AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



75 



Gloxinia continued. 



FIG. 117. ERECT-FLOWERED GLOXINIA. 



variegated with spots, axillary, usually singly or a few 

 together, large, nodding. Leaves opposite, stalked. The 

 innumerable forms which are cultivated as Gloxinias 



Gloxinia continued. 



rightly belong to the genus Sinningia, and most of them 

 are derived from 8. speciosa. On account, however, of 

 their being so universally known as Gloxinias, the culti- 

 vation is here given. 



Few stove plants are more beautiful than Gloxinias; 

 and they may, by potting successionally, be had in flower 

 throughout the greater part of the year. They always 

 prove attractive in a warm house, and are very useful for 

 cutting. The flowers originally were all drooping, as 

 shown in Fig. 116, which detracted considerably from 

 their beauty, as now exhibited in the numerous varieties 

 with erect flowers (see Figs. 117 and 118). Some have 

 colours of intense rich crimson ; others are pure white, or 

 are delicately spotted and pencilled internally. 



Propagation. Gloxinias may be annually increased in 

 large quantities by seeds, and by cuttings of the stems 

 or leaves. Seeds should be sown early in February, in 

 well-drained pots or small pans of finely-sifted soil, com- 

 posed of peat, leaf mould, and sand, in about equal pro- 

 portions. After the seeds are thinly sown, and only 

 very slightly covered with soil, they should be care- 

 fully watered, placed in a temperature of about 70deg., 

 and kept shaded. On the appearance of the seedlings, 

 a sharp look-out must be kept, to prevent them damping ; 

 and, as soon as large enough, they should be pricked off, 

 about lin. apart, in other pots of similar soil, and, in 

 due course, potted into single ones. Seedlings form good 

 plants, and flower the same season, if sown early, and 

 afterwards grown on without check, being always kept 

 shaded, and in a moist, warm temperature. Cuttings of 

 shoots may be secured when the old bulbs are started in 

 spring ; they strike very readily in a close propagating 

 frame, and make good plants for flowering the following 

 summer. Leaf cuttings may be inserted when the plants 

 are ripening, or at other times if firm ones can be spared. 

 They should be inserted with a small portion of the 

 petiole attached a bulb forms at the base of this for 

 flowering the next year. A method of propagating more 

 rapidly by matured leaves, is to cut through the midribs 

 at the back of each, at distances of about lin. apart, 



FIG. 118. ERECT-FLOWERED GLOXINIA. 



Fio. 119. GLOXINIA DIVERSIFLORA. 



