AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



217 



Karatas continued. 



lin. or more wide, spinulose-serrate at margin. 

 5502, under name of Billbergia olens.) 



h. 1ft. (B. M. 



FIG. 358. KARATAS HUMILIS. 



K. Plnmierl (Planner's), fl. pink, 



to 300 in number, sessile in a heap or cen 



ile, aggregate. Jr. oval, 

 eap or central group, 

 surrounded by paleaceous expanded leaves or bracts, and 



containing a succulent whitish or yellowish flesh under a coria- 

 ceous and yellowish bark. I. 6ft. to 7ft. long, radical, subulate- 

 linear, sharp-pointed, spiny-edged, h. 2ft. West Indies, 1739. 

 SYNS. liromelin Karatas and B. sceptrum. 



FIG. 359. KARATAS SCHEREMETIEWI. 



K. Scherometiewi (Scheremetiew's). fl. white, blue. I. green ; 

 floral ones bright red, much shorter than the outer ordinary 

 leaves, h. 6in. to 12in. Probably Brazil. SYNS. Car 

 rata, Nidularium Scheremetiem. See Fig. 359. 



K. spectabilis (showy), fl. blood-red, white, pale violet-blue, 

 in a crowded, terminal, flat-topped fascicle. 1. about 1ft. long by 

 IJin. to 2in. broad, broadly strap-shaped, from a broad sheathing 

 base, slightly concave ; margin with small, remote, spiny teeth ; 

 upper surface dark green, except the tip, which presents a bright, 

 blood-red patch im. deep on both surfaces ; under surface 

 covered with alternate transverse bands of dull green or pur- 

 plish and dirty white, h. 1ft. Brazil. (B. M. 6024, under name 

 of Nidularium spectabile.) 



KARELINIA. Now included under Pluchea (which 

 see). 



KAULFTTSSIA (named after Dr. G. P. Kanlfuss, 

 a Professor of Botany at Halle, who died in 1830). 

 ORD. Filices. A curious and very variable stove fern. 

 Sori composed of from ten to fifteen sessile sporangia, 

 arranged in concrete raised circular masses, hollow in 

 the centre. For culture, see Ferns. 



VoLIL 



Kanlfussia continued. 



K. sesculifolia (Chestnut-leaved), eti. 1ft. to lift, long, auricled 

 at the base, fronds ternate or quinate-digitate ; the central pinna; 

 the largest, oblong-spathulate, 6in to 

 12in. long, Sin. to 4m. broad, edge sub- 

 entire ; others similar but smaller, sort 

 copious, scattered. Assam, Malay Is- 

 lands, <fec. The frond is like a Chestnut 

 leaf, and the under surface is dotted 

 over with copious stomata-like pores. 

 The plant usually known as Kaulfussia 

 amelloides is Charieis heterophylla 

 (which see). 



KAURI PINE. SeeDammara 

 australis. 



KEELED. Shaped like the keel 

 of a boat; that is to say, with a 

 sharp projecting ridge, arising from 

 a flat or concave central plate ; e.g., 

 the leaves of sedges, and of many 

 Liliaceous plants. 



KEFERSTEINIA. Now in- 

 cluded under Zygopetalnm (which 

 tee). 



KELLETTIA. A synonym of 

 Prockia (which see). 



KELP. The mineral residue or 

 ash obtained by burning different 

 kinds of seaweed. It was formerly 



of great commercial value and importance, as the source 

 of the carbonate of soda used in glass and soap making, 

 &c. From the quantity of potash which Kelp contains 

 (17'5 per cent.), and the importance of this as an in- 

 gredient of soils, its value is at once apparent. It has 

 been applied, with more or less success, to crops of 

 Potatoes, Broccoli, Cabbage, &c. 



KENNEDY A (named after an English nurseryman). 

 Including Zichya. ORD. Leguminosce. A genus of eleven 

 species of twining or prostrate, greenhouse perennials, 

 from Australia. Flowers red or nearly black, on axillary 

 peduncles, racemose, sub-umbellate or solitary. Legumes 

 linear, compressed. Leaves pinnate, trifoliolate, rarely one 

 or five-foliolate, stipellate ; stipules broad, striated, some- 

 times very broad and connate. Kennedyas are fast-grow- 

 ing plants, well adapted for training up greenhouse pillars 

 or rafters. They may be readily propagated from seeds, 

 which are usually produced in great abundance, and may 

 be sown in spring or summer; or from cuttings of rather 

 firm side shoots, inserted at the same season, in peaty soil, 

 and placed in a close, warm frame. Kennedyas may be 

 grown in pots and trained over trellises if desired, but 

 they succeed better when planted out, in a greenhouse, in 

 a compost of peat and loam. Plenty of water should be 

 given in spring and summer, but not much will be neces- 

 sary in winter, when the plants are at rest. An ordinary 

 greenhouse temperature will be sufficiently high. Insects, 

 especially Scale and Mealy Bug, are frequently very 

 troublesome, and as the numerous growths become so 

 much entwined, it is difficult to effect a clearance. 

 Taking the whole plant down, and thoroughly cleans- 

 ing it with an insecticide before being replaced, is the 

 best plan. An occasional syringing with petroleum and 

 water proves a good preventive against the attacks of 

 Bug. K. prostrata Marryattm is one of the best of green- 

 house twining plants, and, as its leaves and stems are 

 downy, it is seldom attacked by insects of any description. 

 K. cocclnea (scarlet), fl. scarlet ; peduncles bearing three to 

 nine flowers, in an umbellate head. May to August. I. having 

 three obovate leaflets ; stipules lanceolate, spreading. 1803. 

 SYN. K. inophyUa. 



K. Comptoniana. See Hardenbergla Comptoniana. 

 K. cordata. See Hardenbergla monophylla. 

 K. eximia (choice), fl. scarlet, two, three, or more together in 

 an umbel or very short raceme. I. , leaflets three, ovate or obovate, 

 very obtuse. Plant prostrate or twining. (P. M. B. xvi. 35.) 

 K. glabrata (glabrous), fl. scarlet, several together in a small 

 umbel, on axillary peduncles. I., leaflets three, cuneate or 



2 F 



