THE HOME FLORIST. 



Fig, 33. Begonia Rex. 



pot^culture in the window, or out-of-door plant stand, and in hanging baskets, and also Fern- 

 eries, but possess no real value for bedding in the garden unless planted in a warm place well 

 protected from winds. During the greater portion of the year the plants are covered with a 

 profusion of gracefully drooping racemes of rose, pink, white and crimson buds and blossoms of 

 an exceedingly attractive, waxy, coral-like appearance. The plants are of neat, compact habit, 

 Avith glossy green leaves in some varieties and exquisitely cut, in others. Both sections of 

 the Begonia family delight in warm, sandy, well-enriched soil. 



B. Fuchsioides coccinea, deep scarlet; quite a free grower, although all are good in this 

 respect. B. Glaucaphyllia scandens, an early flowering variety, producing its clusters of rich 

 salmon-colored flowers from the axle of each leaf; the plant being of a lovely drooping habit, it 

 is exceedingly fine for hanging baskets, in a warm place. B. Hybrida multiflora, a remarka- 

 bly neat and free-flowering variety, with small, ovate, glossy leaves, and many rosy pink blos- 

 soms; excellent. B. Nitida, a strong growing variety, producing beautiful, large, salmon- 

 colored flowers. B. Nitida alba, a free growing, profuse-blooming variety, producing panicles 

 of pure white flowers during the winter months. B. Palmata, attractive, palm-shaped leaves 

 B. Parviflora, dwarf; a neat growing plant, with white flowers; blooms most profusely in 

 summer, when its flowers are useful for bouquets. B. Saundersonii (Coral Begonia), one of 

 the bast flowering Begoaias ; the flowers are of a scarlet shade of crimson, borne in profusion 

 during the entire winter months; leaves slightly edged with scarlet. B, Weltoniensis, this 

 valuable acquisition, of recent introduction, I consider deserving of more than an ordinary 

 notice. It is a rapid, healthy grower, very profuse bloomer, with beautiful foliage, and always 

 presents an attractive appearance, summer and winter. Fig. 34 represents a pot plant of this 

 variety, and also the individual leaf and flowers, but it is impossible to fairly portray them in 

 the black and white of a wood engraving. The richness of the surface of the leaves, in a natural 

 specimen, show various shades of dark and light green colors of intense richness, and presents 

 a transparent depth of texture, without any gloss whatever, of the most exquisite beauty, being 

 somewhat similar except in color to the bloom on the grape. The flowers and buds are a 

 beautiful pink color, and are produced in clusters, by the hundred, on an ordinary sized plant, 

 with common culture. The leaf-stalk and the entire stalk and branches of the plant are dark 

 crimson, and sufficiently striking to create a contrast, which is as remarkable as it is rare, among 

 plants, with the brilliant green leaves and the pink flowers. Unlike many plants that possess 

 unusually meritorious characteristics this new Begonia is unexcelled by any 6f the old tested 



