4 PELARGONIUM QTTERCIFOLnTM. 



Some of the older Pelargoniums are remarkable, less for the beauty of their 

 flowers than for their scented leaves; as in the case of the well known nutmeg- 

 scented Geranium, P. fragrant ; the sweet-scented, P. odoratissimum ; the rose-scented, 

 P. capitatum; the citron-scented, P. gratum; and were the plant now figured a distinct 

 species instead of a hybrid, it might with propriety be termed the pepper-scented 

 Geranium, for its foliage possesses a distinct, but by no means obtrusive, odour of that 

 rather plebeian condiment. 



It is a matter of regret that the popular taste for the florist's hybrid Pelargoniums, 

 should have driven out of cultivation nearly all the more interesting of the older 

 and original species, many of which are not now procurable at any price. 



As the flowers of Orchidaceous plants are said to imitate almost every object in the 

 animated kingdom of nature, so among the species of Pelargonium to which we now 

 refer, may be found illustrations of nearly every imaginable vaiiety of foliage, borrowed, 

 so to speak, from orders and genera of the most dissimilar habits and structure ; from 

 the linear to the orbicular ; from the entire undivided leaf to that cut into the finest 

 capillary segments — all may here find a representative; these sections of the genus, 

 offering in this respect a striking contrast to the uniform shape of the foliage of the 

 commoner varieties. Nor arc the flowers of a considerable number less interesting 

 than the leaves, and, with the exception of the tuberous species, which are difficult 

 of cultivation, they require no great amount of skill in their management. 



We shall be glad to aid in bringing into notice some of the best of those now attainable, 

 as we feel assured, they need only be known, in order to be appreciated at their 

 jnst value. 



Cultivation. — The treatment of the varieties usually grown as window plants is 

 so well known, that our remarks on the management of the plant now figured need 

 not be very extended. Writing, as we professedly do, for a class of readers who may 

 not be in possession of the horticultural appliances of some of their more fortunate 

 neighbours, it will not be enough to state the best method of cultivation, abstractly 

 speaking, we must also bear in mind the resources of those whom we address. To 

 apply this remark to the propagation of Unique, which, as in eveiy case in which it 

 is desired to increase any particular, variety, is by cuttings. These will strike at 

 almost any period of the year upon a hotbed, and where this is attainable, it is advisable 

 to take the cuttings early in the spring, not only because with a gentle steady bottom 

 heat they will then root quickly, and, with care, flower freely the same season ; but 

 also that the vegetative powers of the plant being then at their maximum, the loss 

 of a few of its branches will be sooner replaced then at any other season. 



Where, however, the loss of the early flowers would be considered an object, the 

 cuttings might bo taken at a later period; but they would require more care in their 

 management, and bottom heat would be their indispensable. Whether struck early or 

 late, the cuttings are best taken off just below the third or fourth joint from the extremity 

 of the branch, and after having their ends cut close with a sharp knife, and the lower 



