TO THE FLOWEE GAEDEX. 6 



of soil, and propagate most readily by division of the root. 

 A. sj/mosissimus has beautifully divided leaves. 



ACER. Maple. [Aceraceee.] Hardy trees and shrubs. 

 Common soil. Propagated by seeds and layers. The best 

 are A. Creticiim, A. Monspessulanum, and A. striatum. 



ACHIMENES. [Gesneracese.] Stove tuberous-stemmed 

 herbs, which, if started about March, and grown on in a hot- 

 bed frame, will bloom tolerably well in a warm greenhouse. 

 They are very showy, the flowers having a narrowish tube 

 and a roundish five-lobed face. At the end of the blooming 

 season the flowering stems die down, and nothing is seen but 

 the scaly tubers : these will keep better without moisture, 

 and placed on a dry shelf, but must be left in their pots 

 or pans. When they indicate growth, or at any season when 

 required, the tubers may be started either in the old soil, 

 and potted after they have grown an inch or two, or potted at 

 once, two or three in a pot, in a mixture of leaf-mould and 

 sand in equal parts. As soon as they grow they must be 

 well exposed to the light, otherwise they will become drawn. 

 They cannot be grown too dwarf, and this cannot be attained 

 if they are much shaded, or placed where they have not the 

 full light. The plants may be bloomed in a compost of leaf- 

 'mould and turfy loam, equal parts, with sand intermixed. 

 They require perfect drainage, and want only shallow pots. 

 If great increase is required every scale of the tuber will form 

 a plant, if separated and lightly covered with soil, in a brisk 

 heat ; but for ordinary purposes the tubers may be planted 

 whole. They strike freely from cuttings in a close frame. 

 Seeds may be sown in the spring, and pricked out as soon as 

 they are large enough, being potted into single ones and 

 changed to larger as they grow. Some persons bloom them 

 with only one shoot from the pot, and this is made to form 

 itself into a bushy plant by stopping it and encouraging 

 lateral shoots. Others put half a dozen tubers in a pot, and 

 this plan produces a complete thicket of branching shoots. 

 The following are distinct : — A. coccinea, scarlet ; A. Leip- 

 mannii, rosy lilac ; A. longifiora, blue ; A. lonrjifiora, white, 

 Avith red eye ; A. picta, scarlet and yellow, the leaves beauti- 

 fully marbled. There are now numerous beautiful varieties 

 of Achimenes raised from seed. 



