292 GEEENHOUSE PLANTS. 



any treatment. It is especially useful for covering a pillar, 

 rafter, or back wall in a conservatory. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, entire, oblong-lanceolate, about three inches long, deep 

 green above, pubescent beneath. The flowers are tubular, 

 about an inch in length, of a deep reddish purple colour, and 

 are freely produced in dense racemes. If the flowers are 

 artificially impregnated, they produce beautiful bunches of 

 large deep red berries, which make the plant doubly orna- 

 mental. Cuttings of this plant root with the greatest ease. 

 It is a native of Mexico, growing at an elevation of nearly 

 4,000 feet. 



H. elegans art/eiitea. — This variety is useful alike for its 

 beautiful variegated foliage as well as its flowers, which are 

 the same as H. elegans; the leaves are soft creamy white, 

 tinged with rose, and relieved with irregular blotches of light 

 green ; this ornamental foliage forms a charming 'contrast with 

 the deep reddish purple flowers. 



Hebeclinium. 



A genus of soft-wooded composite plants, of easy culture, 

 admirably adapted for winter decoration, the hardiness of 

 their constitution allowing them to be used in any situation 

 under cover, while the flowers may also be used with advan- 

 tage for bouquet-making. The soil should consist of two 

 parts loam, and one each of leaf mould and well-decomposed 

 manure, with a little sand added. If large specimens are 

 required, the plants, after blooming is past, and having been 

 rested for a short time, should be cut back to within one or two 

 eyes of the old wood, and placed in a close moist atmosphere 

 for a short time ; but if small plants only are required, they 

 should be struck from cuttings every year, when they will 

 make little bushes by autumn if properly tended. 



