172 HOT-HOUSE OF REPOTTING, &C. 



plied with water every day. It delights to he in a moist 

 state. The flowers are small, and in long spikes. The 

 plant is of easy culture, and even rapid in growth : a plant 

 with us, only nineteen months old, is now five feet high. 

 (Soil No. 5.) 



Pancratium is a genus of hot-house bulbs, and now only 

 contains five species. They are all free-flowering. Seve- 

 ral of them are handsome and fragrant. P. maritimum 

 and P. vereciindum are the finest ; the flowers are white, 

 in large umbels ; petals long, recurved, and undulate. P. 

 littoralis, P. speciosum, and P. caribseum, are now given 

 to the genus Hymenocallis, and are fine flowering species. 

 Care must be taken not to give them water while dormant. 

 The soil ought at that time to be in a half dry state. They 

 are in flower from May to August. (Soil No. 12.) 



Pandanus, Screw Pine. There are about twenty species 

 in this genus, several of them very interesting, but none so 

 greatly admired as P. odoralissimus. The leaves in esta- 

 blished plants are from four to six feet long, on the back 

 and edges spiny; are spreading, imbricated, and embracing 

 the stem, and placed in three spiral rows upon it. The 

 top soon becomes heavy when the plant throws out prongs 

 one, two, or three feet up the stem in an oblique descending 

 direction, which take root in the ground, and thus become 

 perfectly supported. It is cultivated in Japan for its de- 

 lightful fragrance, and it is said, "of all the perfumes, it is 

 by far the richest and most powerful." P. utilis, red 

 spined. We question this species, and are inclined to be- 

 lieve that it is the former, only when the plants are newly 

 raised from seed, the spines and leaves are red, changing 

 to green as they become advanced in age. The plants 

 are easy of culture, and will grow almost in any soil. (Soil 

 No. 12.) 



Passiflora, "Passion-Flower, so named on account of its 

 being supposed to represent in the appendages of its flower 

 the Passion of Jesus Christ." There are about fifty spe- 

 cies, all climbing plants, that belong to the hot-house. Many 

 are of no ordinary beauty; a few species are odoriferous; 

 others bear edible fruits, though not rich in flavour. P. 

 aluta is in our collections, and greatly admired ; the flowers 

 are red, blue, and white, beautifully contrasted, and flower 

 profusely in pots. P. racemosa, red flower. P. cceruleo- 





