TEEDIA 



TEEDIA (J. G. Teede, German botanist, who lived 

 some time in Portugal and died at Surinam). Scroph- 

 uldriacew. Two species of South African plants, 

 with pink 5-lobed tls. K-% in. across. They are tender 

 to frost. T. lucida was introduced to southern Cali- 

 fornia in 1900, and Franceschi records that it blooms 

 all the year. The larger-fid. species, T. puoescens, 

 seems not to be known to the American trade. Both 

 plants emit the rank herbaceous smell peculiar to hen- 

 banes when their foliage is bruised, and T. pubescens 

 has the same sort of greasy pubescence. The plants 

 hardly seem worth cultivating in northern greenhouses. 

 When they were new to cultivation they were supposed 

 to be biennial herbs, but Bentham and Hooker call them 

 shrubs. Franceschi writes: " T. lucida acts like an an- 

 nual in southern California. It is rather pretty but 

 weedy. It seeds freely. Seems to prefer half shade. 

 The smell of the foliage is very objectionable." 



Generic characters: calyx deeply 5-cut; corolla-tube 

 cylindrical; lobes 5, rounded, snbequal; stamens 4, 

 didynamous, included; anther-cells parallel, distinct: 

 ovules numerous in each locule : berries subglobose, 

 indehiscent. 



lucida, Rud. Glabrous: stem 4-cornered; lvs. ob- 

 long-ovate, acuminate, 2 in. long, decussate; petioles 

 winged: panicles leafy, decussate: fis. rosy pink : seeds 

 many, small. S. Afr. B.R. 3:209. W. M. 



TELANTHERA ( name refers to the fact that all ten 

 parts of the stamina] cup are equally developed). Ama- 

 rantacece. Alternanthera. Apparently all the Alter- 

 nantheras used by gardeners as bedding plants belong 

 to the genus Telanthera, which is distinguished from 

 the true genus Alternanthera by having 5 anther- 

 bearing stamens and 5 elongated antherless stam- 

 inodia united into a cup or tube. In Alternan- 

 thera the tube is short or almost none, the anther- 

 bearing stamens sometimes less than 5, and the 

 staminodia short or none. Of Telantheras there 

 are 40 to 50 species, mostly herbs, in tropical 

 America and one in western Africa. The leaves 

 are entire, ovate to elongated, opposite : fls. 

 small, usually in dense heads in the axils, whit- 

 ish or sometimes colored, perfect, each sub- 

 tended by 2 bractlets. 



The Alternantheras of gardeners are much 

 used in carpet-bedding and for ribbon-borders, 

 because of their low, compact growth, the bright 

 colors of the foliage, which holds its character 

 throughout the season, and the ease with which 

 they withstand shearing. They are usually kept 

 within six inches of the ground. They are tender 

 to frost, and grow best in warm sunny places. 

 The flowers are inconspicuous and of no account 

 to the gardener. They comprise the stock plants 

 for the foundation work in carpet-bedding. 



The plants are propagated by cuttings or di- 

 vision. In either case, they must be carried over 

 winter in the greenhouse or in hotbeds, prefer- 

 ably in the houses at the North. The plants 

 should be kept at C0° or 65° during winter, and 

 rather dry to hold them more or less dormant. 

 Place them where they will receive only enough 

 light to keep them healthy. (1) Cuttings are 

 usually made in August from strong plants grow- 

 ing in the open. The cuttings can be struck in 

 shallow Hats and then wintered in these flats 

 without transplanting. The cuttings should be 

 well established before winter sets in, else they 

 will remain weak. In March or April they may 

 be potted off, preparatory to using them in the 

 open. (2) Division is usually preferred by gar- 

 deners who have much beading to do. The 

 plants are lifted after the first frost, cut back to 

 three or four inches long, and planted in flats. 

 In March or April, the plants are divided and the 

 parts (with the old roots shortened in) are potted 

 or transplanted to other flats. However grown, 

 the plants should have four to six weeks in a hotbed if 

 possible, before they are placed in the open ground. 

 Even in the warm greenhouse they usually make slow 

 growth in March and April. 



TELEKIA 



1779 



The botanical status of the garden Alternantheras is 

 imperfectly understood, and the group needs careful 

 study from living plants. Various garden names can- 

 not be accounted for at present. The common garden 

 Alternantheras appear to have issued from the three 

 following Brazilian species. 



a. Lvs. essentially lanceolate or elliptic. 



amcena, Regel. Fig. 2478. Very dwarf : lvs. long- 

 lanceolate or oblong - lanceolate, sometimes elliptic, 

 acuminate, very short-petioled, the under color mostly 

 green but veined and blotched with red and orange: 

 fl. -heads sessile, single, in pairs or 3's, and terminal. 

 I.H. 12:447; 15:558. — To this apparently belong the 

 garden names amabilis, spectabilis, sessilis, rosea, 

 Reinhardi. 



aa. Lvs. essentially spatulate. 



Bettzichiana, Regel (Alternanthera paronychioides, 

 Hort. ). Fig. 24786. Lvs. narrow, spatulate, gradually 

 narrowed into a long petiole, orange-red shaded with 

 green: fl. -heads sessile, single, in pairs or 3's, terminal 

 and axillary. I.H. 12:445. — To this species appear to 

 belong the garden names picta, tricolor, aurea, aurea 

 nana compacta, paronychioides, versicolor aurea and 

 p. major Kuntzii, magnified. 



versicolor, Regel. Fig. 2478c. Usually becoming 

 taller, much branched, and apparently less used for 

 carpet-bedding than the others: lvs. round-spatulate, 

 narrowed into a short petiole, the colors mostly in 

 shades of copper-red or blood-red, with patches of 

 green between the veins: fl. -heads sessile, single or in 

 pairs. I.H. 12:440. — T. ficoidea is probably to be re- 

 ferred here. l jj g 



2478. Spray of Telanthera amcena ; also leaf outlines c 

 (a) T. amoena, (b) T. Bettzichiana. (c) T. versicolor. 



TELEGRAPH PLANT. Desmodium yynu,*. 



ferred to Buphthalmum. T. speciosa 



TELEKIA 



is B. specios 



