HELIOTROPIUM 



HELIPTERUM 



1453 



For winter flowers, cuttings may be taken in July and 

 treated as above. Some of the plants among the spring 

 batch with straight stems may be grown along for 

 standards by taking out the side shoots until 2 feet high. 

 These make handsome drooping specimens. By prun- 

 ing about midsummer they may be kept in good con- 

 dition for years. 



Heliotropes may be grown in the .same pots for sev- 

 eral years, by using fairly rich top-dressing or weak 

 liquid manure in growing season. 



Stock intended for spring cuttings is better grown 

 continuously in pots, as the plants lift badly in the 

 autumn. A few left-over bedding-plants may be grown 

 along in pots, purposely for stock. As a matter of fact, 

 stock taken from these pot-plants root more readily 

 than those taken from plants grown outdoors. A good 

 plan is to prune them rather closely a few weeks 

 before the time for taking cuttings comes, say in Jan- 

 uary. In this way we secure an even lot of cuttings, 

 and all at one time. 



Heliotrope is extensively used as a bedding-plant, is 

 a favorite in window-gardens, and is much grown by 

 florists for cut-flowers. The ease with which it may be 

 grown either in pots or the garden, the color and 

 fragrance of its dainty flowers, and the continuity of 

 bloom, have all contributed to make it a general favorite. 



There have been numerous garden varieties and a 

 number of hybrids white and the different tints of 

 blue predominating. Floral catalogues rarely men- 

 tion, however, more than six to eight varieties. Madame 

 de Blonay has been a favorite white for years, while 

 Queen of Violets is perhaps the finest of the blues. 

 Chieftain is a lighter tint. Albert Delaux is a variety 

 with golden variegated foliage, but variegated helio- 

 tropes are undersirable. Among seedlings double 

 forms occasionally appear. They have no special merit, 

 and are seldom perpetuated. T. D. HATFIELD. 



HELIPTERUM (Greek for sun and wing; said to refer 

 to the light-plumed pappus) . Including Acrodinium and 

 Rhoddnthe. Composite. Half-hardy annual or perennial 

 herbs cultivated as everlastings or immortelles. 



Flowers mostly perfect, with 5-toothed open corollas: 

 achenes woolly, bearing a pappus of many plumose 

 bristles: involucre glabrous, obovate or top-shaped, 

 silvery or rose-colored : plants mostly glabrous. About 



60 species in Austral, 

 and S. Afr. This and 

 Helichrysum, from 

 which it is distin- 

 guished by its plumose 

 not roughened pappus- 

 hairs, are amongst the 

 most important of ever- 

 lasting fls. The cult, 

 kinds are annual herbs 

 (or grown as such), of 

 easiest cult, in any gar- 

 den soil. 



A. Heads large, 



many-fld. 

 B. Lvs. broad. 

 Manglesii, Muell. 

 (Rhoddnthe Manglesii, 

 Lindl. Roccdrdia Mdn- 

 glesii,Voss). Fig. 1802. 

 Neat glaucous annual, 

 12-18 in. tall, with very 

 slender, long pedicels, 

 bearing pretty nodding 

 showy heads : Ivs. thin, 

 oval or elliptic, clasp- 

 ing: involucre silvery- 



1802. Helipterum Manglesii. Gener- chaffy, the ray-florets 



ally known as Rhodanthe. ( x 1 A) originally clear hand- 



some pink, but now varying to white (R. alba, Hort.), 

 and to dark red (R. atrosanguinea, Drumm.). R.H. 

 1852:141. Var. maculatum (R. maculata, Drumm. Roc- 

 cdrdia Manglesii var. mac- 

 ulata, Voss), is usually 

 larger, with shorter lys. 

 and involucre flecked with 

 red: rays pink or white. 

 Austral. F.S.22:2291. B. 

 R. 1703. A charming 

 plant, and one of the few 

 everlastings which retains 

 much of its grace and 

 beauty after being dried. 

 There are double -fld. 



1803. Helipterum 1804. Helipterum Humboldti- 



roseum. (X 1 A) anum. (XJi) 



forms, i.e., those with all or nearly all the florets ligu- 

 late. Excellent also for pot culture. Seeds of the mixed 

 varieties are sometimes sold under the name Rhodanthe 

 varius. 



BB. Lvs. linear. 



r6seum, Benth. (Acrodinium roseum, Hook. Roc- 

 cdrdia rbsea, Voss). Fig. 1803. Annual, 1-2 ft. high, 

 glabrous, with many strict simple branches from the 

 crown, each st. terminated by one large head: Ivs. 

 numerous, alternate, small and linear: rays many, 

 pointed, bright pink (or varying to white in H . album, 

 Hort.). Austral. B.M. 4801. A serviceable plant. 



AA. Heads small, clustered. 



Humboldtianum, DC. (H. Sdnfordii, Hook. Roc- 

 cdrdia Humboldtidna, Voss). Fig. 1804. Annual (or 

 cult, as such), erect or with a decumbent base, the sts. 

 somewhat branching: Ivs. (and sts.) white-tomentose, 

 at least when young, linear or lance-linear, pointed, 

 alternate: heads small, oblong, yellow, in a dense 

 terminal corymb. Austral. B.M. 5350. V. 3, p. 160. 

 corymbiflorum, Schlecht. (Roccdrdia corymbiflbra, 

 Voss). Annual, lower than the last, more branchy: Ivs. 

 broader: heads 2-3 times larger, top-shaped, in small 

 corymbs, the prominent rays white. Austral. 



L. H. B. 

 N. TAYLOR, f 



