86 MORE POT-POURRI 



employ itself can, properly speaking, be unworthy of any 

 of its creatures, how lofty soever their pursuits and 

 pretensions may be.' The flowers are beautifully drawn 

 and delicately coloured, one on a page not on the same 

 principle as ' The Botanic Garden.' But it is as full as that 

 is of interesting information, not the least perhaps being 

 the derivation of the names of plants, some of which we 

 use every day. For instance, ' Echeveria ' is derived from 

 M. Echever, a botanical painter. 



Euphorbia splendens is an interesting and effective 

 stove-plant. It is a native of Madagascar, and the name 

 it bears in its own country is ' Soongo-Soongo.' It is among 

 the plants one need not fear to buy, as cuttings strike 

 easily under a hand-glass. I mention it, as I bought it 

 last year at a sale not knowing what it was. Oxalis 

 bowiei I also have, and try to grow it out of doors in a 

 very sheltered place. Like most of the finer Oxalises, it 

 is a native of the Cape. I was not here, as I have said, in 

 the summer this year ; but when I returned, it looked very 

 dried up and unsatisfactory. This is what William Herbert, 

 the author of ' Amaryllidacea,' before mentioned, says of 

 its cultivation : ' This most beautiful and florid plant is 

 hardy ' (where mine came from it had been out of doors for 

 years) ' and in the open ground will flower in the autumn.' 

 (I expect a bell-glass would greatly help this.) ' But it 

 blossoms most profusely when kept in a pot under glass, 

 especially if, after a short period of rest at midsummer, it 

 is placed in a stove or warm greenhouse for a very short 

 time to mpjke it start freely. Its flowers expand in very 

 moderate temperature. Like all the Oxalises, the flowers 

 are very sensible to light, and only expand thoroughly 

 when the strong clear sunshine falls upon them.' These 

 early-going-to-sleep plants are rather trying, as they never 

 took their best when one wants to show them off in the 

 afternoon. 



