220 HOT-HOUSE OF REPOTTING, &c. [MAY- 



except for A. vulgaris, known as A. barbadensis ; which 

 has orange yellow flowers ; A. obliqua, now called Gas- 

 teria obliqua ; A. dichotoma ; and A. lineata, which is per- 

 haps the finest of the genus. The leaves are beauti- 

 fully striped, with red spines, flowers scarlet and green. 

 These are the only ones that actually need heat during 

 winter. They ought to have very little water, once a 

 month is sufficient. They would grow without it, and 

 several of them would also grow by being suspended 

 in the house, without earth or any substitute about 

 their roots, by being frequently sprinkled with water. 

 Few of them are admired for the beauty of their 

 flowers, but the whole are considered curious. They 

 flower from May to September. 



Ardisias, about eighteen species. Plants highly es- 

 teemed for the beauty of their foliage, flowers, and 

 berries. The most popular in our collections is A. 

 crenuldta. It has rose coloured star-like flowers, in ter- 

 minale panicles, and produces beautiful small red ber- 

 ries, which continue until other berries are produced 

 the following year, and frequently there may be seen 

 on one plant, the berries of three successive years, thus 

 being a very ornamental plant and very desirable. It is 

 vulgarly called the Dwarf ever-bearing cherry. It will 

 keep in a good Green-house, but not grow freely. A. so- 

 lanacea has large oblong leaves, narrowed at each end, 

 and bears purple berries ; A. elegans has entire, oblong, 

 shining leaves ; A. umbellata, once A. littoralis, is the 

 finest of the genus for abundance of flower and beauty 

 of foliage. The flowers are pink, in large decompound 

 panicles, the leaves the largest of all the species, oblong, 



