318 THE PRINCIPLES OF FLORICULTURE 



and placed where the plants will freeze, covering the pots 

 with soil so they will not break. They may be taken into 

 the house about the first of December for forcing. 



CALCEOLARIAS 



475. Botanical classification. Order, Scrophulariacese ; 

 genus, Calceolaria (Latin calceolus a slipper alluding 

 to the saccate flowers) ; species : arachnoidea, mostly 

 purple; crenatiflora, mostly yellow with orange-brown 

 dots ; corymbosa, clear yellow with small flowers. Most 

 greenhouse forms are hybrids of the first two, and are 

 known as herbeohybrida or arachnoideo-crenatiflora (Fig. 35) . 



476. Botanical characters. Greenhouse species of 

 calceolarias are herbaceous annuals. The corolla is two- 

 parted nearly to the base; the lower part inflated and 

 slipper-like, and the upper part smaller and ascending, 

 still usually saccate. They are variously colored in intense 

 rich shades of yellow and red. The fruit is a capsule 

 filled with tiny seeds. 



Habitat. South America, Mexico and New Zealand. 



477. Propagation. Most calceolarias are hybrids, and 

 are grown as greenhouse annuals for decorative purposes 

 in March, April and early May. The seed is very fine, 

 almost as fine as fern spores, and must be most carefully 

 sown and tended. The first sowings for flowering in March 

 should be made the last of June, and to have a succession 

 of bloom, sowings should be made about once in three weeks 

 until the last of August. 



478. Culture. The soil should be composed of equal 

 parts of leaf -mold, sand and sod-loam. The seed- pans 

 should be perfectly clean, and plenty of drainage for the 

 bottom of the pan should be provided. The pots should 



