280 



Greenhouse and Stove Plantt^. 



give increased room each succeeding spring 

 to maintain healthy growth ; when too 

 large the specimens may be divided in two 

 > . more parts at discretion. 



The plant is a native of New Zealand ; 

 its flowers are white, but they possess little 

 beauty. Besides the green-leaved species 

 there are several variegated forms much 

 more attractive in appearance. 



P. tenax Culensoii. Has prettily-varie- 

 gated leaves. 



P. tenax variegatum. The leaves of this 

 kind are half creamy white. 



The treatment required by these is in 

 no way different from that which meets 

 the wants of the green kind. 



Insects. — The hard texture of the plants 

 is such that few insects molest them. 

 Syringe freely during the summer to keep 

 down red spider. Should scale become 

 troublesome sponge with insecticide. 



PHYLLOGATHIS EOTUNDIFOLIA. 



A handsome-leaved stove Melastomad, 

 the chief attraction of which is its distinct 

 foliage. The leaves are large, heart-shaped, 

 and toothed on the margin ; glossy green 

 above, reddish-brown beneath. It requires 

 similar treament to Sphaerogynes, which 

 see. A native of Sumatra. 



PHYLLOT^NIUM LINDENU. 



A stove Aroid that used to be known 

 under the name of Xanthosoma Lindenii. 

 It is nearly allied to the Caladiunis ; the 

 leaves are sagitate, with white ribs which 

 stand out in bold relief from the bright 

 green ground colour of the leaf-blade. It 

 requires treatment similar to the Alocasias, 

 which see. Introduced from New Grenada. 



PHYSIANTHUS. 



Evergreen climbers that will succeed in 

 a greenhouse temperature, and are occa- 

 sionally met with trained to the rafters, or 

 on the walls of a cool house. 



They are propagated by cuttings struck 

 in spring in the ordinary way, in a mode- 

 rate stove heat ; when rooted pot singly in 

 peat with some sand added ; keep in an 

 intermediate temperature until well esta- 

 blished, after which greenhouse warmth 

 will suffice through the autumn and 

 winter. In spring plant out in a bed of 

 peat to which add a little rotten manure 

 and some sand, and train the shoots as 

 they extend to the wires intended to sup- 

 port them. The plants will last for many 

 years if top-dressed in spring with new 



soil, and assisted through the growing 

 season with manure-water. 



F. albens. A white-flowered species ; 

 blooms in summer. From Buenos Ayres. 



P. auricomus. Has white and yellow 

 flowers, produced in autumn. From 

 Brazil. 



Insects. — Aphides and red spider are 

 often troublesome in the summer on these 

 plants ; fumigate for the former and 

 syringe freely with clean water to remove 

 the spider. Brown scale will also live on 

 them ; for these cut in the shoots freely 

 after blooming, and syringe with insecti- 

 cide. 



PIMELEA. 



These well-known evergreen greenhouse 

 plants are from New Holland, and have 

 long been favourites for pot culture. They 

 difl'er very considerably, not only in the 

 size and colour of the flowers, but also in 

 general appearance. Of late years they 

 have not been so much gro-wn as in times 

 past, neither does their cultivation appear 

 so well understood by the plant-growers of 

 the present day as by those who some 

 years ago used to produce them in such 

 fine condition. This may be accounted for 

 in this way : they are plants that are 

 naturally suited by their general habit for 

 exhibition purposes, and the exhibitions of 

 the present day are not held so early as 

 they were in years past when the London 

 shows used to commence in the beginning of 

 May ; now there is rarely anything of the 

 sort attempted until later in the month. 

 This necessitates the whole of the green- 

 house hardwooded stock being kept several 

 degrees cooler all through the winter than 

 would have been necessary under the old 

 time of commencing the exhibitions, and 

 these plants do not well bear this lower 

 temperature, not liking to be kept under 

 40° to 45° in the night. 



The different varieties of Pimelea require 

 more water than many plants from the 

 same country, to some extent at the root 

 and in the atmosphere^ but more particu- 

 larly directly overhead, in the shape of 

 daily syringings during their season of 

 growth ; without these they become a prey 

 to red spider, which soon does irreparable 

 injury, damaging the foliage, and quickly 

 inducing a hardened condition of the wood, 

 which prevents free growth, a state from 

 which they rarely, or never, fully recover. 

 The above remai'ks apply in general to the 

 different sj^ecies, but as in other matters 

 relative to their culture they differ con- 

 siderably, it will be necessary to treat of 

 them in some measure individually. 



