CALCEOLAEIA 



FOXGLOVE ORDER 



CALCEOLARIA 703 



this way plants may be obtained for the 

 open border by the end of May. Where 

 the plants are not treated as annuals in 

 this way, they may also be increased by 

 means of cuttings inserted in cold frames 

 in late summer and planted out the 

 following spring. They may be and often 

 are-grown as pot plants for the decoration 

 of the cool conservatory. 



C. Arcturus. — A pretty sub- 

 shrubby species, 3-5 feet high, native 

 of Crete, with lower leaves lyrate, upper 

 ones oblong. Flowers from July to 

 September, golden-yellow, with purple- 

 bearded stamen filaments. 



Culture c(-c. as above. 



C. cretica. — A handsome biennial 3-6 

 ft. high, with downy lyrate-oblong lower 

 leaves and ovate-oblong serrate upper ones. 

 Flowers in June and July, bright yellow, 

 2 in. or more across, with a purple-red 

 blotch at the base of the 2 upper narrower 

 petals. There is a finer flowered form 

 called grandiflora. 



Culture Ac. as above. 



CALCEOLARIA (Slipper Flowee). 

 A genus containing about 120 species of 

 herbs, undershrubs or shrubs with oppo- 

 site or verticillate, but rarely alternate 

 leaves, and yellow, white, or purplish 

 flowers in terminal or axillary many- 

 flowered panicles or cymes. Calyx 4- 

 parted. CoroUa with a very short tube ; 

 limb concave 2-lobed ; upper lobe small, 

 entire ; lower one much larger, entire, 

 concave, inflated, or sUpper-shaped (popu- 

 larly termed 'pouches' or 'pockets'). 

 Stamens 2, lateral, attached near the 

 base of the coroUa ; a third one very 

 rarely present ; others rudimentary or 

 deficient. Style not thickened at the 

 apex. Capsule ovoid-conical containing 

 numerous small seeds. 



Culture and Propagation. — Only a 

 few natural species of Calceolaria are in 

 cultivation, and these not very well- 

 known except in botanic gardens. None 

 of them appears to be hardy, although 

 some of the shrubby kinds will stand a 

 mild winter in the open air fairly well 

 south of the Thames in sheltered spots. 

 What are known as ' herbaceous ' Calceo- 

 larias — beautiful plants with large tender 

 green leaves and masses of large and 

 elegantly blotched flowers of various 

 colours — have been developed from the 

 intermixing of such natural species as 

 C. arachnoidea, C. corymhosa, and C. 



crenatifloru, all Chilian plants, probably 

 not now in cultivation at all. Their 

 progeny are now known in gardens under 

 the name of C. herbacea, and as they all 

 require greenhouse treatment almost 

 from start to finish, they scarcely come 

 within the scope of this work. It may 

 be mentioned, however, for the benefit of 

 those with light airy frames and green- 

 houses, that they are fairly easy to grow 

 successfully. The finest plants are 

 usually obtained from seeds sown in 

 June, but in northern parts of the 

 country it is wise to sow about the 

 middle of May. A rich firm moist 

 sandy soil should be used, and the seeds 

 sown in either pots or pans, which must, 

 as one of the first essentials to success, be 

 thoroughly well-drained. The seed being 

 minute must be sown carefully and 

 evenly, and after a gentle watering may 

 be covered with a sheet of glass and 

 placed in a moist shady part of the green- 

 house, or cold frame. It is a mistake to 

 place them ia too high a temperature. 

 In nine or ten days the seedlings wiU 

 appear, and as soon as the second leaf 

 has been developed they may be carefully 

 pricked off, about 1 in. apart, into a com- 

 post consisting of 3 parts of leaf soil to 1 

 of rich loam, with a fair sprinkling of 

 sUver sand. They should then be trans- 

 ferred to an old spent hotbed and placed 

 near the glass, receiving a fine sprinkling 

 overhead. For a few days they must be 

 kept shaded from the hot sun and with- 

 out air. In about a month's time they 

 will be ready for potting singly into 2J in. 

 pots, and should be again shaded and 

 sprinkled untU they have recovered. In 

 successive pottings more rich loam than 

 before should be used — about half loam 

 and half leaf soil with silver sand is the 

 best compost, into which the plants may 

 be potted rather firmly. During the 

 winter m^onths as little heat as possible 

 should be given, and an abundance of air, 

 always provided the atmosphere is genial 

 and not too cold or frosty. In March the 

 plants may receive their last shift into 

 larger pots, and if they can be grown in 

 frames with a northern aspect so much 

 the better. On this occasion a compost 

 consisting of 3 parts rich loam, 1 part 

 well-decomposed leaf soU, and a sprinli- 

 Ung of rough charcoal and crushed oyster- 

 shells wiU prove very substantial and safe. 

 By May and June they wUl be a glorious 

 mass of colour — just about 12 months 



