OXALIS ELE G AN S— Elegant Wood Sorrel. 



THIS very pretty flowering plant was discovered by Humboldt on 

 the Andes of Loxa, in Columbia, bordering on Pern, at an ele- 

 vation of nearly seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. It 

 has recently been sent by Mr. Lobb to Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter. It 

 appears to be quite hardy, and flourishes when grown in the border in 

 a warm, sheltered situation, and in a mixture of equal parts of sandy- 

 loam, peat, and leaf-mould, upon a dry substrata, the roots being 

 planted about iialf an inch deep. If the roots are allowed to remain 

 in the border during winter, there should be a protection of dry leaves 

 over them, which should have a sprinkling of chopped twigs scattered 

 upon the surface, to prevent the'leaves being blown away. In April 

 this covering must be removed, at least the dry portion of it. In cold 

 situations it would be best to forward tiie plants in pots, and having 

 them kept during winter in a cool pit-frame, and not have much water; 

 then at the latter end of April turn them out of the pots entire into 

 the bed or border. It is one of the prettiest dwarf bedding plants, 

 blooming profusely throughout summer and autumn, and merits a place 

 in every flower-garden. 



It is a very pretty plant for the greenhouse or sitting-room, succeed- 

 ing admirably in either. 



The proper time for potting is when the leaves have began to decay 

 and the tubers are beginning to start, at which time, too, they must be 

 separated, in order to multiply them. 



The entire tribe of Oxalis amply repays for every attention bestowed. 

 Some of the kinds, as well as the O. elegans, ai-e very beautiful bedding 

 plants. On a dry warm south border in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden at Cliiswick, during the last summer and autumn, a bed of tlie 

 O. BoM-eii was a complete carpet of lovely rosy-ciimson flowers. Tiie 



Vol. XVIII. No. ra.—N.S. » 



