GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY PLANTS 59 



flowers combined in the same plant. A. crystallinum, A. Veiichii 

 and A. Warocqueanum are very beautiful foliage plants, but the 

 flowers are inconspicuous. On the other hand A. Andrceanum, A. 

 ornatum and their numerous hybrid progeny, together with A. 

 Scherzerianum and varieties, have rather ordinary-looking leaves; 

 but in each case the inflorescence is exceedingly attractive. The 

 showy part of the inflorescence is what is termed the spathe, answer- 

 ing the same purpose as calyx and corolla in other flowers. The 

 showy-flowered species are excellent combined with Orchids. 



Culture. Their cultivation is simple where a temperature of 

 6s to 8s degrees may be maintained. Shade at all times, lightest 

 in Winter. The potting mixture should be rough, fibry peat, 

 sphagnum, decayed cow manure and sand, except for A. Scher- 

 zerianum which needs less sphagnum and more peat. Water should 

 be copiously supplied in the growing season. Toward the end of 

 January, with increasing sun heat, these plants will soon commence 

 active growth for the season. Before this takes place they should 

 be looked over for the purpose of repotting or for rooting any tall or 

 straggling growths which have grown away from the sphagnum in 

 the pot. In this condition the roots, which are formed at the bases 

 of the leaf stems, shrivel up for want of moisture and the plant be- 

 comes shy in blooming. Old plants should have the lower part of 

 the stem and roots removed and sunk lower in the pot, using a 

 mixture of fibrous peat, sphagnum, well decomposed cow manure, 

 charcoal and sand. This treatment applies only to such kinds as 

 A. Andrceanum, A. ornatum. 



Propagation. Cut off the straggly shoots and put in a mix- 

 ture of sphagnum and sand in a warm part of the propagating 

 bench; keep moist and roots will form in abundance in about three 

 weeks, when they should be potted up in the usual way. Seedlings 

 can be easily raised, sowing the seeds in the compost above men- 

 tioned. 



ARALIA. Most of the greenhouse plants known under the 

 name of Aralias belong botanically to the genera, Polyscias, Fatsia, 

 Dizygotheca and Elceodendron. The most commonly cultivated 

 species are Fatsia japonica, Dizygotheca elegantissima, D. Veitchii, 

 Elaodendron Chabrieri, D. gracillima, D. leptophylla, Polyscias mon- 

 strosa, P. VictoricB, P. plumatum, P. Guilfoylei. 



Culture. The Aralias prefer a sandy peat for the finer rooted 

 sorts and a rich compost of loam, leafmold, well decayed manure, 

 charcoal and enough sand to make the soil porous should be used 



