DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 289 



shallow 1)011(1, keeping the roots immersed in water. I 

 was told it would there succeed far better than by any- 

 other method ; but in this particular I find it very much 

 to the contrary. A soil as above described, and a good 

 supply of water in dry weather, are all that is required. 

 I had a j^lant grown in a pot this summer, the size above 

 particularized. The species and all its A^arieties are 

 readily increased by taking off rooted shoots, or by cut- 

 tings. Seed sown in spring, and the plants pricked out 

 into a bed of rich soil, will flower by July, and continue 

 through the season. The impregnation of these kinds, 

 with any or all of the others, produces a pleasing and in- 

 teresting variation of flowers." A variety of this, called 

 M. variegatus^ is a delicate flowering one, and other va- 

 rieties have been called species under the names of 3f. 

 pimctatus^ M. speciosits^ M. ruhimis^ etc. 



M. cardinalis. — This is another A^ery ornamental spe- 

 cies, with brilliant scarlet flowers, with varieties having 

 rose or orange-colored blossoms. It requires the same 

 treatment as the other species, and is equally rapid in 

 its growth. I have not, however, ever raised plants as 

 large as have been described. 



M. moschatUS. — Musk Plant. — Tliis Avell-known Ifimu- 

 lus is cultivated on account of the musky odor of the 

 plant, rather than for its flowers, which are yellow and 

 much smaller than in most of the species. It delights in 

 a rich spil, and if the summer proves dry, the plant re- 

 quires a free supply of water; if deprived of tliis, it will 

 be weakly, and produce but few flowers. AVhen grown 

 in such a soil, and well attended with water, a plant has 

 been knoAvn to grow two feet high. To effect this, the 

 suckers, as fast as they appeared, were pinched ofl*, so 

 that the strength of the plant was thrown into a single 

 stem; the result was, an upright pyramidal plant, two 

 feet high, clothed with blossoms from bottom to top. 

 1 o 



