PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 695 



color, from white to the richest crimsons and purples, besides many striped 

 and mottled varieties. The white variety, and a lew of the others, can be 

 forced into flower as early as December, so that with a little management 

 a succession may bo kept up until the end of June. 



Of all flowers that have been comparatively recently introduced into 

 America, the Monlhly or Tree Carnation ought perhaps to be placed in the 

 first rank. They are very great flowers, having a diversity of color that 

 makes them very desirable, and many of them highly fragrant. It is of 

 very easy culture, and being monthly, will, under proper treatment, con- 

 tinue flowering the greater part of the year. 



Fachfiia, or Ladies'^ Ear Drop. — This now well known plant is univer- 

 sally admired for its elegantly drooping flowers, giving to it when in full 

 blossom a gracefulness possessed by scarcely any other plant. Although 

 it is composed of a great variety, both as regards the form of its flowers, 

 as well as their colors, j'et there are but few that blossom freely during 

 the winter months. Fuchsia speciosa is one of the best winter flowering 

 varieties. There is also a very pretty and elegant species called the Prin- 

 cess of Prussia, the outer leaves or sepals being red, and the inside, or 

 corolla, white. Those having dark purple corollas are mostly spring or 

 sunmior flowerers, with perhaps the exception of the Prince Imperial, a 

 variety lately introduced, and which gives promise of being a winter flower- 

 ing kind. If this on further trial should prove to be the case, it will make 

 a great addition to the flowering plants of this season. 



This beautifully drooping plant, with scarlet, star-like flowers, is the 

 Eujihorhia JacquiniceflGra, a very elegant plant, and continues in blossom 

 during a long period. Also nearly allied to it is the Poinsettia pulchen-ima, 

 a plant which when in flower, as that before you, makes a most splendid 

 display. Yet the blossom itself is small and insignificant, being that 

 starry portion in the center. But when in flower it is always accompanied 

 by those gorgeously colored leaves, or bractoe, as I suppose botanists would 

 -.all them. The Euphorbias are a very numerous family of plants, nearly 

 all exuding, when bruised, a milk like substance that is in some cases ex- 

 tremely poisonous. Other portions, again, are highly nutritious as food, as 

 the rhizoma, or underground portion of the stem of the Mandiac, or Cas- 

 sava, of tropical America, which, when freed from the poisonous juice by 

 washing and exposure to heat, forms a kind of starch, which is the well 

 known tapioca of commerce. Then again we have the Ricinus communis 

 and the Croton Tiglium — the seeds of the former yielding the castor oil, and 

 the latter croton oil. Others, again, are virulent poisons, as the Manchi- 

 vecal tree of the West Indies, which is said to be death to any one sleep- 

 ing under its shade, and a drop of the juice falling on the hand produces a 

 blister instantaneously. The hair of other species, such as the Jatropha 

 stimulose, sting like nettles. Another and very important product is the 

 Caoutchou, or india rubber, which is yielded by several varieties of this 

 order of plants. So that this numerous class, called the Euphorbiaceae, not 

 only furnishes us with plants producing beautiful flowers, as those hero 

 represented by the Euphorbia jacquiniceflora and the Poinsettia pulcherrima, 

 but others yield us a highly nutritious food; whilst the extracts of another 

 portion are of the greatest importance in the arts and sciences. 



