THE FLORAL MORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 225 



HIBISCUS COOPERII. 



| HIS splendid species of Hibiscus is a native of the hottest 

 parts of the Australian colonies, where it was first 

 discovered by Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., of Woollabra, 

 near Sydney. The plant is rather delicate, but when 

 properly treated it grows freely, and is extremely beau- 

 tiful. It has been described as a greenhouse plant, but to grow it 

 well it requires careful stove cultivation. The young stems are of a 

 deep red colour, also the footstalks of the leaves and the stipules 

 that accompany them. The leaves are lanceolate or elongate-ovate, 

 wedge-shaped at the base, pointed at the apex, and irregularly bluntly 

 toothed. They vary considerably in colours but the prevailing tints 

 are carmine-red, with patches of creamy white in the outer parts of 

 the blade, with more or less of light and dark gi-een, dappled in the 

 line of the midrib ; and numerous as are the plants with highly- 

 coloured leaves, there are few that equal this in the abundance and 

 richness of its tones of red ; and when it flowers, the flowers are not 

 surpassed in splendour by any other species of this noble family. 

 The petals of the flowers are of an intense scarlet colour, but the 

 base of each is blush, which breaks into the scarlet in delicate veins, 

 the centre of the flower being blackish crimson. All the stove 

 Bpecies of Hibiscus do well in a soil consisting wholly of tough 

 fibrous peat, or the most mellow fibrous l)am that can be obtained. 

 H. Cooperi may be quickly struck with a good heat ; but care must 

 be taken not to make the cuttings too wet, or they will perish. 



THE CULTIVATION OF CACTI. 



(HE majority of the genera are sun-loving subjects, and, 

 as a consequence,, the first thing to be taken into con- 

 sideration is, to get your house sc situated as to insure 

 the greatest amount of direct light ; the best aspect 

 will be due south ; a lean-to house is the best, with 

 good clear glass, to which the plants must be as near as possible. 

 The genera Epiphyllum and Rhipsalis are exceptions to this rule, 

 and prefer a little shade in the summer, as they mostly grow in the 

 forests ; but in any house there are always some parts more in the 

 Bhade than others. The plants are not damaged by the sun, but 

 will grow more luxuriantly in the shade. It is not easy to get the 

 house too hot for Cacti in the summer, but they will thrive well in a 

 temperature of G0° to 80° with sun, and in winter the majority will 

 bear a minimum of 40° with dry air ; though the genera Ehipsalis 

 and Epiphyllum must be kept at 55 c to G5°, or they will protest by 

 looking very yellow. Most of these plants being natives of those 

 parts of America lying south of the equator, they, as a consequence, 

 get their warmest season when we get our coldest, which gives them 

 a tendency to grow during our winter, and a predilection for rotting 



AugUbt. 15 



