THE SUNROSE. 43 



The Leycesteria (Caprifoliacea). 



L. Formosa is nearly an evergreen in a warm climate. 

 It is of a beautiful pendulous form, well clothed with 

 foliage, and bearing an abundance of flowers and fruit. 

 The fruit is similar to the berries the common Honey- 

 suckle bears in regard to size, only the Leycesteria, 

 berries are black when ripe, and the Honeysuckle ber- 

 ries are red ; the flavour of both is the same. Birds 

 are very fond of them, and for this reason the Le} r ces- 

 teria is planted in game covers. It may be propagated 

 by seed freely, sown in the spring in a fine light soil, 

 and by cuttings put into pots or under handlights. 



The Sunrose (Heliantkemum). 



The Cislus and the Sunrose vary so little in their 

 generic relation, and are so much alike in their charac- 

 teristics generally, that they may be fairly classed 

 together here. Few or none could distinguish the 

 difference between a Gum Cistus (as the Sunrose is 

 technically called) and a Cistus. They are a most 

 splendid class of plants. The division above, the Heli- 

 anthemum, is a remarkably beautiful and useful tribe 

 for covering rockwork, banks, and beds. Many of them 

 will excel in beauty the bedding Verbena, and will 

 flourish where the Verbena will starve and die away. 

 They possess a variety of colours — white, j'ellow, pink, 

 copper, red, &c, and many of them are as double as a 

 Rose. 



All of them may be propagated by seed sown in seed- 

 pans in the spring, using fine peat and maiden loam, 

 and set in a cold frame ; and by cuttings of the half- 

 ripened young wood during the summer months — short 

 and firm young wood, taken off without any flower- 

 buds, and carefully inserted in pots filled with fine peat, 

 and set in a shady spot with a handlight over them. 

 Water the cuttings to settle the soil about them, but be 

 careful not to use too much water afterwards. Keep 

 the cuttings at a moderate state of moisture, and as 



