380 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Monsonia contin ued. 



mould added. Propagated by seeds, sown in a slight 

 hotbed, in spring ; or by cuttings, inserted in sandy soil, 

 under a handlight, in spring or autumn. The species 

 here described are probably the only ones yet introduced. 

 M. lobata (lobed). fl. variegated with purple, red, white, and 

 greenish on the outside, but pale bluish, with a darker base, 

 inside ; peduncles long, one-flowered, furnished with six or eight 

 whorled bracts in the middle. Spring. I. cordate, five to seven- 

 lobed ; lobes blunt, serrated, pilose beneath, h. 1ft. Cape of 

 Good Hope, 1774. Sub-shrub. (B. M. 385.) 

 M. speciosa (showy).* ft. rose-coloured, with a purple eye 

 greenish outside, large. Spring. 1. palmately five-parted, with 

 the segments finely bipinnatifld. A. 6in. Cape of Good Hope, 

 1774. Sub-shrub. (B. M. 73.) 



MONSTERA (derivation unexplained by Adanson, 

 who gave the generic name). SYNS. Serangium, Tornelia. 

 ORD. Aroideoe (Araceai). A small genus (about twelve 



FIG. 685. MONSTERA DELICIOSA. 



species have been described) of curious and ornamental 

 stove evergreen climbers, all natives of the West Indian 

 Islands and tropical America. Spathe deciduous ; spadix 

 deciduous, female flowers below, hermaphrodite ones 

 above ; stamens of the upper flowers with flattened fila- 

 ments, and two-celled anthers, opening by a short lateral 

 slit. Leaves stalked, entire or perforated with holes, 

 ultimately divided at the margin; petioles sheathed at 

 the base. Monsteras thrive well if planted out on a 

 well-drained mound of rich soil, against the damp wall 

 of a stove, to which they firmly attach themselves by 

 their long aerial roots. It is only in large structures 

 that they can be allowed to develop at will ; in smaller 

 houses, they do well in pots. They are readily propagated 

 by cutting up the stems. 



M. Adansonia (Adanson's). ft. yellow, white; spathe boat- 

 shaped. May. I. obliquely ovate-cordate, pertuse. West Indies, 

 1752. (B. M.5086.) 



M. deliciosa (delicious-fruited), fl. yellowish. Summer. 

 jr. succulent, with a luscious pine-apple flavour. L large, per- 

 forated in a singular manner, leathery. Mexico. A handsome 

 plant for sub-tropical gardening. SYNS. Philodendron pertusum, 

 Cornelia fragrant. See Fig. 585. 



MONTAGNEA. A synonym of Montanoa (which 

 M0). 



MONTANOA (called after Montano, a Mexican 

 politician). SYNS. Eriocarpha, Eriocoma, and Montagnea. 

 ORD. Composite. This genus comprises about fourteen 

 species of shrubs, sometimes arborescent, rarely suffru- 

 ticose, natives of North America, ranging from Mexico 

 to Columbia. Flower-heads white, or sometimes pink, 

 heterogamous, in corymbose panicles ; ray-florets sterile ; 

 achenes glabrous, the hypogynous disk sometimes so 



Montanoa can t inucd. 



much developed as to resemble a cup-sbaped pappus. 

 Leaves opposite, entire, dentate, or broadly lobed ; lower 

 ones sometimes large, pinnatifid. Montanoas thrive in 

 good fibrous loam, and succeed best in the cool conserva- 

 tory. Propagated by seeds, sown in gentle bottom heat, 

 in spring, and the seedlings gradually hardened off ; or 

 by cuttings of roots, inserted in autumn, and of the stems 

 or shoots, in spring. These latter must be placed in a 

 close, heated frame. M. bipinnatijida makes a striking 

 plant for summer sub-tropical gardening. 

 M. bipinnatifida (bipinnatifid).* fl.-heads yellow, in the apices 

 of the branches, heterogamous ; ray-florets ligulate ; disk-florets 

 tubular, funnel-shaped ; receptacle convex, scaly. L opposite, 

 petiolate, bipinnatifid ; lower ones piunatifid, rigid, pilose ; seg- 

 ments serrate, h. 6ft. to 8ft. Mexico. SVNS. M. heracleifolia, 

 Polymnia grandis, P. heracleifolia. See Fig. 586. (R. H. 1863,370.) 



FIG. 586. MONTANOA BIPINNATIFIDA. 



