1Q6 glen'ny's handbook 



GERMANDER. See Teucrium. 



GESNERA. [Gesneraceoe.] A showy genus of stove 

 peremiials, many of which have tuberous roots, and some are 

 shrubby. Soil, turfy peat earth, leaf-mould, and fibry loam, 

 with an eighth part sand. The tuberous kinds must have a 

 pot suited to the size of the bulb. They require to be placed 

 in a hotbed frame or in the stove, and must be grown near 

 the light. As soon as the pot is filled by the fibres of the 

 ])lant, and they begin to grow^ round its side, the plant must 

 1)6 shifted to a larger size. When first potted they must 

 have no water ; but as soon as they begin to grow water is to 

 be moderately applied, and when they are in full growth they 

 require to be liberally supplied. The plants should occupy a 

 light part of the stove until the buds show for bloom, and 

 when this is the case they should be shaded from the direct 

 rays of the sun. When they have done flowering no more 

 water is to be given, and the plants are placed away on a 

 shelf to rest, and remain dry until the shoots make their 

 appearance, when they are examined, and, if necessary, re- 

 potted. To propagate them take off some of the young 

 shoots when about two inches long, and plant them in sandy 

 peat, and place them under a bell-glass in a hotbed frame. 

 When rooted pot off and shift as before, only young plants 

 in which the tubers are hardly formed must not be dried so 

 much as the old ones. This treatment is proper for the 

 tuberous-rooted kinds, of which G. bulbosa and G. zehrina are 

 desirable in the smallest collections. The latter has a scaly 

 rhizome like Achimenes, and is propagated by fragments of 

 that. They may be propagated, like Gloxinias, by cuttings 

 of the leaves. To have a succession of bloom start some in 

 January, others in February, and a third portion in March. 

 G. zehrina is a beautiful winter-blooming plant started about 

 August. The slirubby kinds are raised from cuttings, which 

 are shifted on when rooted so as to form bushy plants, but are 

 otherwise treated like the rest, except as to drying them when 

 past blooming. 



GETHYLLIS, [Amarvnidaceas.] Interesting small 

 greenhouse bulbs. Soil, sandy peat and loam. Increased 

 by offsets. 



GEUM. AvENS. [Rosacese,] Hardy perennials, some 



