BOOK II. 



GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 



905 



CHAP. XII. 

 Green-house Plants. 



6597. Of green-house plants we shall first arrange some of the more select tribes, and 

 next class the most showy and easily-flowered sorts, under the head of woody, succu- 

 lent, climbing, herbaceous, bulbs, annuals, and biennials. Each of these subdivisions 

 will be arranged as before as far as respects time of flowering and color ; but consider- 

 ing the limited height which all exotic plants attain in pots, it has been considered un- 

 necessary to attend to size. Such as are trees in their native country will be indicated 

 by the letters tr, and also such as are biennials by the letter b ; the most tender t, most 

 showy s, and those continuing in flower two or three months 3, as before. 



SECT. I. Select Green-house Plants. 



6598. As select green-house plants we shall consider the geraniums, heaths, and ca- 

 mellias ; which three tribes united will supply a green-house with flowers of almost all 

 colors, during every month of the year. 



SUBSECT. 1. Geranium. Geranium, L. Geranium, Erodium, and Pelargonium, of 

 modern authors. Monadelphia, L. and Geranits, J. Geranier, Fr. ; Geranium, Ger. ; 

 and Geranio, Ital. 



6599. The geranue tribe comprehends numerous species and varieties of herbaceous 

 suffruticose and shrubby plants, generally of a somewhat succulent nature throughout. 

 They are almost all natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and with the exception of three 

 or four species, have been introduced, or originated here from seed, during the present 

 and latter end of the last century. They are chiefly admired for their flowers, which 

 they produce in abundance from May to September, generally in corymbs from the 

 axillae of the leaves, of every shade of red, scarlet, and purple, mixed with white and 

 yellow. The plants are easily cultivated, and by proper pruning, with the aid of gen- 

 tle forcing in winter, many of the species, as the P. zonale, cuculatum, cordatum, &c. may 

 be kept in flower all the year. The best collection of this family is in the nursery of 

 Messrs. Colville, under* the care of the botanist Sweet, whose Gerania, now publishing, 

 is the most elegant and complete work of its kind. 



6600. Species and varieties. Many species and subspecies have been received from the Cape ; but the 

 greater number of the admired sorts have been raised in this country from seed ; some of these have re- 

 ceived systematic appellations, but the greater number have been named by those who raised them after 

 themselves, or their friends, in the manner of florists' flowers. The following table contains some of the 

 old established sorts, arranged according to their habits of growth and time of flowering; the flowers of 

 most of the sorts are so mixed in regard to color, that it is almost impossible to class them in that respect j 

 most of them are variegated with red, purple, scarlet, and white. 



6601. GERANIJE. 



