PASSIFLORA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 267 
species, very handsome in either a large or 
small state. From the South Sea Islands. 
InsEcts.—The hard texture of the leaves 
of these plants does not offer much attrac- 
tion to insects generally, which are easily 
kept under by syringing. If scale affects 
them, sponging must be resorted to. 
PAPYRUS. 
These are handsome evergreen plants, 
best suited with a moderate stove tempera- 
ture, although they will live in a green- 
house. They are aquatics, suitable for 
growing in a tank of a house devoted to 
water plants, but will thrive well in pots 
if kept stood in water. 
They can be raised from seeds and also 
by division of the crowns, which latter will 
usually be more convenient. The propaga- 
tion by this means should be carried out 
in spring before growth begins ; turn the 
plants out of the pots, shake away the soil, 
and then with a knife separate the crowns, 
which place singly in pots large enough to 
accommodate the roots and allow for the 
season’s growth. Ordinary loam answers 
for them. As soon as potted give water 
and stand the pots in the stove im pans 
of water kept regularly filled. The usual 
stove treatment, with a daily use of the 
syringe is all they require, and larger pots 
should be given as needed proportionate 
to the size the plants are wanted to be 
grown to. 
P. antiquorum. The Egyptian paper 
plant. A handsome species that forms 
large heads of singular drooping leaves. A 
native of Egypt. 
P. syriacus. <A fine kind, very effective 
when well grown. 
Insxcts.—Few insects affect these plants 
when properly attended to with water and 
frequent syringing ; through the growing 
season aphides sometimes give trouble, for 
these fumigate. 
PASSIFLORA. 
(Stove. ) 
Passifloras constitute a large family of 
evergreen climbers, mostly of strong growth, 
especially such as are strictly stove species, 
which are here treated of. Many of them 
are only adapted for comparatively large 
structures ; if introduced to small houses 
it becomes necessary to use the knife to 
such an extent that little of their true 
habit and disposition to flower is possible, 
while, on the other hand, if allowed to 
ramble so as to exhibit their natural cha- 
racter they all but smother everything 
else, and, however desirable it may be to 
see such plants developed to their full ex- 
tent, few people will care to give up a 
whole house or division in a range 
almost entirely to a single plant or two. 
Where, however, there is sufficient room 
they rank amongst the grandest of climb- 
ing or twining plants. Their cultivation 
is very easy, as they are generally in- 
different to the description of soil their 
roots are placed in, provided it is not too 
adhesive or too poor ; in the former case, 
from the quantity of water required to de- 
velop and maintain their large amount of 
leaf surface, it would become sour and un- 
kindly, and if too poor, the foliage always 
looks sickly, and is liable to be infested 
with insects, which are usually persistent 
in their attacks on plants not in a free 
condition of growth. But in avoiding this 
the opposite mistake must not be com- 
mitted of using the soil in too rich a state, 
as in this case the plants grow so rampant 
as to be unmanageable; if a little manurial 
assistance becomes necessary it can be sup- 
plied in a liquid state. The Passion 
flowers are botanically nearly allied to 
the Tacsonias ; the species here treated of 
require considerable heat, being natives of 
hot countries, such as the warmest parts of 
Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, and other West 
Indian Islands. One of the finest—if not 
the very finest—of the group, P. quad- 
rangularis, is from Jamaica ; it has ample, 
deep green, handsome foliage, and very 
large beautiful flowers, singular like the 
rest of the family in their strange forma- 
tion, as well as in the effect produced by 
their combination of blue, red, and 
green ; in P. Buonapartea, sometimes grown 
under the name of the former species, the 
colour is red, blue, and white. 
They strike readily from cuttings made 
of the young shoots taken off with a heel 
during the spring, when they have at- 
tained a length of 5 or 6 inches. Insert 
them singly in small pots drained and half 
filled with sandy peat, the remainder sand 
alone ; keep them moist and confined 
under a bell-glass or in a propagating 
frame with or without bottom heat. They 
will root in the course of a few weeks, 
when the glass may be dispensed with ; as 
soon as the small pots are moderately filled 
with roots, shift into larger ones. From 
their free habit of growth they will bear 
a larger shift than most things. Six or 7 
inch pots will not be too big, placing a 
stick to support each plant. They will 
stand a strong heat when there is sufficient 
length of daylight to warrant its applica- 
tion ; 70° in the night, with a proportionate 
rise by day, will not be too much, though 
they will grow, but comparatively slower, 
