478 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



which should be sown in a hot-bed in spring, and the seedlings thinned 

 out. Harden them before planting out at the end of May or 

 beginning of June. They are also admirable plants for conservatory 

 decoration if given plenty of room both for roots and foliage. They 

 must not be stinted for moisture or sunshine. In some of these species 

 the leaves are the most important feature, and the plant must be 

 encouraged to develop them by free root action. Intensity and brilliance 

 of colour is only to be obtained by giving them strong light and growing 

 near the glass when grown inside. Outside, A. tricolor should be given 

 the warmest sunniest position. 



Description of Plate 227. Amarantv^ caiidatus, or Love-lies-bleeding. 



Piates227an(i228.Fig. 1, a group of flowers of which the central one is male 

 and the side ones female ; 2, a section through the same group ; 3, a 

 female flower ; 4, a seed, natural size and enlarged ; 5, a seedling. 



Plate 228. Amarantus tricolor, or Variegated Amaranth. Fig 1, a 

 cluster of male and female flowers ; 2, a male flower ; 3, a female flower ; 

 4, a section through the latter ; 5, a seed, natural size and enlarged ; 6, a 

 seedling. 



COCKSCOMBS 



Natural Order Amarantace^. Genus Celosia 



Celosia (Greek, Mos, burnt, in allusion to scorched appearance of the 

 flow-ers in certain species). A genus of— for the chief part — Tropical 

 annual herbs, closely allied to Amarantiis. Like those plants, these have 

 the perianth composed of five equal spreading segments, the three bracts 

 beneath, and the seed-vessel splitting transversely; but in Celosia the 

 five stamens are united at their base and form a cup, the style is 

 elongated, and the seed-vessel contains several seeds instead of one only. 

 The species are natives of India, China, and Malaya. 



History. ^^^ Cockscomb, Celosia cristata, is another of the old- 



fashioned plants of cultivation that take us back over 

 three centuries in order to arrive at the date of their introduction from 

 abroad. "Asia, 1570," is the record; but it must not be supposed that 

 the plant as usually seen in our conservatories, and as depicted in Plate 

 229, is anything like the natural form. That has erect, pyramidal, 

 plumy panicles, to which the common name does not fit well ; whilst the 

 plant depicted is a monstrosity in which the stems and plumes have 

 become laterally joined, with a partial suppression of their upward 

 growth,~fasciation is the botanist's term for this eccentric growth. 



