128 THE HTJMEA ELEGANS. 



THE HTJMEA ELEGANS, BY R. MACDONALD, DRTTMMOND CASTLE. 

 This is one of the most useful plants that are cultivated, and although introduced to this country 

 upwards of fifty years ago from New South "Wales, it is not often met with, comparatively speaking, 

 with plants of more recent introduction and of much less beauty. This is to be regretted, as by the 

 singularly graceful way in which it produces its numerous pendulous spikes of grass-like flowers, it 

 is reudered one of the most useful ornamental plants we have, either for the green-house or flower- 

 garden during the summer and autumn months. 



Being a green-house biennial, a little seed should be sown early in July by those who wish to 

 have it in bloom during the early part of next season, in a five-inch pot filled with light sandy 

 soil, and slightly covered with the same, and if placed in a frame where there is a little bottom heat 

 and shaded from the sun, it will soon vegetate. When sufficiently strong remove the pot or pots to 

 a cold frame for a few days previously to their being potted, when the number of plants required 

 may be put in three and-a-half inch pots, replacing them again in the frame within three or four 

 inches of the glass, which should be kept rather close and shaded from the sun for a few days. 



"When established they should be inured gradually to the open air, so that the glass may be 

 dispensed with as long as the weather remains favourable ; by which treatment they will receive the 

 benefit of the night dews and of gentle rains, which will make them strong short-jointed plants, 

 that will keep growing through the winter, and bloom during the early part of summer. They 

 will require to be liberally shifted into larger pots as they increase in growth, using the soil rougher as 

 the pots increase in size. About the latter end of October they should be removed to the front stage of 

 the green-house, or any other house where they will have the benefit of light and air, and protection 

 from frost. During the winter, if their pots should become full of roots, shift them into larger 

 pots, so as to enable them to have plenty of fresh roots for the spring growth. 



In spring, after they have received their final shift, and the pots have got full of roots, they will 

 require to be frequently watered with clear manure water, to keep their foliage in a dark green 

 healthy state, as so much of their beauty depends on this being attended to. Very nice plants from 

 five to six feet high may be grown in twelve-inch pots, which have a very fine effect planted near 

 fountains, or singly on grass. But they may be grown larger, or smaller, to suit the place they are 

 intended for, by giving them more or less pot room. Before planting them out in June good large 

 pots should be made for their reception, that will admit of some good rich soil being placed about 

 their roots, which will keep them much longer in a healthy condition, and will save much time in 

 watering them afterwards by retaining moisture, much longer than if planted in poor light soil. 

 When planted they should be supported with strong neat stakes, as invisible as possible, as they are 

 very brittle. — The Scottish Florist and Horticultural Journal, July, 1853. 



DYCLYTRA V. DIELYTRA. 

 A corespondent of the Gardener's Chronicle states, ' that the quccstio vexata, as to the comparative 

 claims of these names, is solved beyond all possibility of doubt, on reference to the original paper in 

 which the genus was proposed. In the second part of the first volume of " Rbmer's Archiv. fur die 

 Botanik," p. 43, 1797, is a paper on the genus Fumaria, by Dr. Moritz Balthazar Borckhausen of 

 Darmstadt. Amongst other genera he proposes that of Dic/ytra for Fumariti cucullaria,~L., resting its 

 characters on the peculiar structure of the corolla, and the six distinct stamens. He adds especially, 

 " I have named the genus from dis, two, and khjtron, a spur, because the flower is so clearly 

 distinguished by its two spurs." ' We observe with regret the French Botanists have partially 

 adopted Dicentra, another synonyme of Borckhauscn's, for the so-called JiUhjtra speetabilia, an 

 example which will not, we trust, be followed in this country. The establishment of some Court of 

 Nomenclature is becoming more than ever necessarv. 



