484 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



small quantities only are required, these may be raised from cuttings 

 inserted in pots of light soil and placed in a close warm frame till 



Description of A, Telautliera amcena ; the small white flowers form 



Plate 231. a terminal cluster. Fig. 1 is one removed from this cluster 

 before expansion ; 2 is a section through the expanded flower. B is a 

 shoot of T. versicolor. 



GLOBE AMARANTHS 



Natural Order AMARANTACEJi. Genus GoTnphrena 



GOMPHRENA (altered from Grcmixthwna, the classical name for a species 

 of Amaranth). A genus comprising seventy or more herbs, annuals, 

 biennials, and perennials, with opposite, entire leaves, sometimes 

 partially stem-clasping. The flowers, which are associated in loose 

 spikes, panicles, or globular heads, consist of a five-parted perianth, five 

 «taniens, the filaments united to form a tube, within which is the one- 

 celled ovary; fruit, a one-seeded utricle ; the whole enclosed within the 

 coloured bracts. The species are natives of Tropical America, where 

 they chiefly abound, Australia, and one species is widely distributed 

 through Asia and Tropical Africa. 



mstory. '^^^ ^^^^ known species of Gomjyhrena is the pretty 



annual, G. glohosa, which was introduced from India in 



1714, and has continued in favour ever s 



3 its popula 



to Its flowers, but to the persistent coloured bracts, which give the flower- 

 heads the character of an "everlasting" if they are gathered before 

 quite fully mature, and dried in the shade. G. perennis was introduced 

 from South America in 1732, and G. pulchella from Brazil in 1843. 

 Ihese are the principal species in cultivation. 



Prmcipaispecies. , GoMPHRENA GLOBOSA (globose). Stems jointed, 

 coloured, 1^ foot high. Leaves oblong, downy. The 

 flower-heads in the type are purple, with a two-leaved involucre, but 

 there are many varieties, and in most cases their names are indicative of 

 the colour of their flower-heads. Thus, alba, white- aurea superba 

 golden yellow; camea, flesh-coloured; Isabellina, hrownish yellow' 

 purpur-.a purple. The var. nana is dwarf, not half the height of the 

 type, but forming a little bush with dark red flower-heads. All these 

 are annual, and flower from July to October. Plate 232 



G. HAAGEANA (Haage s), differing from the foregoing in the thicker 



