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GRAMMANTHES GENTI ANOIDES. 



Gentian-like Grammanthes. 

 Linnem Class— Pentandria. Order— Pentagynia. Natural Order— Crassulaceje:. 



The House-leek tribe includes within its limits so few plants which are not peren- 

 nial, that the present subject, an annual, has some claim to be regarded as a novelty. 

 The Grammanthes gentianoides is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and is, we 

 believe, a recent introduction. It grows but a few inches high, and has smooth, 

 rather brittle stems, and blunt, fleshy leaves, like those of most Crassulaceous 

 plants. The flowers are of an orange-yellow tint, in terminal clusters, each with 

 five petals, five stamens, and five distinct styles and carpels. The last feature is^so 

 eminently characteristic of the plants of this order, that, taken in conjunction with 

 their succulent habit, it affords an easy method of distinguishing them from all 

 other tribes. 



The blossoms arc remarkable for a dark stain at the base of each lobe of the 

 corolla, and which being continued along the middle of each petal towards its 

 extremity, partially divides the ground colour, so as to give it an appearance which 

 has been not inaptly compared to that of the letter V ; and it is in allusion to this 

 circumstance that the genus has been named, from gramma, a letter, and anthos, a 

 flower. 



It is well known that succulents will flourish in a very small amount of soil, and 

 that of the poorest description, and this peculiarity must be borne in mind in the 

 cultivation of the Grammanthes. It requires to be sown in spring, in pots of sandy 

 soil, and placed in a moderate hotbed until the young plants are an inch or two 

 high, when, if very thickly placed, they may be transferred to wider pots, but 

 otherwise they may remain in the seed-pot until the weather is sufficiently mild to 

 permit of their removal to the borders. From their limited growth, single specimens 

 of the plant produce but little effect ; it is therefore advisable to plant them in 

 patches as large as the supply of plants will admit of, and where the soil is not 

 very sandy, it must be removed to the depth of three or four inches, its place being 

 supplied by the poorest material that cau be obtained ; as a further precaution 

 against excess of moisture a thin tile may be placed beneath this stratum of 

 earth, and the surface of the ground covered with small pebbles. 



The plant is, however, better suited to the rockery than for the border, as in wet 

 seasons it is liable to rot, notwithstanding any precaution that may be taken. 



It must be remembered that in the dry climate of the Cape, but little rain falls 

 during several months of the year, aud that the aridity both of the atmosphere and 



