CENTRADENIA. 



Grecnliouse and Stove Plants. 



97 



close to the glass and attend regularly to 

 gi\-ing air, as without this and abundance 

 of light the plants become drawn. As the 

 bloom appears and the soil gets full of roots 

 give manure-water twice a week. When 

 the combs are fully grown the plants may 

 be removed to the greenhouse or conser- 

 A-atory, where they will last fresh for a 

 good many weeks. The pyramidal foim, 

 which is much the most elegant and useful, 

 requires to be similarly managed, and 

 especial care should be taken that the 

 treatment is such as to favour short 

 compact growth ; if this is not attended to 

 it is apt to get so tall as to lose much in 

 ajjpearance. It is well to sow seeds of this 

 variety early in spring, again in May, and 

 later on at midsuimner ; tliese sowings 

 will give a succession that will keep in 

 fresh condition until the end of the year. 

 The different hues of this plant, from straw- 

 colour and yellow through the various 

 shades of pink and red to brilliant crimson, 

 are very handsome. 



Insects. — The regular use of the syringe 

 advised will keep dowTi red spider. If 

 aphides make their appearance fumigate 

 carefully. 



CELSIA ARCTURUS. 



One of the best of a somewhat curious 

 genus of cool greenhouse plants now 

 seldom met with. It is evergreen her- 

 baceous in habit. It can be raised from 

 seeds so^m in spiing in an ordinary hot- 

 bed or greenhouse, and when large enough 

 potted singly and grown on under green- 

 house treatment ; it will do in either peat 

 or loam. It bears yellow flowers, which 

 appear in spring or summer. A native of 

 Candia. 



Insects. — If affected with thrips fumi- 

 gate ; syringe regularly to keep down red 

 spider. 



CENTRADENIA. 



These pretty dwarf-growing plants, be- 

 longing to the Melastomads, are especially 

 adapted for amateurs who have only the 

 convenience of a small stove, as they 

 can be grown and floweied well in 6 or 

 8 inch pots. The flowers are small and 

 individually of short duration, but they 

 are produced in quantities successionally 

 for many weeks ; the leaves are long and 

 narrow, proportionate in size to the plants, 

 deep green above and A-iolet or deep red 

 on the under surface — in this latter respect 

 the oldest introduced species, C. rosea, is 

 the darkest. The leaf-colouring renders 

 this variety particularly useful for cutting 



in the winter to mix with flowers, as the 

 leaves retain their colour for a month in 

 water, and although the plants lequire 

 heat to grow and flower in, the leaves will 

 keep their beauty in a room with little or 

 no warmth. Used in this way, altogether 

 independent of the flowers, C. rosea is one 

 of the most serviceable plants that can be 

 employed for decorative purposes. Its 

 dwarf, compact habit adapts it for stand- 

 ing upon shelves near the glass, and 

 thus placed, it receives that amount of liglit 

 which is indispensable to induce the free 

 opening of the flowers ; for if Centradenias 

 are stood at a distance from the glass, and 

 at all darkened by the shade of other plants, 

 or are put in a house or pit that is dark, the 

 blooms fall oft' without opening. Owing to 

 this, many have been so disappointed with 

 them as to give up their cultivation, affirm- 

 ing that the flowers droj^ped unexpanded 

 owing to the absence of sun in winter, 

 whereas failure should be attiibuted to the 

 plants not having been jdaced where they 

 can receive sufficient light, and to over- 

 watering at a season when the root action 

 is very slight. Nor are these the only 

 Melastomads that are thus affected, as 

 several of both the stove and greenhouse 

 species are subject to the same drawback if 

 they do not receive suflicieut light. 



Centradenias will glow in either peat or 

 loam, or a mixture of both, but we have 

 always found that any plant that is at all 

 subject to throw oft' its flower-buds is more 

 liable to do so when grown in peat, or a 

 mixture containing peat, than when loam 

 alone is used. This points to the greater 

 strength imparted by loam, although peat 

 geneially produces freer growth with a 

 larger development of the leaves, and also 

 imparts a deeper colour. Centiadenias 

 root freely fi'om cuttings put in in 

 spring or summer when the wood is in a 

 half-ripened state, but it is better to pro- 

 pagate them early. If the cuttings are 

 put in during March in small pots drained, 

 and filled to within an inch of the rim with 

 a mixture of one-third sifted loam to two- 

 thirds of silver sand, and one inch of sand 

 is placed on the surface, they will root in 

 a fortnight or three weeks in a temperature 

 of 70°. Keep them moderately c(mfined, 

 but not too close, or the leaves are liable 

 to damp; Avhen rooted, gradually expose 

 them to the full air of the house, and when 

 the little j)Ots are fairly filled with roots, 

 shift iiito others 4 inches in diameter, use 

 good turfy loam, pulled to pieces about the 

 size of acorns, and add one-fifth of sand ; 

 place them on a front shelf where they will 

 receive plenty of light, but shade slightly 

 when the sun is powerful. It is not well 



