FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



5 the length of calyx : Jul}-. Stove. Introduced from East Indies, 



Plumbagos succeed best in a compost of fibrous loam 

 [ sand to which a little peat has been added. Most of 

 the species require warmth, though P. capeiisi)^ may be used for bedding 

 in summer after all danger of frost has passed. It does better, however, if 

 kept in the greenhouse and trained up a pillar or wall. P. rosea may be 

 induced to flower through winter in the stove ; it requires a higher 

 temperature than P. capensis, which really only needs protection from 

 frost and keeping rather dry through the winter. After flowering they 

 should be cut back rather severely, to induce an abundance of new shoots, 

 for upon these the flowers are produced, and not upon the old wood. 



LADY LARPENT'S PLUMBAGO 



Natural Order Plumbagix.e. Genus Cemtosfujma 



CERATOSTiGiiA (Greek, l-eratos, horn, and stigma, the stigmas being 

 covered with horn-like projections). A genus comprising only three or 

 four species of perennial herbs or shrubs, very similar to, and having 

 most of the cliaracters of PIuiuJmkjo. They difter, however, in minute 

 points, such as tlie absence of glands froui the calyx, and the stamens 

 being attacliedto the corolla half-way up the tube, instead of beneath the 

 ovary. One species is a native of China, another of Himalaya, and one 

 or two others of Abyssinia. 



Geeatostigma plumbagixoides (Plumbago - like). 

 Stems slender, flexuous, scaly, and hairy, 1 to 2 feet high. 

 Leaves egg-shaped, pointed, fringed, minutely scaly. Flowers dark blue, 

 changing to violet, in axillary clusters ; lobes of corolla heart-shaped ; 

 September to November. Hardy. Introduced from Shanghai, 1846. 

 Also known in gardens as Plumbago LarpenUe. 



No special instructions are needed under this head, for 

 lucceeds in ordinary garden soils, though it has a prefer- 

 ence for those of a sandy nature and for a rather shady position. Its 

 tendency to lean its stems upon the ground before rising may be utilised 

 by pegging it down to form edgings, carpet-bedding, etc. It is happy 

 when planted amongst stones in the rockery. It is propagated by 

 dividing the root. 

 Description of Ceratostigma plumhaginokles, upper part of stem, 



Plate 170. the natural size. Fig. 1 is a detached flower, enlarged ; 

 and Fig. 2 is a section through the same. 



