CHAP. XVII. 



STERCULIA CEiE. 



363 



riegated-leaved and double-flowered varieties, 

 1*. 6rf. each : seeds are 6s. a pound. At BoU- 

 wyller, the price is 1 franc and 50 cents each 

 plant, for the single-flowered varieties, and 2 

 francs 50 cents for each of the double-flowered 

 varieties. At New York, the single-flowered 

 varieties are 25 cents a plant, the white- 

 double-flowered, and the purple-double-flow- 

 ered, 37 cents a plant ; and the other double- 

 flowered varieties, 50 cents a plant : the seed 

 is 56 cents a quart. 



App. I. Other ligjieoiis Plants of the 

 order Malva^cccc, "which will probablij 

 be found hardy or half-hardy. 



Sirfa pulchella Bonpl., Abhtilon pulchi51him Bot. '^fap;., 

 t. 2.")73., and out Jig. 89. An evergreen New Holland shrul), 

 introduced in 1824, producing its clusters of beautiful white 

 blossoms in the gullies about Sandy Bay, and at the foot of 

 Mount Wellington, in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town, 

 in the depth of winter ; and, as might have been expected, it 

 is found to stand the open air, in sheltered situations, in Eng- 

 land. There is a plant against a wall in the Botanic Garden 

 at Kew, which has stood there since 1822, without any pro- 

 tection whatever. There is a plant of it at Spring Grove, 

 Middlesex, which forms a bush between 3 ft. and 4 ft. 

 high, which has stood several winters without protection, 

 and flowers freely every winter and spring. We have 

 just (February, 1836) sent to ascertain how it has passed 



the late severe frosts, when the thermometer was at 10'; and learn, with satisfaction, that it 

 has suffered little or no injury. The plant is easily increased by cuttings. There is another species, 

 or, perhaps, a variety of this one, which has stood some winters, in a warm situation, at Redleaf, 

 in Kent, where it flowers in January, February, and March. (See Gard. Mag., xi. p. 208.) 



CHAP. XVII. 



OF THE HAUDY AND HALF HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER 

 STERCULIA'CE.E. 



This order is introduced chiefly for the sake of Sterculia platanifdlia L. 

 ICav Dis., 5. 1. 149., and out .fig- 90.) It is a tree, a native of Japan and 

 China with fine large palmate leaves, smooth on both surfaces, and up- 

 right branches without visible buds ; that is, with the buds concealed like 

 those of the walnut, or the Gyramicladus. The flowers are small and green, or 

 greenish yellow. The tree was introduced in 1757, and, at first, treated as a 

 freen house plant ; but it has since been found to be quite hardy ni the 

 neighbourhood of London, more especially when plantetl agamst a wall. 

 There is a tree in the Chelsea Botanic Garden 12 ft. high, which has stood 

 out many years with only a little litter thrown round it occasionally, to 



^'™ ^lanceolata Cav. {Bot. Reg., 1256.), from China; S. diversifupa G. Don, 

 from New Holland ; S. tomcntusa Thunb., from Japan ; S. pctlata G. Don, 

 from China ; are all handsome deciduous trees, with very handsome 

 foliage growing to the height of 20 ft.; and are probably all equally hardy 

 with s! platanifblia. Some of them can be purchased, in the nurseries, 

 at from 5». to 7s. each. 



