STEPHAN'OTIS. 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



321 



young and pliable should be regularly tied 

 out, so as to form neat, shapely heads. 



S. brassiccefolia. Is a large-leaved kind 

 of erect habit. It is a good useful decora- 

 tive plant. From the Canaries. 



S. Butcherii. A fine, deep-coloured 

 variety, of stout erect habit of growth. 

 This we consider the next best variety to 

 S. profusa. 



S. Holfordii. Also a large-leaved variety, 

 and an upright grower. The flower-stems 

 are not produced in such profusion as in 

 some of the others, but are bigger and more 

 branching. 



S. imbricata. A strong-growing, free- 

 flowering sort, ^vith a somewhat upright 

 habit. Teneriffe. 



S. profusa. For general purposes this is 

 the best variety ; it is a branching, dense- 

 habited sort, a very free flowerer and a 

 good grower. A garden variety. 



Insects. — Most of those that infest pot 

 plants will live on these Statices, especially 

 aphides, thrips, and red spider, all of which 

 soon do serious mischief if allowed to re- 

 main undisturbed ; the two former can be 

 destroyed by fumigation, the last is best 

 kept down by a liberal use of the syringe, 

 and if much aft'ected give a good washing 

 with insecticide, not too strong. 



STAUNTONIA LATIFOLIA. 



This is the only species of the genus known 

 in this country. It is a free-growing ever- 

 green greenhouse climber of secondary 

 merit, succeeding with treatment like 

 that ad\nsed for the strong-growing kinds 

 of Kennedya, which see. 



The flowers are a mixture of lilac and 

 green. It comes from China, and usually 

 blooms in spring. 



STENOSPERMATIUM WALLISH. 



In this we have a stove Aroid, which ap- 

 peared as Spathiphyllum Wallisii, and is 

 still sometimes met with under that name. 

 Like many others of the order to which it 

 belongs it is more curious than handsome ; 

 the spathes are white. 



It will grow in material such as is recom- 

 mended for Anthurium Scherzerianum, 

 which see ; similar to the Anthurium it 

 likes plenty of water when growing, and a 

 free use of the syringe daily overhead. 

 "When at rest it must be kept drier at the 

 roots, but not so much as to cause the 

 leaves to become flabby. It comes from 

 Colombia. 



STEPHANOPHTSUM BAIKIEI 



This is a useful winter -flowering 



Acanthad, and although it can only be 

 accounted as holding a secondary place to 

 some of our best winter-blooming plants, 

 still, on account of its free-flowering dis- 

 position and its coming in during the dull 

 season, it deserves to be more "generally 

 gro^vn than it is at present. The flowers 

 are tube-shaped, red in colour, and pro- 

 duced in suflicient quantity to make the 

 plant effective. 



It will succeed under treatment such a^ 

 advised for Erantheniums, which see. 



Insects. — Aphides sometimes attack the 

 young shoots, and should be met by fumiga- 

 tion ; the plant does not seem to' be much 

 subject to other insect pests. 



STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA. 



There are few plants that have so many 

 good properties as this weU-kno^vn fragrant 

 favourite — easily grown, a profuse bloomei; 

 the flowers opening in succession over a con- 

 siderable period, and lasting well indi- 

 vidually. From the time it first became 

 sufficiently known it has always been ad- 

 mitted as one of the best of all bouquet 

 flowers, its pure white, long, tubular 

 blooms arranging admiraljly with any- 

 thing else. Those who grow flowers for 

 the London market treat it so as to have 

 a long succession of bloom. Even a single 

 l^lant, when it has attained a considerable 

 size, will keep on flowering for several 

 months. It will grow in either peat or 

 loam, but as it does not like to be shaken 

 out or to have its roots disturbed often, it 

 is better to grow it in loam, as this will 

 last longer than peat. It strikes freely 

 from cuttings made of the preceding 

 season's shoots, using portions that have 

 not got too hard. If cuttings consisting uf 

 a couple of joints of these are, dming the 

 winter, put in thickly in 5 or 6 inch pots 

 and stood in a temperature of 60", they 

 will callus over in a few weeks, when they 

 may have 10° more warmth, which will 

 enable them to root freely, or young shoots 

 such as break from the old stems in spring 

 may be taken off when 8 or 9 inches long 

 with a heel of the old wood. These, if 

 kept a little close, and in a temperature 

 similar to that mentioned for cuttings of 

 the mature wood, will root directly. When 

 well rooted put them singly in 4-inch pots 

 in good fibrous loam, with sand added, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the soil. They 

 will grow away if kept in a temperature of 

 60° or 65° in the night with a rise by day. 

 It is of t%vining habit, and as soon as the 

 plants begin to grow they will require a 

 stick to each to support them. When the 

 shoots have reached a couple of feet in 



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