COLD-STORAGE 



COLEUS 



827 



1027. Coitus cutting. 



L. longiflorum and its varieties multiflorum, formosum 

 and giganteum, 6- to 8-inch, 400; 7- to 9-inch, 300; 9- 

 to 11 -inch, 200; in L. longiflorum giganteum there is an 

 8- to 10-inch size which runs 225 to the case; L. auratum 

 8- to 9-inch, 160; 9- to 11-inch, 100; 11- to 13-inch, 75; 

 L. speciosum, 8- to 9-inch, 200; 9- to 11-inch, 100; 11- 

 to 13-inch, 75. Lily-of-the-valley pips are packed in a 

 mixture of sphagnum and sand, one-fourth of the latter 

 being used to three-fourths of the moss and held at 28. 

 These are packed 500, 1,000 and 2,000 to the case and 

 can be kept in storage 

 eleven months. Canna 

 roots, dahlias and gladioli 

 should be held at 35 to 40. 

 Cut-flowers, such as roses, 

 carnations, orchids, violets, 

 and lilies, used by florists, 

 are preserved for varying 

 periods in ice-boxes or refrig- 

 erators, the usual tem- 

 perature being 35 to 40. 

 Peonies cut when the buds 

 show color, leaves removed 

 from the lower part of the stem, wrapped in paper, 

 and the lower bare portions of the stems placed in 

 w r ater, will keep several weeks at a temperature of 32 

 to 33. Lilium candidum in bud can be treated the 

 same way. 



Fruits and vegetables are stored at 33 to 35. Ware- 

 housemen say that cold-storage merchandise keeps 

 best and is easiest to handle in packages containing 

 about a bushel. See Storage. MICHAEL BARKER. 



COLE. A generic name, little known in North 

 America, for plants of the cabbage tribe; cole-oil is 

 secured from species of Brassica. 



COLEA (Sir G. Lowry Cole, Governor of Mauritius). 

 Bignoniacese. Glabrous evergreen trees or shrubs of 

 Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles, members 

 of which may occur in collections of warmhouse (or 

 stove) plants. Lvs. opposite or verticillate, pinnate, 

 with many entire Ifts. : fls. medium-sized, yellow, white 

 or rose-color in lax or dense cymes or fascicles; corolla 

 funnelform, somewhat bilabiate, with 5 rounded 

 spreading lobes; perfect stamens 4, didynamous. 

 Probably 15 species, but little known in cult. They 

 thrive in a fibrous earth and prop, by means of mature 

 shoots in sand over bottom-heat. 



COLEUS (Greek for sheath, referring to the mona- 

 delphous stamens). Labiatse. Common window-gar- 

 den and greenhouse showy-leaved herbs, and a few 

 less known species grown for the handsome flowers. 



Herbs or small shrubs, annual 

 or perennial, upright : Ivs. opposite, 

 dentate or serrate, petioled or 

 sessile: st. 4-angled: fls. mostly 

 blue or lilac, in terminal spike- 

 like racemes, small and middle- 

 sized and usually bluish, the 5- 

 toothed calyx deflexed in fr.; 

 corolla bilabiate, the lower lobes 

 longer and concave, and inclosing 

 the essential organs; stamens 4, 

 didynamous and declinate, the 

 filaments united into a tube, the 

 anther-cells confluent; ovary 4- 

 parted, subtended by a gland-like 

 disk, the style 2-lobed. Probably 

 150 species, in the tropics of the 

 eastern hemisphere, being especi- 

 ally abundant in Afr., E. India 

 and adjacent isls. Some species 

 produce tubers that are eaten in 

 the same way as potatoes. 



1029. A good young coleus plant. 



The common coleuses are of the most easy culture. 

 They root readily from short cuttings, cut either to a 

 joint or in the middle of an internode (Fig. 1027). Few 

 conservatory plants are more ready to root than this. 

 They may be rooted at any time of the year when new 

 wood is to be secured. Formerly 

 coleuses were much used for 

 bedding, but the introduction 

 of better plants for this purpose 

 has lessened their popularity. 

 They require a long season; they 

 are likely to burn in the hot 

 summers of the interior country; 

 they have a weedy habit. How- 

 ever, they withstand shearing and 

 therefore are useful for carpet- 

 bedding. The leading variety 

 for this purpose is still the old 

 Golden Bedder, whose golden 

 yellow foliage is used as filling 

 for fancy designs. Coleus plants 

 make excellent specimens for 

 the window-garden and 

 conservatory. Best results 

 are secured when new 

 plants are started from 

 cuttings each spring. 

 They also grow readily 

 from seeds, many interest- 

 ing leaf-forms and colors arising. 

 The old plants become leggy, lose 

 their leaves, and lack brightness 

 of color. They are very subject to 

 mealy-bug. They are also liable 

 to root-gall (the work of a nema- 

 tode worm), as shown in Fig. 1028. 

 When plants are thus affected, 

 take cuttings and burn the old 

 plants, and either bake or freeze 

 the earth in which they grew. 



A. Common garden coleus, with red, 



purple, yellow, green and 1028. A coleus attacked 

 variegated foliage. by root-galls. 



Blumei, Benth. (C. Verschaffeltii, Lem. C. scutel- 

 larioldes var. Blumei, Miq.). This species, founded on 

 cult, plants in Java, is probably to be regarded, as now 

 understood, as an assemblage or combination of 

 species. The horticultural forms are perhaps derived 

 in part (as suggested by Briquet and by Koorders) 

 from C. laciniatus, C. tricolor, and others; and perhaps 

 they are to be considered also in connection with C. 

 atropurpureus, Benth., of Malaysia, and its relatives. 

 The entire garden material needs to be worked over in 

 comparison with authentic native 

 oriental specimens. Portraits of 

 C. Blumei of botanical interest 

 are: B.M. 4754. I.H. 27:3-7; 35: 

 46; 39:164. F.S. 22:228778. A 

 soft perennial herb or sub-shrub, 

 growing 2-3 ft. high, little 

 branched: Ivs. ovate, narrowed or 

 broad at base and long-acuminate, 

 sharply and nearly regularly 

 toothed, variously colored with 

 yellow, dull red and purplish. An 

 extreme form of this is var. Ver- 

 schaffeltii, Lem., Fig. 1030, which 

 is more robust and branchy, the 

 Ivs. more brilliantly colored, acute 

 but not acuminate, truncate or 

 even cordate at base, and irregu- 

 larly cut-dentate, with rounded 

 teeth, giving the margin a crispy 

 effect (I. H. 8:293). In some 

 forms, the Ivs. are laciniate. 



53 



