194 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



GRIFFINIA. 



further than that it has large handsome 

 foliage. From South America. 



GRIFFINIA. 



Griffinias consist of some half-dozen 

 species, all stove evergreen South American 

 Amaryllidaceous plants, compact in habit, 

 and of a free-blooming character ; the 

 flower-stems spring from the centre of the 

 bulbs and rise well above the foliage, 

 terminating in a large umbel of delicate 

 blue and white or purple and white flowers, 

 in shape not unlike those of the blue 

 Agapanthus. Few bulbous plants better 

 deserve a place in even the most select 

 collections of stove subjects than these. 

 They are at all times handsome, and when 

 strong specimens are in flower they con- 

 tinue to open their blooms in succession for 

 three months at a time, and are eqi;ally 

 suitable for conservatory decoration or for 

 cutting ; for the latter purpose they have 

 few equals, the colour (always scarce except 

 in flowers of diminutive size) particularly 

 adapting them for arranging with others 

 of paler or more vivid hues ; their substance 

 also enables them to retain their freshness 

 for days in water, or in any moisture- 

 holding material. The plants likewise 

 have the merit of being easily grown, and 

 can be cultivated successfully by those who 

 have not the means of growing a number 

 of things requiring a very high temperature. 

 An intermediate heat, such as that of a 

 vinery where a little fire is used, will 

 answer for them quite as well as a warmer 

 situation, but they should never, except in 

 warm weather, be si;bjected for a long time 

 to a greenhouse temperature, even when 

 they have completed their growth and are 

 at rest, or they are liable to suffer. The 

 only drawback to their more general cul- 

 tivation is their scarcity, consequent upon 

 their slow habit of growth, a circumstance 

 still further aggravated by keeping them 

 quite dry when at rest. Nothing can be 

 more injurious to any evergreen bulb than 

 this kind of treatment when carried too 

 far, and especially in the case of Griffinias. 

 Unlike Eucharis amazonica, Griffinias 

 cannot be grown and periodically rested so 

 as to induce them to flower several times 

 in the year ; on the contrary, they need a 

 long season to become fully developed, and 

 want a long rest afterwards before flower- 

 ing, during which the soil should be kept 

 ninch drier than when they are in active 

 growth, but should never be so dry as to 

 canse the leaves to flag. 



Another reason why these plants are 

 scarce is that so few succeed in raising them 

 from seeds, the failure being often attribut- 



able to the seeds being covered with soil, 

 whereas they should be allowed to remain 

 on the surface of the soil in the pots, other- 

 wise they will decay. Griffinias can also 

 be increased by separation of those bulbs 

 that are produced as offsets in the same 

 maimer as with Amaryllis, but their pro- 

 gress is very slow, and the roots are so 

 closely interwoven as to render their 

 separation almost impossible without con- 

 siderable mutilation. When they are to be 

 divided, the ball should be turned out of 

 the pot and the whole of the soil washed 

 very carefully from amongst the roots, by 

 which means they may be more readily 

 disentangled without so much breakage. 

 They should then be placed singly in from 

 4 to 6 inch pots, according to the size of the 

 bulbs, and treated as hereafter described 

 for plants raised from seed. After bloom- 

 ing in summer and autumn the seeds make 

 their appearance, growing to the size of 

 Potato Apples, but in appearance more like 

 small green unripe Tomatoes, being cor- 

 rugated and irregular in shape. They 

 must be allowed to remain on the plants 

 until they either fall off of their own 

 accord or can be removed by very slight 

 pressure, and should then be sown 

 immediately. For this purpose use an 

 ordinary seed-pan proportionate in size to 

 the number of seeds, put an inch of drainage 

 in the bottom, and on this a little sphag- 

 num or turfy material. 



The soil should consist of yellow loam, 

 with about one-sixth of sand added ; the 

 loam should not be sifted even for the 

 seeds, but pulled into small pieces and 

 pressed moderately close, a little sand 

 should be sprinkled on the top, and the whole 

 given a good watering ; then lay on the 

 seeds, pressing them gently into the surface, 

 so that they may imbibe the moisture from 

 the soil, which must be kept continually 

 damp ; put them in a temperature of 55° 

 at night, with a few degrees higher during 

 the day ; so treated, they will in the course 

 of two or three months vegetate. They 

 should not be disturbed until the pro- 

 truding roots have descended into and got 

 a firm hold of the soil, during which time 

 a leaf will be formed to each seed. This 

 will usually occupy the whole of the winter 

 and spring after they are sown. Through 

 this time the soil must be kept moderately 

 moist, after which they should be trans- 

 ferred singly into well-drained pots, in soil 

 similar to that in which they were sown. 

 Through the spring the temperature should 

 be gradually raised, and during the summer 

 it may range in the night fiom 60° to 65°, 

 and 10° or 15° higher in the daytime with 

 sun-heat. Keep the plants well up to the 



