1744 



STRAWBERRY 



Strict attention must be given to syringing the foliage 

 every pleasant day. Keep the walks wet until the time 

 of blossoming. This moisture keeps down the red 

 spider. At blossoming time the house should be al- 

 lowed to dry out, and a free circulation of air should be 

 maintained through the middle of the day, in order to 

 ripen the pollen. It is necessary to pollinate each flower 

 by hand. The pollination may be done in the middle of 

 the day while the houses are dry. A small camel-hair 

 brush is useful for distributing the pollen. A ladle or 

 spoon should also be provided in order to carry the sur- 

 plus pollen. The surplus pollen may be used on varieties 

 that are pistillate or do not have pollen enough to set 

 their own fruits. Six to eight fruits are enough for a 

 6-inch pot. When these are set the remaining flowers 

 should be cut off, in order that the entire strength of 

 the plant may go to swelling the chosen fruits. After 

 swelling begins, liquid manure should be given. Dur- 



STEAWBEEEY-EASPBEEEY. Rubus roscefolius. 



ing the first week give one dilute application. After 

 this give two applications a week, increasing the 

 strength of the manure liquid each time. Well-rotted 

 cow manure or sheep droppings furnish good material for 

 this purpose. When the fruits are coloring the liquid 

 manure should be withheld and only clear water given. 

 As they swell, the fruits will need support, and the 

 best method of furnishing this is probably by using 

 small-meshed window-screen wire cut into suitable 

 squares. These squares may be laid on the pot, under 

 the clusters of fruits. They hold the fruits away from 

 the sides of the pots, protect them from any water or 

 liquid manure that is given the plants, and enhance the 

 beauty of the potted plant. After one fruiting, the 

 plants are worthless. Q. E. HUNN- 



STEAWBEKKY BUSH. See Euonymus. 



STEAWBEEEY GEEANIUM. Saxifraga sarmen- 

 tosa. 



STEAWBEEEY TOMATO. 



other species of Phy sails. 



Phy salis Alkekengi and 



STEAWBEEEY TEEE. Arbutus Unedo. 



STEELfTZIA (after the wife of King George III, 

 Charlotte Sophia, of the family Mecklinburgh-Strelitz, 

 a patron of botany). Scitaminacece . BIRD OF PARADISE 

 FLOWER. A South African genus of 4 or 5 species of 

 perennial herbs, with generally large, long-petioled 

 leaves and showy flowers of peculiar form: rhizome 

 subterranean or produced into a large woody stem : 

 pedicels short: spathe longer short, peduncled. 



Strelitzia Regince requires a good strong soil, a co- 

 pious supply of water and considerable sunlight. It is 

 a serviceable plant for house decoration or for the porch 

 or lawn in summer. It will endure much neglect, but 

 unless well cared for it may fail to bloom regularly and 

 well. A night temperature of 50 is sufficient. This 

 plant may be induced to set seed if the flowers are 

 hand-fertilized. 



A. Plant nearly stemless. 



Reginae, Banks. BIRD OF PARADISE FLOWER. Fig. 

 2432. About 3 ft. high: roots large, strong-growing: 

 Ivs. oblong, about 1 ft. long, stiff, concave; leaf-stalks 

 all radical, twice to three times as long as the Ivs. : 

 scape higher than the Ivs.: spathe about 6 in. long, 

 nearly horizontal, purplish at the base, about 6-fld., the 

 fls. orange and blue-purple. Winter. B.M. 119, 120. 



AA. Plant witli woody stems. 



B. Fls. pure wliite. 



Augusta, Thunb. (S. angusta, D. Dietr. ). Becoming 

 18 ft. high: Ivs. at the summit of the stem, 2-3 ft. long, 

 oblong, acute; petiole 4-6 ft. long: peduncle short, 

 from a leaf -axil: spathe deep purple: fls. on short pur- 

 ple pedicels, all parts of the flower pure white; petals 

 round at the base. B.M. 4167, 4168. 



BB. Fls. pale blue and white. 



Nicolai, Regel & C. Koch. Resembling S. Augusta 

 in habit and foliage, but the fls. and spathe are much 

 larger and the petals are hastately combined and blue 

 in color. B.M. 7038. p. w. BARCLAY. 



STEEPTOCALYX (twisted calyx). Bromeliacece . 

 There are 7 species of Streptocalyx according to Mez 

 (DC. Monogr. Phaner. Vol. 9) of Brazil. The genus 

 differs from Bromelia in having strongly imbricated 

 broad sepals and long corolla-tube. No species are in 

 the American trade, but S. Furstenbergii, Morr., is de- 

 scribed in horticultural literature (sometimes as ^Ech- 

 mea Furstenbergii, Morr. & Wittm.). It is a stemless 

 pineapple-like plant, with 30-40 rigid lanceolate leaves 

 in a dense rosette: cluster a central dense panicle 

 1-1% ft. long, with many 2-sided spikes of rather dull 

 flowers. 



STEEPTOCAEPUS (Greek compound, meaning twisted 

 fruit). Gesneracece. CAPE PRIMROSE. In October, 1826, 

 there bloomed at Kew a most interesting gloxinia- 

 like little plant, seeds and specimens of which had been 

 collected in South Africa by Bowie, on the estate of 

 George Rex, at Knysna. The plant was described as 

 Didymocarpus Rexii. It is a stemless plant, with one, 

 or rarely two, long-tubular nodding pale blue flowers on 

 each of several short scapes, and with several clustered 

 root-leaves. It proved to be a profuse bloomer and easy 

 to grow. "So abundantly does it produce seed," wrote 

 W. J. Hooker, in 1830, "that new individuals come up 

 as weeds in the neighboring pots, and a succession of 

 flowers may be obtained at almost every period of the 

 year." In 1828, John Lindley made the genus Strepto- 

 carpus for this plant, calling it S. Rexii, the name it 

 now bears. It appears to have been nearly thirty years 

 after the introduction of S. Rexii that another Strepto- 

 carpus bloomed in England. This second species was 

 S. polyantha, which may be taken as the type 01 a group 

 that has one leaf lying on the ground and from the mid- 



