COLLETIA 



VINl] OBDER 



viTis 307 



as armata, ferox, polyacantha, apino- 

 sissima, and valdiviana, but they have all 

 originated from the same species. 



Culture cmd Propagation. — Although 

 when iirst introduced to cultivation C. 

 cruciata was grown in hothouses, it has 

 since proved to be practically hardy in 

 ordinary winters in the neighbourhood of 

 London, and has not been injured by 10° 

 of frost. It is, however, wise to grow it 

 in sunny sheltered situations, and in good 

 well-drained garden soil. The plants may 

 be increased by inserting cuttings of the 

 more or less ripened shoots in sandy soil 

 under a handhght or on a gentle hotbed. 



DISCARIA. — A genus containing 

 about a dozen species of much-branched 

 shrubs closely related to the CoUetias, 

 having often spiny branches, small oppo- 

 site leathery leaves in the axils of which 

 the small flowers are produced. Calyx 

 more or less tubular or bell-shaped, with 

 4-5 recurved lobes. Petals none, or 4^5, 

 hooded, and inserted in the mouth of the 

 calyx. Stamens 4-5, inserted with the 

 petals. Fruit a dry leathery 3-lobed 

 drupe or capsule. 



D. serratifolia (Colletia serratifoUa). 

 A graceful ChiUan shrub 10-12 ft. high. 



having long slender drooping shoots, 

 clothed with dark green and very glossy 

 ovate-oblong serrate leaves j-1 in. long, 

 and furnished with a pair of stiffish slender 

 spines at each joint. The small greenish- 

 white flowers are sweetly fragrant, and 

 produced in dense clusters during June 

 and July, giving the plants an attractive 

 appearance. 



This is the best known and most orna- 

 mental species in cultivation, but to it may 

 be added D. longispina (also known as 

 Colletia longispina) from Uruguay. This 

 has rather longer spines than D. serrati- 

 folia, and masses of small yellowish-white 

 blossoms. D. Toumatou is another 

 species from New Zealand. It grows 2-6 

 ft. high, having the stems armed with 

 sharp spines 1-2 in. long, and clusters of 

 small white flowers. 



Culture and Propagation. — The Dis- 

 carias require to be grown in warm shel- 

 tered situations, and wiU flourish under 

 the same conditions as the CoUetias. 

 Ordinary good and weU-drained garden 

 soil suits them well, and new plants may 

 be obtained by means of cuttings of the 

 more or less ripened shoots inserted in 

 sandy soil under a handlight or in a hot- 

 bed. 



XXXIV. AMPELIDE^E— Vine Order 



An order containing about 250 species of evergreen or deciduous climbing 

 shrubs often witb copious v?atery juice, and tendrils. Stems knotted or 

 jointed, roundish,' angled, or compressed. Leaves alternate, stalked, simple or 

 digitately 3-5-foliolate, or pedate. Flovyers regular, hermaphrodite or uni- 

 sexual, small, in cymes or panicles, opposite the leaves, rarely axillary. 

 Calyx small, entire, or 4-5-toothed or lobed. Petals 4-5, free or variously 

 united. Stamens 4-5, opposite the petals. Style short, conical, awl-shaped 

 or none ; stigma capitate or disc-like, somewhat lobed. Fruit a berry, often 

 watery as in the well-known Grape. 



VITIS (including Ampblopsis). — 

 A genus with about 230 species having 

 the botanical characters as described for 

 the order above. 



CuUu/re amd Propagation. — The Vines 

 are all beautiful oHmbing shrubs, the 

 foliage of which gives wonderful autumn 

 tints, and may be utilised in a variety 

 of ways — ^for covering naked walls, on 

 trellises, over boulders of rock-work, up 

 poles, over arbours &c. They thrive in 

 deep, rich, loamy soil, and being gross 



feeders should have the soil well manured 

 or mulched every year in late autumn or 

 during the winter months. 



Vines are perhaps most graceful when 

 grown in parts of the garden where they 

 may spread forth their graceful and leafy 

 branches at wiU. It is, however, more or 

 less necessary according to circumstances 

 as regards space, or the vigour of any 

 particular variety, that the plants should 

 be pruned or thinned out occasionally. 

 This operation is best done at the begin- 



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