GEEEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 



279 



branches densely clothed with dark green cordate 

 leaves ; flowers yellow and purple. May and Jvine. 

 New South "Wales, 1824. 



£. disticha. — Leaves somewhat ovate, dark green ; 

 flowers yellow and red. March to May. Swan 

 River, 1840. 



B. tenuicauUs. — An extremely handsome species, 

 and profuse bloomer; stems slender; leaves ovate 

 acute ; flowers yeUow, streaked with purple ; pro- 

 duced in March and April. Tasmania, 1836. 



Bouvardia. — This genus contains some of the 

 most useful plants that can be grown; they are 



greater numbers and finer-quality flowers than old 

 ones, it is much the better system to strike cuttings 

 every spring. The old plants, after flowering, will, 

 if cut back, soon begin to make lateral shoots, which 

 should be taken ofi during March and April, and in- 

 serted round the sides of cutting-pots, filled with 

 sandy peat, with a cover of sharp sand at top, and 

 kept in a moist, close atmosphere until rooted, when 

 they.must be potted singly into small pots. After 

 root-action commences, pinch out the point of tha 

 shoot in order to produce side branches; these, 

 after having made about two joints, should again ba 

 pinched, and so on, until a good bushy plant is ob- 



BOBOHIA MEGASIiaSIA, 



compact in growth and very free-flowering. The 

 flowers are much prized for bouquets, shoulder- 

 sprays, button-holes, or indeed any purpose to which 

 elegant and fragrant blossoms can be put. 



The species are natives of Mexico, but some of 

 the best varieties have been obtained by cross-breed- 

 ing in English and American gardens. Whether 

 these are stove or green-house plants is rather a dis- 

 puted point amongst the members of the horticul- 

 tural world, some favouring one side, and some the 

 other. However, as they thrive admirably in the 

 green-house, and are .only put in stove-heat in 

 autumn, in order to force them into bloom through 

 the winter months, which is the time the greatest 

 demand occurs for such flowers, we have included 

 them with the green-house plants ; at the same time, 

 it is quite true they enjoy a little more heat in 

 winter than is given to such plants as Heaths. 



Bouvardias may be grown into good-sized plants 

 in a single season, and as young plants produce 



tained. As the plants increase in size, and the pots 

 get filled with roots, it will be necessary to shift into 

 larger pots, and by the end of July or beginning of 

 August they will be well established. During all 

 this time the plants have been growing in a rather 

 warmer and moister atmosphere than an ordinary 

 green-house, in order to induce rapid growth, but at 

 about this time remove them into a cool house or 

 frame, where they can have free ventilation. This 

 will mature the growths, and cause them to set 

 their flower-buds freely. Towards the end of Sep- 

 tember again place them in a house where heat is at 

 command, if a period of wet or cold weather should 

 set in ; and as flowers are likely to be wanted, from 

 time to time remove a batch into the stove, in order 

 to keep a succession of flowers during the winter 

 months. This treatment may be said to favour the 

 stove more than the green-house, but it must be 

 borne in mind that old plants which may not be 

 wanted ia bloom so early, can be grown entirely in 



