leaves, 
which are constantly moving with the 
regularity of the pendulum ofa clock, only 
much slower and in a different direction, 
the motion being alternately upwards and 
downwards. This continuous motion has 
given rise to a good deal of speculation as 
to the cause among those interested in 
vegetable physiology ; its motion is not 
nearly so quick as that of the sensitive 
plants—Mimosa sensitiva, M. pudica, and 
others of that genus. True it is that this 
and other plants possessing singularity of 
habit rarely have flowers with fine colours, 
but it is well that they should not be 
lost sight of by cultivators ; of this there is 
some danger through the disposition that 
too often exists to give exclusive attention 
to things that are only noticeable for their 
highly-coloured flowers. 
The cultivation of this Desmodium is 
extremely simple, as all it requires is a 
brisk heat and ordinary attention in the 
matters of soil, water, and air, and a little 
shade in bright weather. It strikes freely 
from cuttings of the half-ripened wood 
taken off at any time of the year when 
obtainable. If its propagation is under- 
taken in the spring, cuttings consisting of 
points of the shoots a few inches in length 
cut to a joint, put singly in 3-inch pots, in 
sandy soil, the surface all sand, placed in 
a temperature of 70°, covered with a 
propagating glass, and kept moist and well 
shaded, will soon make roots. Then 
dispense with the glass, and stand the 
plants in a fairly light place; as soon as 
the small pots are filled with roots give 
them a couple of sizes more room, using 
ordinary loam, to which add a little sand 
and rotten manure. Pinch out the leading 
shoots to cause them to break side branches, 
and give them ordinary stove treatment as 
to heat, light, water, and air, shading 
slightly when the weather is sunny. The 
plants soon begin to show the natural 
peculiarity of their leaves, and keep on 
moving regularly, the base of the stalk 
acting just likeahinge. All that is further 
required is an increase of pot-room when 
the soil gets full of roots. The plant 
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