358 



COMMELINA 



CONIFERS 



few are cult, for their interesting flowers. Fls. irregular, 

 the calyx often colored, with unequal sepals ; petals 3, 

 the 2 lateral ones rounded or reniforrn and long-clawed ; 

 stamens 6, 3 shorter; capsule 3-loculed. There are sev- 

 eral native tradescantia-like species, some erect and 

 others creeping. These are not in the trade. The cult, 

 species are erect warmhouse plants. Some are tuberous- 

 rooted. In the Amer. trade, only C. coel6stis, Willd., is 

 offered. Fig. 528. It grows 10-18 in. high, branching, 

 with clasping, long, broad-lanceolate pointed Ivs. and 

 blue fls. (2-10 together) on elongating axillary pedun- 

 cles. Var. Alba, Hort., has white fls. Var. variegata, 

 Hort., has fls. blue and white. Mex. Prop, by seed, 

 cuttings and tubers. The native C. nudifldra, Linn, (as 

 C. Sellowiana, Schlecht. ) , is in cult. It ranges all around 

 the world. It is a creeping plant, rooting at the joints, 

 with lanceolate Ivs., and small irregular blue fls. in the 

 axils. Commelina is monographed by C. B. Clarke in 

 DC. Monogr. Phaner. 3. 



Commelinas are mostly of easy culture, thriving 

 well in any light, rich soil. The evergreen stove and 

 greenhouse species are readily propagated in March or 

 April by cuttings inserted in an ordinary propagating 





529. A Compost heap. 



bed and kept close for a few days ; while the tuberous- 

 rooted half-h*rdy herbaceous species may be propagated 

 either by division of the tubers or by seeds sown in a 

 frame early in April and afterwards transplanting the 

 seedlings in the herbaceous border. In the fall, they 

 should be lifted and the tubers stored away in the same 

 manner as Dahlias. Of the tuberous-rooted species, C. 

 coelestis is perhaps the best, its bright blue flowers being 

 very effective, especially when planted in masses. 



EDWARD J. CANNING and L. H. B. 



COMPARETTIA (Andreas Comparetti, 1746-1811, 

 Italian botanist). Orchidacew, tribe Vdndece. A small 

 genus of graceful epiphytes, found in equatorial Amer- 

 ica. Pseudobulbs monophyllous, racemes simple or 

 branched: fls. small, lateral sepals united in a single 

 piece, lengthened at the base into a conspicuous horn ; 

 lateral petals converging; labellum large, produced into 

 a double spur, which is hidden in the horn made by the 

 sepals ; column free, semi-terete, erect ; pollinia 2. 

 Grown on blocks or in baskets in a light intermediate 

 or warmhouse. 



coccinea, Lindl. Pseudobulbs small, bearing lanceo- 

 late, coriaceous Ivs., purple beneath : racemes several- 

 fld., fls. 2 in. across; petals and sepals yellowish, label- 

 lum large, broader than long, crimson. Braz. 



falcata, Poep. et Endl. (C. rdsea, Lindl.). Similar in 

 habit 1o C. coccinea: fls. deep crimson; labellum broad; 

 racem-s pendent. Peru. B.M. 4980. A.F. 6:609. 



macroplectron, Reichb. f. Fls. 10 or more, dorsal se- 

 pal whitish, often spotted with purple ; midlobe of la- 

 bellum cleft, suborbicular, magenta-rose, dotted at the 

 angled base; spurs conspicuous. New Grenada. B.M. 

 6679. L. H. B. 



COMPASS PLANT. Celebrated by Longfellow. It 

 tends to turn the edges of its root-lvs. north and south. 

 Rosin Weed is the prairie name for it. See Silphium. 



COMPOST. Mixed and rotted vegetable matter, par- 

 ticularly manure and litter. The mixture of bulky fer- 

 tilizing materials, known as Compost, while of little im- 

 portance to the general farmer, plays an important part 

 in garden practices. Many of the garden crops must be 

 made in a very short time, or are of delicate feeding 

 habits. Their food, therefore, must be easily assimilable. 

