THE ENGLISH P LOWER GARDEN. 



RICINUS. 



769 



Deeper and richer in colour is the variety 

 atro-rubens (called also splendens), though 

 the flowers and racemes are smaller. The 

 crimson-red of its blooms forms a striking 

 contrast to the variety named albidunl, 

 whose flowers are almost white, though 

 slightly suffused with pink. The double 

 sort (flore-pleno) is an admirable shrub, 

 with very double flowers, which last a long 

 time in perfection, and, as they expand 

 later than the common kind, prolong the 

 season. The variety glutinosum is dis- 

 tinguished by clammy foliage and large 

 pale rosy-pink flowers. 



The Yellow - flowering, or Buffalo 

 Currant (R. aureum), deserves to be more 

 commonly grown. It is a different shrub 

 from R. sanguineum, having larger 

 flowers of a rich yellow, which appear 

 about the end of April or beginning of 

 May ; the leaves also are smaller, more 

 deeply lobed, and of a paler green. The 

 variety praecox' is so named because it 

 flowers earlier than R. aureum, and is 

 most desirable on that account, and the 

 variety serotinum, because it flowers late. 

 Serotinum is even finer than the type. 



R. Gordonianum, a hybrid between R. 

 aureum and R. sanguineum, is an old 

 and tolerably common shrub inter- 

 mediate in growth as well as in flowers, 

 which are an orange-red ; it is distinct and 

 showy. It is also known as R. Beatoni 

 and R. Loudoni. Of the numerous other 

 species there is none so fine as the 

 California!! Fuchsia Currant (R. speci- 

 osum), whose flowers so much resemble 

 miniature Fuchsia-blossoms that in some 

 places it goes by the name of R. Fuchsi- 

 oides. Its deep red blooms have protrud- 

 ing stamens, and hang from the leaf-axils 

 in clusters of two or three. In growth 

 and foliage it resembles a Gooseberry. 

 A densely-flowered bush is extremely 

 pretty and lasts in perfection a long time. 

 Though quite hardy enough to be grown 

 as a bush in the milder parts of England, 

 it is usually seen against a wall, and there 

 are few more elegant wall shrubs. Grown 

 thus it is 6 to 8 ft. in height. Most of the 

 other varieties have inconspicuous flowers, 

 but one or two are worth growing for the 

 sake of their autumn foliage, which dies 

 away in various shades of crimson. The 

 Missouri Currant (R. floridum), also called 

 R. missourense, is one of the best of these. 

 It is a stock plant in some of the largest 

 nurseries. The Flowering Currants are 

 really an important group of shrubs and 

 deserve the best attention, and instead of 

 being crammed in the usual shrubbery- 

 mixture, should be grouped by themselves. 



KICHARDIA (Calla). This name has 

 been accepted by botanists for the last 

 three-quarters of a century, although it is 

 not yet generally used by gardeners. 



The genus consists now of various 

 species. They all have a perennial 

 tuberous root-stock, not unlike that of 

 Caladium, from which spring the annual 

 leaves and scapes, the former with folding 

 stalks, which form a kind of stem, bearing 

 sagittate leaves, the latter erect, stout, 

 and bearing a large spathe. There is a 

 noteworthy difference between R. asthio- 

 pica and the others, the former having 

 a rhizome and never naturally dying 

 down. 



R. aethiopica (Lily of the Nile] was first 

 introduced into Europe from S. Africa in 

 1687. It is emphatically a Cape plant, 

 and is not found within 1,000 miles or so 

 of the Nile, although it is commonly 

 known as the Lily of the Nile. In some 

 parts of this country, for instance Corn- 

 wall, it has become naturalised in shallow- 

 water, spreading and flowering with the- 

 same freedom as in the ditches and. 

 swamps of the Cape. It varies consider- 

 ably in the size of its spathes. I have 

 seen them 10 in. long, and I am told that 

 larger even than this have been grown by 

 cultivators who cut off most of the leaf- 

 blades when the spathes were developing. 

 The plant is useful in ponds and fountain 

 basins in the warmer parts of our country. 

 Syn., Calla. 



EICINUS (Castor-oil Plant}. R. com- 

 munis is a much-grown plant in warm 

 I countries, growing out-of-doors in the 

 warm months in ours, and used for bold 

 and noble beds near those of the more 

 brilliant flowers, but it is not well to 

 I associate it closely with bedding plants,, 

 | because of its strong growth and the 

 j shading of its leaves ; it is a good plan 

 I to make a compact group of it in the 

 j centre of some wide circular bed and to 

 j surround this with a band of a dwarfer 

 plant, say Aralia or Caladium, and to finish 

 with flowering plants. A bold centre may 

 be thus obtained, while the effect of the 

 flowers is enhanced. It requires rich 

 deep earth to form its finest leaves, and to 

 raise the plants a brisk hotbed is needed 

 in February or March, in which to plunge 

 the pots in which the seeds should be 

 sown. The pots should be well drained, 

 and the soil pressed down firmly with a. 

 little sifted soil placed over the seeds. 

 When the plants are large enough, pot. 

 them singly into 4-in. pots in soil com- 

 posed of sandy loam and leaf-mould or 

 rotted manure ; keep them in a warm 



