2 GLENNYS HANDBOOK 



The flowers of both hang gracefully on long footstalks, are 

 yellow or orange ground, with scarlet veins. They grow better 

 in a stove than a greenhouse all winter ; but they may be 

 planted in the open air in June, and make beautiful objects. 



ACACIA. [Leguminosae § Mimoseae.] Greenhouse ever- 

 green shrubs, nearly all bearing yellow heads of thread-like 

 flowers, some round, some oblong, succeeded by a pea-shaped 

 pod. Soil, half loam and half turfy peat. The best young 

 plants are obtained from seeds sown in June in a frame or 

 greenhouse. Cuttings of the year-old shoots will strike freely. 

 "To prepare them, cut the lower end close up to a joint; cut 

 clean off any leaves that are on the lower inch of stem, which 

 may be inserted into the soil, allowing another inch to be 

 above : they may be placed pretty close together, and a glass 

 covered over them. A propagating house or a moderate hot- 

 bed will hasten their striking, but they will strike in a cold 

 frame or in the greenhouse : they must always be shaded 

 from the heat of the sun. When they have struck root pot 

 them into three-inch pots, and as they advauce check any shoots 

 that grow too vigorously by pinching off the tops. When 

 these first pots fill with roots, change to a larger size, and 

 continue to change as fast as they fill their present ones. 

 The young seedlings should be treated like the plants raised 

 from cuttings. They are fine conservatory plants. The 

 smaller sorts are manageable in pots ; but they require 

 frequent shifting, and then soon get large. The genus is a 

 very extensive one, but the following are among the best : — 

 A. armata, A. dealbata, A. Drummondli, A. od-ycedrus, A. 

 platyptera, and A. verticillata. Nearly all the varieties bloom 

 yellow, in spring. 



ACACIA (PsEUDo). See Robinia. 



ACANTHOLIMON. Prickly Thrift. [Plumbaginacese.] 

 Dwarf hardy perennials, very pretty ornaments for rockwork. 

 Soil, sandy loam and peat. Propagated by cuttings of the 

 half-ripened shoots in a gentle heat. A. glumaceum, ever- 

 green ; flowers rose colour. 



ACANTHUS. Bear's Breech. [Acanthaceee.] Hardy 

 herbaceous perennials, somewhat coarse, but of stately appear- 

 ance, the blooms being borne in a tall spike, white, and 

 purplish, protected by spiny bracts. They grow in any kind 



