244 FLORA DOMESTIC A. 



The M. Variabile flowers in June, July, and August. 

 It frequently changes its colour; on first opening, it is 

 orange or saffron-coloured, then yellow, which fades al- 

 most to a white, with a tinge of red^ and a red midrib, and 

 at last a fleshy white, and rubicund on the outside. The 

 M. Versicolor is rubicund in the morning, pale silvery in 

 the middle of the day, and rubicund again in the evening. 



M. Polyanthon makes a brilliant show in August. M. 

 Emarginatum flowers from June to August. M. Spe- 

 ciosum is one of the most beautiful of them all, and flowers 

 freely. M. Floribundum flowers from May to October in 

 a most exuberant manner. M. Striatum blossoms also 

 from May to October very liberally ; and so great is the 

 demand for this species, that a nursery-florist, near Ham- 

 mersmith, has been said to sell 7000 pots of it annually. 



M. Bracteatum flowers from August to January; M. 

 Stellatum from August to November; M. Inclaudens 

 flowers in July : the flowers are always expanded, and 

 very handsome. 



M. Decumbens, from May to October ; M. Glomeratum 

 from June to July ; and M. Falciforme from July to 

 August ; are very full of blossom. The flowers of M. Cau- 

 lescens smell like new hay : this flowers in May. 



These plants should be housed in the winter, and care- 

 fully sheltered from the frost ; but fresh air must always 

 be allowed them in mild weather. They are very succu- 

 lent, and must have but just water enough to keep them 

 alive : the less moisture is given them, the better they will 

 bear the winter cold. 



M. Lacerum is more tender than most of the genus, and 

 must therefore be sooner housed, and set further from the 

 windows when open, in the winter. The flowers of this 

 kind are of a pale rose-colour, large and showy, and do not 

 close at night. It flowers in June. 



