CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 505 



covered with a hand-glass, and watered as they require it. By 

 November they will become well-rooted ; they should not be 

 disturbed, but allowed to remain just as they are during the 

 Cold season, from which they are very apt to suffer, in some 

 sheltered place. In the beginning of March they will begin to 

 start into growth, when they should be potted off singly and 

 kept well watered. On becoming larger they require a bamboo 

 trellis. 



Cyrtoceras. 



C. reflexum. Native of Java. A small shrubby plant with 

 lanceolate, wavy, flaccid leaves four inches long ; bears in August 

 lax drooping umbels of a creamy- white ; middle-sized flowers, 

 with pedicles an inch and a half long : considered by some a 

 very choice and beautiful plant, but in my opinion not to be 

 compared with some of the Hoyas. It thrives very indifferently 

 in the locality of Calcutta, and is consequently a very rare plant 

 there. Sir J. Paxton says it was introduced into England 

 grown upon a large log of wood, of which decayed portions and 

 leaf-mould seem highly favourable to its growth. 



Hoya. 

 WAX-PLANT. 



The species of this curious and interesting genus are rather 

 numerous, but not more than about four or five seem to thrive 

 and blossom well in Bengal. Several are natives of Java : some 

 of these are very beautiful, and have occasionally been intro- 

 duced into Calcutta ; but either from want of sufficient attention 

 being paid to them, or from their being ill-suited to the climate, 

 they have in a short time died off. 



Hoyas seem to succeed best in a material consisting of loose 

 potsherds and broken brick, the interstices filled up with leaf- 

 mould and moss, upon which, when water is poured, it will drain 

 away, almost as through a sieve. Their roots love to cling 

 around the potsherds, and being kept damp by the moss and 

 leaf-mould, thrive with prodigious vigour. 



It is very essential that their leaves be occasionally washed 

 with a sponge, to keep them clean of dust and cobwebs, which 

 are sure to accumulate upon them in a verandah. They produce 

 their flowers in the Hot and Eain seasons, and have the singular 



