THE MANGROVE FAMILY. 521 



" In selecting portions of root for stocks, be careful to preserve 

 the fibrous roots at the end, clip the leaves of the scion 

 through the middle (to prevent undue evaporation and con- 

 sequent flagging), place the grafts under cloches or frames; 

 the union of the parts is effected in five or six weeks." Baltet. 

 M. May, in the * Revue Horticole,' recommends for market 

 purposes grafted plants of Ceanothus, which form specimens of 

 great beauty. Young plants, with stems as thick as a goose- 

 quill, are taken early in autumn as stocks, and these are 

 grafted the following summer. Very beautiful blue and rosy- 

 lilac varieties have been raised from seed in French and Bel- 

 gian gardens. 



MM. Simon-Louis Freres, Plantieres-les Metz, have been 

 successful in raising numerous rosy and blue flowered seminal 

 or hybrid forms of Ceanothus, two of the best of which are 

 figured in ' L'Horticulture Beige' (vol. i. No. 2, p. 25). 

 C. maree Simon is a bright, rosy-flowered variety, and C. bleu 

 celeste is, as its popular name implies, a cerulean blue. The 

 last-named was sent out in 1873, and its rosy congener in 1867. 

 C. azureus latifolius is a hybrid of Continental origin, 

 having been raised from C. americanus, fertilised with pollen 

 from C. azureus (see ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' 1864, p. 579). 



For a full account of the American genus Ceanothus, see a 

 valuable paper read before the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences by Mr S. Watson, and subsequently published in the 

 ' Garden,' vol. vii. p. 29. 



THE MANGROVE FAMILY (Rhizophomcece). 



Trees or shrubs, for the most part natives of the coasts of 

 tropical countries, where they root into the mud and send 

 down roots from the branches thus, like the Banyan, 

 spreading rapidly, and forming dense thickets, so dense, 

 indeed, as to prevent due ventilation ; hence Mangrove-swamps 

 are known as the most unhealthy places in tropical countries. 

 According to Lindley (see 'Veg. King.,' p. 726), " Mangroves 

 are readily known from every order to which they can be use- 

 fully compared by their very curious habit of germinating, 

 while the seeds are still attached to the branch which bears 

 the fruit. The radicle and club-shaped crown of the root 

 gradually lengthen until they enter the soft muddy soil ; or, if 

 too high, they drop, and, fixing themselves in the muddy bot- 

 tom, immediately strike root at one end, while leaves unfold at 

 the other." 



