392 



A maranthacece Iresine. 



1. /. Herbstii. This plant has very handsome foliage 

 variegated with purplish red and dark violet, or in a variety 



called aureo-reticulata 

 with yellow. A native 

 of Brazil. 



7. Lindeni is ano- 

 ther plant with orna- 

 mental foliage referred 

 to this genus, but in 

 the absence of flowers 

 there is some doubt of 

 its affinities. 



Gomphrena globosa 

 (fig. 211), Globe 

 Amaranth, a pretty 

 annual, is sometimes 

 planted out in shel- 

 tered situations. There 

 are crimson, purple, 

 and white varieties. 

 The flowers and bracts 

 being dry and scarious, 

 they will keep their 

 colour throughout the 

 winter if cut at the 

 right time, and are 

 therefore desirable for 

 mixing with other 

 everlasting flowers. Native of the East Indies. 



The genus Alternant her a furnishes several dwarf tufted 

 plants with small coloured leaves : A. spathulata, A. sessilis 

 var. amcena, etc., are akeady widely diffused in gardens. 



Fig. 211. Gomphrena globosa. (J nat. size.) 



ORDEE XCIV. LAURACE.3E. 



A large order of ornamental shrubs and trees, often aromatic. 

 Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, usually entire, exstipulate, 

 frequently furnished with immersed pellucid dots. Flowers 

 generally small and inconspicuous, unisexual or bisexual, ar- 

 ranged in sessile clusters or umbellate or paniculate. Perianth 

 inferior, 4- to 6-lobed. Stamens definite ; anthers opening by 



