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TACSONIA MANICATA. 



Gauntletted Tacsonia. 

 Linnean Class — Monadelfhia. ■ Order — Pentandria. Natural Order — PassifloracejK. 



We do not expect often to have the privilege of introducing to our readers so 

 splendid a plant as the Tacsonia manicata. The Passion-worts comprise some of the 

 most gorgeous of tropical climbers ; but there are few, even of the tender species, 

 which surpass or equal in beauty this magnificent plant. Its probable suitability 

 for out-door cultivation increases immensely the value of this introduction ; for 

 had it proved tender, it would necessarily have been confined to the comparatively 

 few persons possessing a conservatory or stove ; whilst, if our anticipations as to 

 its hardiness are correct, it will, we trust, be grown wherever there is a trellis or 

 verandah to cover. 



Although it is brought to us from equatorial regions, yet the altitude at which it 

 is found growing (often 7000 feet above the level of the sea), favours the supposi- 

 tion that it will support our climate in situations not too much exposed. The 

 Oxalis elegans from the same localities proves to be hardy ; and we have so little 

 doubt that, with slight protection while young, the Tacsonia manicata will endure 

 exposure, that we have turned out our own specimen of this plant against a trellis, 

 with the intention of allowing it to remain through the winter. Should it, 

 however, be deemed in any case advisable to house this or any other species, 

 it could easily be effected at the end of the autumn. The plant might be plunged 

 in the ground, in a very large pot ; or if turned out of the pot, the roots should, 

 at the end of the autumn, be chopped round at a distance of a foot from the stem, 

 a week or so before removing it from the ground. If the plant were then carefully 

 potted with as little disturbance of the soil from its roots as possible, and the stem 

 cut down to within two or three feet from the ground, it might be safely preserved 

 in any dry place into which frost could not penetrate. If left exposed, we would 

 advise that, in addition to a thick double mat over the stem, some means of warding 

 off heavy rains from the soil in the immediate vicinity of the roots, should be adopted. 

 And we would even venture to recommend that this precaution should be taken 

 early in autumn ; for the copious supplies of moisture to their roots, by which their 

 tissues become gorged with watery juices at a period when the skilful horticulturist 

 restricts the quantity to those more completely under hia control, is the chief causo 



