CANTUA DEPENDENS. 57 



Geraniums, it continues to grow slowly during the cooler months of the year, it 

 will not tolerate the complete neglect to which many deciduous plants may be 

 subjected with impunity. 



It is propagated by cuttings which root freely under a bell-glass, in a light soil, 

 and more readily with a little bottom heat. It appears to flourish most in a 

 mixture of sandy peat, good loam, and leaf mould, though it will succeed in 

 any soil not of too extreme a character. We are not aware whether it has yet 

 ripened seed in this country ; should this be the case, a ready mode of increasing it 

 will thus be offered. 



The species we now figure is the Cantua huxifolia of Lamarck ; and, in fact, it has 

 been published under that designation in the Botanical Magazine. 



But, notwithstanding the priority of this appellation, it has been clearly shown to 

 be inappropriate, inasmuch as the lower leaves of each shoot are all more or less 

 toothed ; and we have therefore preferred the specific term dependens, first applied 

 to this species by Persoon, and now adopted by Lindley and other eminent 

 Botanists. This splendid plant appears to vary considerably, not only in the 

 pubescence and form of its foliage, but also in the colour of its flowers, which, in 

 some specimens, are of a pure yellow, and in others, both white and yellow. The 

 delicate teeth which appear in our figure at the edge of the lobes of the corolla, are 

 occasionally wanting. 



There are several other species of Cantua, two of which, the C. licolor 

 and C. pyrifoUa, are already in cultivation in this country ; but none of them 

 at all approach in beauty our present illustration, the flowers of which we may 

 remark, en passant, are nearly four inches long. 



The Cantua licolor is, however, a very pretty shrub, with flowers somewhat 

 resembling those of the Thunbergia Fryerii, but smaller. The generic name is a 

 slight modification of the vernacular term Cantu, by which the species are known 

 among the Indians of Peru. The love of these untutored children of nature for 

 the floral treasures of their native woods is well known, and the flowers of the 

 C. dependens are said to be held in high estimation by them, being often used 

 for the adornment of their dwellings on feast-days. 



The Cantuas are distinguished from most other plants of the order, by their 

 winged seeds, and strongly nerved or ribbed calyx. The imbrication of the 

 lobes of the corolla in the flower bud, the three-cleft stigma, and the three- 

 celled capsule, opening when ripe by three valves, are common to the whole tribe. 



The order Polemoniacece is much less extensive than many other of the natural 

 families, but most of the genera included in it are esteemed for their showy 

 character. The Gilias, Leptosiplions, and Collomias, are among the prettiest of 

 the Californian annuals ; and still better known are the Phloxes, than which few 

 herbaceous plants have higher claims to cultivation. Nor must we forget the 

 genus Polemonium, the type of the order, of which there are several species; 