 It is good practice to pile all coarse manures, sods, 

 weeds, or any rubbish available for the purpose, in big 

 flat heaps (Fig. 529), to ferment and rot before being 

 applied to the garden soil. If desired, chemical manures, 

 especially superphosphate (dissolved bone or South 

 Carolina rock) and potash (muriate or kainit), may be 

 added to make the Compost the richer. By spading or 

 forking the heaps over a few times at reasonable inter- 

 vals, a homogeneous mass is easily obtained, which can 

 be applied in greatest liberality without fear, or more 

 sparingly, in accordance with the needs of the particu- 

 lar crop. Of equal, if not still greater importance, is 

 the Compost heap which gives soil for greenhouse 

 benches, flats, hotbeds and coldframes. This Compost 

 is principally made of sods shaved off a rich pasture or 

 meadow and piled in alternate layers with stable ma- 

 nure, more of the latter being used for forcing succu- 

 lent crops, and less in growing plants which should be 

 short and stocky, like cabbage or tomato plants. Garden 

 litter maybe added to the pile, as leaves and trimmings. 

 All Compost heaps, during dry weather, need frequent 

 and thorough moistening with water, or, better, with 

 liquid manure. Turn several times during the year, to 

 ensure thorough rotting of the materials. 



T. GREINER. 



COMPTONIA (after Henry Compton, Bishop of Lon- 

 don, patron of horticulture, d. 1713). Myricacece. One 

 species, by some authors united with Myrica, from which 

 it differs in the pinnatifld, stipulate Ivs. and 8 linear, 

 persistent bractlets subtending the ovary. C. aspleni- 

 folia, Gsertn. (C. peregrlna, Coulter. Myrica aspleni- 

 folia, Linn.), the Sweet Fern, grows in dry, sterile soil 

 in the eastern U. S., and is also in the trade. It is an 

 attractive undershrub (1-3 ft.) with fern-like, scented 

 foliage and brownish, axillary heads of imperfect fls. 

 Lvs. linear, pinnatifid : roots long and cord-like. Useful 

 for foliage masses on rocky or barren places. 



L. H. B. 



CONE-FLOWER. The genus Riidbeckia. The Purple 

 Cone-flower, however, belongs to the allied genus 

 Echinacea. 



CONANDRON (cone-shaped anther}. Gesneracece. 

 C. ramondioides, Sieb. & Zucc., of Japanese mountains, 

 is the only species. It is an interesting little tuberous- 

 rooted herb, with oblong, rugose, serrate root-lvs. and 

 scapes bearing 6-12 white or purple, nodding Dodo- 

 catheon-like fls. It is one of several groups of rare and 

 widely scattered herbs, of which Ramondia, Haberlea, 

 Wulfenia, Didymocarpus, Shortia and Schizocodon are 

 examples. Conandron is adapted to growing in shady 

 rockeries. Scapes less than 1 ft. high. Little known in 

 cult., but is in the trade. B.M. 6484. 



CONIFERS. The cone-bearing trees (Coniferce) are 

 decidedly the most important order of forest trees in 

 the economy of civilized man. They have furnished the 

 bulk of the material of which our civilization is built. 

 The remarkable combination of strength and stiffness 

 with the smallest weight compatible, and the abundance 

 and gregariousness of their occurrence, gives them this 

 important position. From the standpoint of the horti- 

 culturist, they also take a prominent place among the 

 materials for landscape gardening effects, and, in the 

 more practical use, as windbreaks. Their evergreen 

 habit for all except the larch and gink go tribes are ever- 

 greenand their conical form, especially in earlier 

 periods of life, with a branch system persisting to the 

 base for a long time, are the elements which make them 

 desirable. To these graces may be added the peculiar 

 form and striking coloring of their foliage, which, in 



