POGOSTEMOX 



POINSETTIA 



2727 



land," V. 8:247 and Gn. 27, p. 447. The plant has no 

 ornamental value. lave plants were introduced into 

 southern California, and were offered in 1900 in the 

 East. 



Heyneanus, Benth. (P. Patchoidy, Pellet.). PAT- 

 CHOULI PLANT. Herb, 2-3 ft. high: Ivs. long-stalked, 

 ovate, acute, acuminate or obtuse, crenate, simply or 

 doubh" toothed: spikes terminal and axillary, forming 

 a panicled infl. ; whorls usually separate, forming inter- 

 rupted spikes; fls. whitish, tinged purple. India and 

 Burma. 



POINCIANA (M. de Poinci, governor of the Antilles 

 in the seventeenth century). Leguminbsx. Small 

 mostly broad-topped unarmed trees, with large and 

 very showy flowers; one of the most conspicuous trees 

 in southern Florida and the American tropics. 



Leaves bipinnate with numerous small Ifts. and with 

 no stipels and inconspicuous stipules: fls. very showy, 

 orange or scarlet, in large corymbose racemes, not 

 papilionaceous, the 5 petals clawed and eroded or even 

 fimbriate on the margin, the stamens 10 and free and 

 exserted: fr. long and flat. There are 2 or 3 species of 

 Poinciana, all native to the oriental tropics. The 

 genus has been confounded with Caesalpinia, but the 

 calyx-segms. are valvate, whereas they are strongly 

 imbricate (OF overlapping) in Caesalpinia. The P. 

 pidcherrima, known as ''Barbados pride" and "bird-of 

 paradise flower," is Caesalpinia pulcherrima; P. Gil- 

 lifsii is C. Gilliesii. P. data, Linn., native to India, 

 Arabia, and Trop. Afr., is planted in the Old World, but 

 is not in the American trade. It reaches a height of 20- 

 30ft., with the petals scarcely exserted beyond thecal3'x. 



Conzattii, Rose. Small tree, with grayish bark: Ivs. 

 glabrous, large, with commonly 4 pairs of pinna?; Ifts. 

 4 or 5 pairs, oblong to obovate: inn. a sessile raceme; 

 sepals highly colored, obtuse; petals yellowish red: pod 

 scvt he-shaped, pubescent. Mex. Cult, in Mex. and 

 S.' Calif. 



regia, Boj. ROYAL POINCIANA. PEACOCK FLOWER. 

 FLOMBOYAXT. Figs. 3085-3087. Rapid-growing tree, 

 reaching 2040 ft., and making a wide-spreading pic- 

 turesque top: Ivs. 1-2 ft. long, with 10-20 pairs of pin- 

 nae, each pinna with numerous oval Ifts.: fls. 34 in. 

 across, bright scarlet (upper petal striped with yellow 

 and more cuneate), the obovate petals very prominently 

 clawed (or narrow below) : pod 6 in. to 2 ft. long. Mada- 

 gascar. B.M. 2884. 

 Now a popular tree in 

 frostless countries, as 

 in S. Fla,, S. Calif., 

 Bermuda, and the W. 

 Indian Isls. It is 

 deciduous. One of the 

 most striking and 

 gorgeous of tropical 

 trees. Sometimes seen 

 under glass in the X. 

 Caesalpinia pulcherrima 

 is often confounded 

 with it; but that plant 

 is a shrub or at most 

 only a small tree, with 

 strongly overlapping 

 calyx - segms. in the 

 bud, smaller fls., and 

 very long-exserted sta- 

 mens - L. H. B. 



POINSETTIA (Eu- 

 phorbia pidcherrima, 

 which see), is one of 

 the most popular 

 plants for the Christ- 

 regia. (XK) mas season. It is a 



shrub of tropical America with inconspicuous flowers 

 but with flaming red leaves or bracts (with variations 

 to pink and white), clustered near the top. It is for 

 these leaves that the plant is grown (Fig. 1440, Vol. 



3087. 

 Poinciana regia. 



Poinsettias require 

 rather a long period of 

 rest. After the bracts are 

 cut, lay them on their side 

 near the pipes under a 

 carnation - house bench . 

 About the first of May is 

 the best time to start 

 them for cuttings. They 

 should then be placed on 

 a light bench in the full 

 sun in a temperature of not 

 less than 60. The eyes 

 will start into growth near 

 the top of the cane, and by 

 June 1 one can take the first batch of cuttings. These 

 are found most suitable for stock plants as they grow 

 rather tall to be of much use for decorative purposes. 

 Pot the cuttings singly in small pots in sand. It is 

 better to have a little sphagnum moss in the bottom of 

 each pot for the roots to grip. Place them in a tight case 

 shaded from the sun. The temperature should never 

 be less than 65. Water the cuttings every morning 

 until they root, except on dull days. When rooted, 

 pot them in 3J^-inch pots in equal parts of loam, leaf- 

 mold, and sand. The next shift may be a 6-inch pot, 

 and a good fibrous loam with a sixth part of sheep- 

 manure added. They will form a fine large bract in 

 this size pot, and require no further potting although 

 they should be fed with manure-water until the yellow 

 flower appears in the center of the bracts. After the 

 first batch of cuttings has been removed, the stock 

 plants should be planted out-of-doors. One gets far 

 firmer and as man}' cuttings by this treatment, and the 

 cuttings now secured and rooted may be used in various 

 ways. Twelve cuttings rooted as advised above and 

 placed in a 10-inch pot make a fine specimen plant for 

 Christmas. Others may be grown about 2 feet high 

 for single-stem plants. The last cuttings to be rooted 

 for the season should be secured not later than the 

 middle of August, and they are excellent for making up 

 shallow pans for centerpieces for Christmas. Poinsettias 

 should at all times be grown as near the glass as possible, 

 and during the summer months the house should have 

 full air day and night. Never, however, allow the 

 temperature to drop below 60, and avoid draughts, 

 as this will tend to make the foliage drop, and the 

 retaining of the leares is one of the attractive points in 

 a well-grown plant of poinsettia. Insect pests that 

 attack the poinsettia can be eradicated by the use of 

 hydrocyanic gas, as advised for other plants. 



GEORGE F. STEWART. 



