APHELANDEA. 59 



Aphelandba. 



Amongst the Acanthacea we find many gay plants, highly 

 valuable for winter decoration ; but the members of the 

 present genus will be found eminently so, their bright 

 and conspicuous flowers rendering them very effective for 

 grouping, and also for the adornment of the dinner-table. 

 They are free-growing, yet they require considerable atten- 

 tion, in order to secure handsome bushes. We grow them in 

 a mixture of two parts light loam, one part peat, and one part 

 sand, and place them in a temperature of from 65° to 75°, 

 giving them good drainage, and an abundant supply of 

 water until the flower buds appear. After flowering they 

 are kept cooler, and as dry as possible without inducing 

 shrivelling. At the time of starting into growth, they should 

 be cut back to within two or three buds of the old wood, or 

 the plants will become naked and ill-formed ; and care must 

 be taken to keep them free from scale and mealy bug, which 

 are their great enemies, and attack them so violently as often 

 to spoil both leaves and flowers for the entire season. The 

 time for starting will of course depend upon the season the 

 bloom is required, bu£, as a rule, they take a short time to 

 grow and perfect their inflorescence. Cuttings of the half- 

 ripened wood, inserted in a cutting-pot, and placed in a close 

 frame or under a bell glass, will strike freely. 



A. aurantiaca. — A beautiful winter-flowering species, with 

 broad, opposite, dark green ovate leaves, somewhat wavy at 

 the edge. The flowers are produced in erect terminal spikes, 

 and are of a deep orange scarlet colour. It is a native of 

 Mexico. 



A. cristaia. — This fine old species is very useful for autumn 

 flowering. The leaves are large, broadly ovate, and tapering 

 to a point. The flowers grow in terminal spikes, and are of 



