TETRAGONIA 



TETRAPANAX 



3323 



TETRAGONIA (Greek, four-angltd, referring to the 

 usuall}- four-angled fruit). Aizoacese. Here is included 

 a garden vegetable of minor importance. 



Herbs or subshrubs from the southern hemisphere 

 and Japan; usually decumbent: Ivs. alternate, short- 

 petioled, somewhat fleshy: fls. yellow, green, or reddish, 

 axillary, apetalous; calyx 3-5-lobed. : Only 1 species 

 in cult., but 2O or more species are known in E. Asia 

 and the southern hemisphere. 



expanse, Thunb. NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. NEW 

 ZEALAND ICE-PLANT. Fig. 3788. A hardy or half- 

 hardy annual 4-8 in. high, often spreading 4-^6 ft. : Ivs. 

 triangular, larger ones 45 in. long by 2-3 in. broad: 

 fls. small, yellowish green. New Zeal. B.M. 2362. 



New Zealand spinach is chiefly useful for furnishing 

 greens during the summer when the common spinach 

 cannot be grown. It tastes something like spinach but 

 is somewhat tougher, as a rule. It is grown to some 



3788. Tetragonia erpansa. 



extent in California both for man and sheep. It readily 

 self-sows. For an early outdoor crop, fresh seed should 

 be sown in rich soil in a warm room in January or early 

 February. The seed may germinate in a week or ten 

 days but frequently requires a month to start. After 

 growing about two weeks the seedlings should be trans- 

 planted to thumb-pots and about a month later to 

 4-inch pots. Growing vigorously in this condition they 

 will be good-sized plants to move into the garden toward 

 the end of April, where they should be set 3 to 4 feet 

 apart each way, and the plants, when grown, will 

 entirely cover the ground. They should be handled with 

 great care in transplanting, otherwise growth will be 

 so checked that it will require several weeks to recupe- 

 rate. Again, plants should never be allowed to become 

 pot-bound, as this will immediately bring them into 

 flower and fruit and stunt their further growth, as 

 well as greatly shorten their period of productiveness. 

 Well-grown plants should be ready for use by June 1 

 and, if vigorous growth continues, nearly a peck of 

 greens can be gathered from each plant once a week 

 until heavy autumn frosts. In gathering, only 4 or 5 

 inches of the tip ends of the larger plants should be 

 taken. In the South, it is usually dwarf, not generally 



exceeding 6 to 8 inches. There is another and somewhat 

 easier method of growing the crop, although a given 

 area will be less productive. Inasmuch as the plant is 

 a hardy annual, many seeds which ripen late in autumn 

 will fall to the ground and germinate early in spring, 

 though not early enough for the plants to be injured 

 by spring frosts. These will be large enough for use 

 toward the end of June. Annual crops are thus grown 

 on the same ground several successive seasons with no 

 care except removing old plants and keeping the 

 ground free from weeds. 



For the forcing-house crop, seed should be sown 

 during July in seed-beds where the plants remain until 

 the latter part of September, when they should be 

 taken directly to the benches and will be ready for use 

 early in November. It is best to set the plants about 

 18 inches apart in benches at least 6 inches deep. No 

 further attention is necessary except to give plenty of 

 water, and under good conditions a peck of greens will 

 be produced once a week on 4 square feet from Novem- 

 ber to May inclusive. A crop may also be grown 

 beneath the benches near the walks, as well as in the 

 grapery borders. Space that cannot be used for other 

 purposes may thus be utilized to very good advantage, 

 although the plants will not produce so abundantly. 



This crop may also be grown in houses with portable 

 roofs by starting the plants in summer in houses with 

 the roofs removed, the roofs being replaced on the 

 approach of cold weather. The plants will continue 

 producing the entire winter and following spring, when 

 they should be uncovered and will reproduce them- 

 selves in the same way as the summer crop. 



H. C. IRISH. 



TETRAGONOLOBUS: Lotus. The following species 

 now in cult, was not treated in Vol. IV, p. 1917. Lotus 

 siliqudsus, Linn. (Tetragonolobus sUiquosus, Both). 

 Perennial, trailing, hirsute: rhizome slender, branched: 

 sts. ascending: Ivs. oblong or obovate; petioles with the 

 stipules shortly adnate: peduncles 1-fld., much longer 

 than the fl.: fls. pale yellow; calyx-segms. lanceolate: 

 pod with straight wings much narrower than the body. 

 Medit. region. 



TETRAMlCRA: Leptote*. 



TETRANEMA (Greek, four and filament; the genus 

 is characterized by having 4 stamens). Scrophidari- 

 cux3B. Perennial herbs, grown in the greenhouse. St. 

 very short or in cult, slightly elongated, ascending: Ivs. 

 nearly radical, opposite, obovate or oblong, slightly 

 crenate-dentate, base angulate, glabrous: peduncles 

 axillary, scape-like, longer than the Ivs., bearing an 

 umbel-like cyme at the top: fls. short-pedicelled, nod- 

 ding, purple-violet, variegated paler; calyx 5-parted; 

 corolla declinate, posterior lip shortly 2-lobed, anterior 

 larger, 3-cleft; stamens 4: caps, rather compressed, 

 loculicidally dehiscent. Two species, Mex. and Guate- 

 mala. T. aiexicanum, Benth., is the only species cult., 

 known as the "Mexican foxglove" and formerly as 

 PenLstenum mexicanus. The pretty fls. are borne in pro- 

 fusion on the summits of slender purple scapes 6-8 in. 

 high. Although essentially a summer bloomer, with 

 good care it may be made to flower most of the year. It 

 is usually regarded as a warmhouse subject, but it 

 makes a good window-plant and is easy to grow. Plants 

 continue to bloom year after year. Prop, by seeds. 

 B.M. 4070. B.R. 29:52. H.U. 6, p. 71. 



F. TRACT HUBBAKD.! 



TETRAPANAX (four and pcmax, referring to the 

 four-merous flower structure). Arcdiaceae. By Bentham 

 & Hooker (Genera Plantarum) this genus is included 

 in Fatsia, and is so treated in Vol. Ill, page 1204. By 

 others, however, it is kept distinct, and the plant known 

 as Fatsia papyrifera then becomes T. papynferum, 

 Koch, the only species. The reader may take his choice 

 whether to name the plant in one genus or the other; 



