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PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS datuea 



Culture cmd Propagation. — The Box 

 Thorns thrive in almost any soil and 

 seem to be quite indifferent to its fertility 

 or sterility. They are useful for clamber- 

 ing over old walls, trellises, ruins &c., in 

 semi-wild or rough parts of the garden, 

 being scarcely ornamental enough to rank 

 with choice climbers. They may be 

 increased in spring and autumn by cut- 

 tings inserted in sandy soil in a cold 

 frame, or by layers of the lower branches, 

 or by suckers from the roots. They all 

 grow freely and flower profusely. 



L. afrum. — A handsome erect spiny 

 «hrub, 6-10 ft. high, native of N. Africa. 

 Leaves clustered, linear, hoary, narrowed 

 at the base, fleshy. Flowers in Jime and 

 July, violet, almost in the axils of the 

 leaves, solitary, drooping. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. barbarum. — An ornamental climb- 

 ing shrub, native of N. Asia, but now prac- 

 tically naturalised in parts of the British 

 Islands and known in some places as the 

 'Duke of Argyle's Tea Plant.' It has 

 angular drooping branches, and flattish 

 or twisted lanoe-shaped leaves lo-S in. 

 long. Flowers from May to August, 

 about J in. across, erect, dull rosy-purple, 

 with deeper coloured veins, and greenish- 

 yellow at the base, borne singly or in 

 threes in the leaf axils — the central 

 flower opening first. Stamens protrud- 

 ing, inserted in the tube with a tuft of 

 white hairs at the base. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. europaeum. — An erect - growing 

 spiny shrub, 10-12 ft. high, native of S. 

 Europe, with obovate lance-shaped, blunt 

 or spoon-shaped leaves in clusters. 

 Flowers from May to August, pale violet, 

 veined with red, sohtary or in pairs. 



Culture dc. as above. 



DATURA (Thorn Apple ; Trumpet 

 Flower). — A genus containing about a 

 dozen species of annual herbs, shrubs, or 

 trees, smooth or slightly downy, with 

 large entire or coarsely sinuate-toothed 

 leaves. Flowers large, solitary, from or 

 near the axils of the leaves, white or 

 coloured, erect or drooping. Calyx long, 

 tubular, herbaceous, 5-cleft or spathe-like. 

 Corolla fnnnel-shaped, shortly and 

 broadly 5-lobed, plaited, lobes often 

 taper-pointed. Stamens 5, attached near 

 the base of the corolla tube, anthers 

 sometimes cohering in a cylinder. Ovary 



2-eelled. Stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a spiny 

 or smooth capsule, with poisonous seeds. 



Culture and Propagation. — The an- 

 nual Daturas are of very easy cultivation, 

 although few of them are hardy. They 

 are raised from seeds sown on a hotbed 

 in February or March, the seedlings when 

 large enough being transferred to small 

 pots in which they are grown on with as 

 much light and air as possible until June, 

 when they are planted in the open air. 

 They flourish in light sandy soil and 

 warm sheltered situations. Being vigor- 

 ous and spreading in growth, they require 

 plenty of space, say about 2 ft. apart, to 

 develop their growth properly. 



The perennial or shrubby Daturas are 

 better known in gardens under the name 

 of Brugmansia. They are stately plants, 

 and although mostly tender can be grown 

 out of doors from June to October with 

 the greatest ease in rich sandy soil and leaf 

 mould. They look best as standard trees 

 about 8 ft. high, so that their fine trumpet- 

 shaped flowers can hang down easily and 

 be fully exposed to view. They are readily 

 increased firom cuttings of the young 

 shoots about 4-6 in. long, taken off in 

 spring with a small portion of the old 

 ripened wood attached. Each cutting is 

 put in a small pot in sandy soil and 

 plunged in bottom heat. As soon as well 

 rooted they should be shifted into larger 

 pots and grown on as quickly as possible 

 with plenty of Ught. In April and May 

 a cooler atmosphere is necessary to harden 

 them off for planting out about the first 

 week in June, earlier or later according 

 to northern or southern localities and the 

 prevailing weather. They are probably 

 more effective as single specimens with 

 dwarfer plants at the base than when 

 grown in beds or groups. In the autumn 

 they should be carefully lifted and planted 

 in tubs rather than pots, and transferred 

 to the greenhouse for the winter months. 

 The shoots may suffer somewhat by the 

 process, but in early spring they should in 

 any case be cut back so as to mduce new 

 shoots to develop. As the plants from 

 spring cuttings produce only few flowers 

 the first season, older plants may be ob- 

 tained by rooting cuttings late in summer 

 in bottom heat, and growing on in rich soil 

 until the following Jxme. About Feb- 

 ruary the plants may be stimulated into 

 more vigorous growth by occasional appli- 

 cations of weak liquid manure, or even a 

 top-dressing of well-rotted cow-manure. 



