72 



ANTHURIUM 



equal proportions, and plunged in a propagating box m 

 a temperature of 75° to 80°, with bottom heat. About 

 the end of January is the most suitable time to take the 

 cuttings. Anthuriums may also be propagated by seeds 

 sown in a mixture of very fine fibrous peat and chopped 

 sphagnum mo.^^s in 4-inch pots. The seeds should be 

 lightly covered with sphagnum and tho pots placed 

 either in a propagating case or under bell glasses, where 

 a temperature of 80° can be maintained. A constant hu- 

 mid atmosphere is very necessary to induce the seeds to 

 germinate. The compost in which Anthuriums thrive 

 best is a mixture of one-third fern root, or the fiber of 

 peat with the dust shaken out, one-third sphagnum 

 moss and one-third broken crocks and charcoal. The 

 pots must be well drained, and the plants should be 

 coned up 2 or a inches above the rim of the pots, and 

 finished off with a surfacing of live sphagnum moss. 



Established plants will only need repotting once in 2 

 or 3 years, but should have a fresh top-dressing every 

 year ; the best time to overhaul them is about the end 

 of .January, or before active growth commences. They 

 should be given a shaded position, free from draughts 

 of cold air, and ordinary stove temperature. 



Like most evergreen aroids, they require a copious 

 supply of water at the roots and a humid atmosphere 

 during the spring and summer months, and at no season 

 of the year must the plants be allowed to become dry. 

 Care must also be taken not to mar the leaves by hard 

 spraying. The temperature during winter should not 

 fall below 55°. Cult, by Edward J. Canning. 



Anthuriums such as A. Amlrfeaniim, A. ornntum, 

 and their numerous hybrid progeny, require at all times 

 a high and humid atmosphere. Under those conditions 

 and in a good rooting medium, they ought to be contin- 

 ually in flower. A bloom is produced from the axil of 

 each leaf, and immediately beneath this leaf a new root 

 is produced, thick and succulent at first, becoming tough 

 with age, and, if not allowed to bury itself among the 

 compost in which the plant grows, it eventually hardens 

 and is of no help in the sustenance of the plant. There- 

 fore, the growing point of the specimens should not be 

 allowed to get too high, or the flowers will lie few and 

 poor. When the plant forms stems above the pot, the 

 compost should either be built up around the stem, to 

 catch the roots,or the plant may be cut over, rooted afresh 

 in sand, and given a new start in a pot. The two orna- 

 mental-leaved species, A. Veitehil and A. Warocqiie- 

 anum, should be treated in the same manner. When cut 

 down, we may look for the old stocks to send out small 

 growths, which in course of time may be taken off and 

 put in small pots. All of the above are such free-rooting 

 kinds that they may, with the addition of some rotted 

 manure, be grown in sphagnum moss. A good mixture 

 is as follows: Sphagnum, chopped not too fine, one part; 

 fern or kalmia roots, chopped up and the fine substance 

 removed, one part ; another part to be made up equally 

 of sand and rotted manure. With well-drained pots, this 

 forms an admirable rooting substance. Most of the other 



97. Anthurium Andraeanum. 



species and their forms, including A. Schtrzeriatntm 

 and A. crystaUinum, will thrive better in material 

 mainly composed of rough, fibrous loam and peat with the 

 fine material sifted from it. This rough, tibrous material 

 should be mixed with a small quantity each of sphagnum, 



ANTHURIUM 



charcoal and sand. Good drainage, and less water than 

 is needed for the Andreanum section, will be necessary. 

 A. Scherzerianum, although thriving well in the hottest 

 house, will succeed in an interme- 

 diate house. Seeds are obtained by 

 pollinating the flowers, the stig- 

 mas of which become mature 

 before the anthers The seeds 



should be sown on the surface of a pan of chopped moss 

 and sand covered with glass; they sometimes show signs 

 of germinating almost before being gathered, so that it 

 is dangerous to keep them any length of time before sow- 

 ing. To prevent damping.the seedlings should be pricked 

 off round the edge of a 3-inch pot as soon as the first leaf 

 is large enough to handle. Seeds of such kinds as crys- 

 taUinum and regale will germinate well on the moss of 

 nepenthes baskets. q^^^ by q_ ■^y. Oliver. 



A. Li'S. plain green: grown mostly for the sJioivy 

 "flowers." 



Scherzeriinnm, Schott. Fig. 96. A foot or two high, 

 fvergri-en : Ivs. long-lanceolate (the blade 1 ft. or more 

 long and petiole of nearly equal length), thick, usually 

 somewhat revolute, with a strong vein parallel with each 

 edge and close to it, and many cross-veins : scape long 

 and slender (1-2 ft.), red : spathe ovate-oblong, 3-4 in. 

 long, spreading or deflexed, intense red (sometimes 

 double, I.H. 37: 67): spadix slender, often curled, yel- 

 low. CentralAmer. B.M.5319. R.B.22:121. A.P.6:569 

 (in variety).— An old favorite. Runs into many forms : 

 Spathe white, vars. tilbum, album magnlficum, Idcteum, 

 maximum dlbum, Williamsii, Vervameum ; spathe par- 

 ti-colored, vars. Andegavinsis (scarlet on the back, 

 white and scarlet spotted above), »nKW6i(e (white-boi* 

 dered), nebulbsum (double, white spotted rose), Roth- 

 schiUUAnum (scarlet mottled white, Gn. 30: 5701, H'o- 

 rocqiiednum (not A. Warocquedmim) (white spotted 

 red); spathe very large, vars. giganthnu, nnijiiinitu, 

 Wdrdii, Woddbridgei. Very dwkrf is var. jn,:,,,,,, „,„ : 

 rose-salmon spathe and orange spadix is vai-. /'■nisi- 

 (nse ; sharp-pointed Ivs. and spathes is var. BiiiHittii. 



