MYOPORUMS 457 



Thunbergia alata (winged). Stem twining, covered 



cipa P«°es.^^.^^ ^.^^^ hairs, 4^ feet long. Leaves spear-shaped, the 



stalks winged. Flowers yellow above, purple below ; May to September. 



A perennial, but usually treated as an annual. Introduced from South 



Africa, 1823. There arc varieties with white, buff, and orange flowers. 



T. LAURIFOLTA (laurel-leaved). Stem climbing, very tall. Leaves 

 elliptic or oblong, with waved or toothed margins. Flowers blue, 2 or 

 3 inches across, and as long ; May to August. Perennial. Introduced 

 from India, 1856. Also known as T. Harrisi. 



T. (meyenia) erecta (erect). A privet-like shrub, 2 to 3 feet high, 

 with ovate leaves and numerous axillary tubular flowers of a bright 

 blue-purple colour, yellow in the throat. Stove. West Africa, 1857. 

 There is a white-flowered variety. 



T. gkandiflora (large-flowered) resembles T. laurifolia. There is 

 a variety of it with pure white flowers. India. 



T. MYSORENSis (Mysore). Stem climbing, with pendent branches, 

 10 to 25 feet long. Leaves oval or oblong, more or less heart-shaped at 

 base, 6 or 8 inches long. Flowers scarlet and yellow, in long pendent 

 racemes; April and May. Perennial. Introduced from India, 1854, 

 Also known as Hexacentris. 



A compost of fibrous loam, sand, and a little well-rotted 

 nure is the best soil for Thunhergias ; though they will 

 do well in any ordinary soil made rich. They are raised from seeds or 

 increased by means of cuttings. Seeds should be sown in pots during 

 March, and placed in a warm greenhouse; afterwards potting the 

 seedlings singly, and growing on in the stove with a moist atmosphere. 

 Cuttings should be made from firm young shoots, placed in a close warm 

 frame. Proper attention must be paid to cutting back all bare wood in 

 spring, and training the stems. T. erecta is a useful stove flowering 

 plant ; whilst in T. laurifolia, T. grandiflora, and T. mysorensis we have 

 two of the best of coarse-growing, free, large-flowering stove climbers. 



MYOPORUMS 



Natural Order Myoporine^. Genus 3Iyoporum 



Myoporum (Greek, myo, to close, and j^oros, a passage ; in allusion 

 to the transparent glands of the leaves). A genus of about thirty species 

 of greenhouse shrubs with alternate (rarely opposite) leaves, and white 

 (rarely purple) flowers produced from the axils of the leaves. The 



