STOVE PLANTS. 265 



a fine plant by submitting it to greenhouse treatment during winter. 

 The excellence of this charming plant is so great that it should never 

 be absent from any gentleman's garden where there is a house having 

 sufficient warmth for its growth. 



One of the curiosities of the vegetal kingdom is the Semaphore 

 plant, the Desmidium gyrans (fig. 547). Under favourable circumstances 

 the pinna of the leaves move up and down in 

 a manner similar to the semaphore by which 

 telegraphic messages were transmitted before 

 the voltaic battery gave to us the means of 

 working the electric telegraph. I have watched 

 with great interest the movements of this 

 plant at Kew, and was so desirous to watch 

 it again that I begged plants from thence and FlG ' 547.-sem ap hore plant. 

 from the Botanical Society. Strange to say, however, in my garden 

 I never on one occasion saw the plant move ; but why it has always 

 falsified its name I am totally at a loss to explain. 



We do not grow Stove Palms, as they require much space. It is 

 interesting to plant date-stones, which readily grow, and soon make fair- 

 sized plants. They require almost a stove temperature during winter, 

 but will live out of doors in summer. The Date Palm will not grow 

 further north than the shores of the Mediterranean, and even as far south 

 as Naples it will not ripen its fruit, which perishes in winter. Palms 

 and Cycads are very desirable plants for warm con- 

 servatories. At Bordighera, on the Riviera, beside 

 the Mediterranean, the Palms are grown for the 

 decoration of St. Peter's at Rome on Palm Sunday. 



The Cape Jasmine (Gardenia florida, fig. 548) 

 is one of the most highly and deliciously scented 

 plants. I have had many fine plants, but they have 

 always perished, because they require warmth at FIG. 54 8. Gardenia florida. 

 the roots and abundance of light. Those grown for the flower markets 

 are usually cultivated in a warm tan-pit immediately under the light. 

 They are amongst the most charming of stove plants. 



