168 STOVE PLANTS. 



malting. It is a plant no stove should be without. Native 

 of Madagascar. 



S. florihunda (Elvaston var.). — This is a wonderfully free- 

 flowering variety of this old favourite; we have seen plants no 

 larger than a foot high produce from three to five heads of 

 bloom. The habit of the plant is much the same as S. 

 florihunda, but the wood is shorter-jointed, producing fine 

 clusters of flowers at each joint, and young plants when well 

 grown are literally covered with bloom. Mr. Baines, in 

 speaking of the Elvaston variety in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 for August 7th, 1880, says, " There are two plants turned 

 out in a narrow border that cover about 45 yards square of 

 the roof, the flowers were literally touching each other. I 

 saw an account that was kept of the quantity cut last year, 

 and which amounted to 18,000 bunches, or an average of 

 over 300 to each square yard." 



Stephanophysum. 



S. Baikiei. — This is a very pretty member of the Acan- 

 thaceous family. The leaves are opposite, ovate, tapering to 

 a point, pale below, dark green and rather rough above. 

 The flowers are produced in dense branching racemes, and 

 are tubular, about two inches long, and of a deep crimson 

 red. It is one of the most profuse winter-flowering plants 

 ever introduced ; indeed, the greatest difficulty consists in 

 inducing it to grow instead of flowering. It is said to have 

 been introduced from the Eiver Niger, West Africa. 



Stiomaphyllon. 



This is a genus of MaJpiyhiacem, an order which contains 

 many very peculiar plants. The species here noted is a fine 

 climber, and well deserving cultivation in every stove. It 



