FEIJOA 



FENDLERA 



1205 



of southern California or the Riviera, free from exces- 

 sive humidity, and cool at least part of the year. In 

 France, the plants have passed uninjured through 

 temperatures of 12 F. A good loam, rich in humus, is 

 the ideal soil for the feijoa. It has been successfully 

 grown on heavy clay, by working in a quantity of light 

 material, but it does not do well on light or sandy soils. 

 The situation seems to be of little importance, provided 

 the land is well drained. While the plant is notably 

 drought-resistant, for best results in growth and fruit- 

 ing a liberal supply of water is necessary. During the 

 dry season, irrigations should be as frequent as for 

 citrous trees. Fertilizers must be applied with caution, 

 or they will stimulate growth at the expense of fruit. 

 A small quantity of bone-meal, or other fertilizer not 

 too rich in nitrogen, may be advantageously applied 

 each year, while well-rotted manure will supply the 

 much-needed humus, if it is lacking in the soil. The 

 plants should be set 15 or 18 feet apart, and require very 

 little pruning. Seedlings usually come into bearing at 

 three to five years; grafted or layered plants will some- 

 times bear the second year. 



In some instances, seedling feijoas fruit sparingly or 

 not at all, either through the failure of the flowers to be 

 properly fertilized or because of unfavorable soil or sur- 

 roundings. Although isolated plants are often productive, 

 it has been suggested that the feijoa is sometimes self- 

 sterile, and two or more bushes should be planted 

 together to permit of cross-pollination. The difficulty can 

 probably be obviated, in a measure at least, by propa- 

 gating asexually from strains of known productiveness. 



The fruits fall when mature, and must be laid in a 

 cool place until they are in condition for eating, which 

 can be detected by a slight softening, and also by the 

 odor, a fragrance most delightful. If picked before 

 fully mature and ready to fall, the fruits lack much of 

 the delicate flavor of a perfectly ripened specimen. 

 Very little care is required in packing, and the fruits 

 can be shipped long distances without difficulty. They 

 spoil quickly in a hot, humid atmosphere, but if stored 

 in a cool place they can be kept for a month or more 

 in perfect condition. 



The shrub is attacked by a very few insects, the only 

 one noted in either California or southern Europe 

 being the black scale (Saissetia oleae), which rarely 

 requires combative measures. No fungous diseases 

 have been observed on mature plants. 



Propagation is usually by seed, but some vegetative 

 means must be used to perpetuate named varieties. 

 Fruits for seed should be selected with a view to desira- 

 bility in every character, as in precocity of bearing and 

 productiveness of the parent. While the feijoa does not 

 come absolutely true from seed, fairly good results are 

 usually secured from selected seeds. 



One of the best mediums for germinating the seeds 

 is a mixture of silver-sand and well-rotted redwood 

 sawdust. This gives an almost sterile medium, in which 

 there is little danger of damping-off, to which fungus 

 the young plants are very susceptible. With care in 

 watering, however, any light porous soil, not too rich 

 in humus, may be used. Sow the seeds in pans or flats, 

 covering them to the depth of ^ inch. Germination 

 will usually take place within three weeks. A glass- 

 house is not necessary, but the flats containing the 

 seeds should be kept in a frame with lath or slat cover- 

 ing to provide partial shade. The seeds will retain 

 their vitality a year or more, if kept dry. As soon as 

 the young plants have made their second leaves they 

 should be pricked off into 2-inch pots; after attaining 

 a height of 4 inches they should be shifted into 3-inch 

 pots, from which they can later on be transplanted 

 into the open ground. 



Cuttings can be successfully rooted under glass. 

 They should be of young wood from the ends of 

 branches, and about 4 inches in length. Inserted in 

 clear sand over bottom heat they will strike roots in a 



month or two; without bottom heat they root very 

 slowly. It is sometimes advised to keep them covered 

 with bell-jars until they have formed roots. 



Layering is used in France to perpetuate choice 

 forms. It is somewhat tedious, but more certain than 

 any other vegetative means of propagation. Those 

 branches which are closest to the ground are bent 

 down and covered with soil for the space of 3 to 6 

 inches. They require no care except to keep the soil 

 fairly moist, and they will root in six months. 



Whip-grafting and veneer-grafting are successfully 

 practised under glass, using as stocks seedling feijoas 

 of the diameter of a lead pencil. The cions should be 

 of about the same diameter and of young but firm wood. 



Several named varieties have been established, of 

 which the most prominent are Andre and Besson. 



F. W. POPENOE. 



FELICIA (for Herr Felix, a German official). Com- 

 posites. Herbs or sub-shrubs, grown under glass or as 

 pot specimens. 



Leaves alternate, entire or dentate: 

 heads usually long-peduncled, the 

 corolla blue or white, the disk yellow. 

 Much like Aster, from which it differs 

 in having pappus bristles 

 in one series, and in 

 other technical charac- 

 ters. Forty to 50 species ' 

 in Afr. 



amelloides, Voss, not 

 Schlechter 1898 (Cin- 

 eraria amelloides, Linn. 

 Aster rotundifblius, 

 Thunb. A. capensis, 

 Less. Agathsea caelestis, 

 Cass. A . rotundifolia, 

 Nees. A. amelloides, 

 DC.). BLUE DAISY. 

 BLUE MARGUERITE. Fig. 

 1479. An old green- 

 house plant, 1-2 ft., with 

 roundish ovate opposite 

 Ivs. and large, solitary 

 heads of an exquisite 

 sky-blue. S. Afr. B.M. 

 249. A.F. 13:657. F.R. 

 1:674. Gng. 6:149. 

 There is a variegated- 

 Ivd. variety (I.H. 8: 296). 

 Grown easily from cut- 

 tings. Handled like a 

 cineraria; or, if grown 

 from spring cuttings 

 for winter bloom, like 

 a chrysanthemum, but 

 with more heat in the 

 fall. An elegant pot-plant, and useful for bedding in a 

 protected place. Var. monstrdsa, Hort. Fls. double the 

 size of the type. 



petiolata, N.E. Br. (Aster petiolatus, Harvey). An 

 undershrub more or less prostrate and useful for 

 hanging-baskets: Ivs. obovate or lanceolate, wedge- 

 shaped at the base, rather papery: fls. at first rose- 

 colored, gradually changing to aster-blue. S. Afr. 

 B.M. 8370. F.E. 33:503. G.C. III. 42:82. Intro, in 

 S. Calif, in 1912. jj. TAYLOR-! 



FENDLERA (after Augustus Fendler, a German 

 naturalist, botanical explorer of New Mexico). Saxi- 

 fragaceas. Ornamental woody plant grown for its hand- 

 some white flowers. 



Deciduous shrub: Ivs. opposite, short-petioled, 

 entire, 3-nerved: fls. solitary or rarely 2-3 at the end of 

 short lateral branchlets; calyx-lobes and petals 4; 

 stamens 8; ovary almost superior: fr. a 4-celled, dehis- 



1479. Blue daisy. Felicia 

 amelloides. 



