THYRSACANTHUS. 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



333 



keep them in a brisk stove temperature 

 where they can receive a pretty full 

 amount of light and air during the middle 

 of the day and no more shade than is 

 requisite to keep the leaves from scorching. 

 Syringe freely in the afternoons at the time 

 the house is closed, and pinch out the 

 points of the shoots when they have at- 

 tained the length of 3 feet to cause them 

 to break out several branches. 



All the kinds are comparatively quick 

 growers and the plants wll bear moving 

 into 10-inch or 11 -inch pots by the end of 

 June ; treat them in other matters as be- 

 fore, and train the shoots on the rafters, or 

 whatever position they are intended to 

 occupy ; possibly some flowers may be 

 produced towards the end of summer, but 

 it is in the following season that the dis- 

 play may be looked for. By the middle of 

 September cease syringing and shading, 

 give more air and less water to the roots, 

 so as to discourage growth and gradually 

 bring them to a state of rest ; a night tem- 

 perature of 60° through the winter will 

 answer. About the commencement of the 

 year cut out the weak shoots should any 

 exist, and later on, when growth has begun, 

 move the plants into 16-inch or 18-inch 

 pots, or even larger, if a large space has to 

 be covered with their branches. As the 

 summer advances treat as advised the pre- 

 ceding season and keep the shoots loosely 

 trained to the position th^y are intended 

 to occupy, allowing their lateral branches 

 to hang, in whicli way the flowers are seen 

 to so much better advantage than when 

 tied in too closely. As the pots get full of 

 roots give manure-water freely. Instead 

 of confining their roots to pots they may 

 lie planted out, but even where a large 

 space is available for head-room it is not 

 advisable to have the bed in which they 

 are turned out too large, or they get almost 

 unmanageable. When the flowering is over 

 cut back the shoots so far as necessary, and 

 in the spring, when growth is about begin- 

 ning, tui'n those that are in pots out, re- 

 moving some of the soil about the upper 

 portion of the ball, and replacing it with 

 new ; as soon as the roots have fairly begun 

 to move manure-water must be freely used, 

 without which, unless much larger pots or 

 tubs are employed than are necessary for 

 most things, they will not, on account of 

 their vigorous habit, have enough suste- 

 nance to keep them going so as to make 

 the requisite growth. Where planted out 

 remove a portion of the surface soil in 

 spring and replace it with new. Most of 

 these Thunbergias will last longer where 

 they have a bed of soil wherein to extend 

 moderately, as their rapid formation of 



roots, even with a liberal application of 

 manure-water, quickly exhausts the limited 

 quantity of soil a pot holds ; consequently, 

 when confined to pots it is necessary to 

 propagate sutticiently often to keep up a 

 supply of plants to take the place of those 

 it becomes necessary to discard. 



The undermentioned kinds are the most 

 desirable : — 



T. alata. Has yellow flowers, produced 

 in summer or autumn. A native of India. 



T. chrysops. A native of Sierra Leone, 

 has flowers of a blue or violet shade, pro- 

 duced in summer or autumn. 



T. coccinea. From Trinidad, bears 

 scarlet blooms, which, like those already 

 named, appear in summer. 



T. fragrans. Is a white-bloomed species, 

 and, as its name implies, fragrant. It comes 

 from India, and flowers in the summer. 



T. Harrisi. A pale blue kind, which has 

 a yellow eye that sets oft' the flower very 

 well ; it comes from Madras ; a summer 

 flowerer. 



T. laurifolia. A pale blue-flowered 

 species from Malacca, with handsome 

 foliage and a strong, rambling habit of 

 growth ; blooms in summer. 



The whole of these are really stove 

 species, and it is no use attempting their 

 cultivation unless a suitable temperature 

 is at conmiand. 



Insects. — Those that attack most heat- 

 requiring plants Avill live upon Thun- 

 bergias, and must be dealt with when they 

 make their appearance in the usual way by 

 washing, sponging, and syringing. 



THYRSACANTHUS RUTILANS. 



This plant belongs to a limited section 

 of Acanthads, and is much the best of the 

 Thyrsacanthus. It is not only deserving 

 of cultivation on account of its elegant 

 habit, but its merits are still further en- 

 hanced by the singular, long, drooping 

 panicles of red tube-shaped flowers which 

 api^ear in the winter season, when bright 

 flowers are doubly acceptable. The Thyrsa- 

 canthus are nearly allied to Justicias, and, 

 like some of them, this plant possesses an 

 upright habit of growth. It is a native of 

 South America, from whence it was intro- 

 duced about thirty years ago. It is easily 

 gro%vn, but requires a moderate stove or 

 intermediate temperature. Cuttings made 

 of the young shoots, which are produced 

 early in the spring after the plants have 

 done flowering, if taken oft' when about 3 

 or 4 inches long, will root readily inserted 

 in small pots filled with sandy soil, kept 

 moist, shaded, and covered with pro- 

 pagating glasses in a temperature of 68° 



