UIiMUS 



NETTLE TREE ORDER 



uLMus 785 



Culture a/nd Propagation. — The Cas- 

 tor Oil plant is probably a native of 

 tropical Africa, and although really a 

 perennial it is treated as a tender annual 

 for outdoor gardening purposes. It 

 flourishes in rich loamy soil, and is easily 

 raised from seeds. These are best grown 

 singly in small pots and plunged in heat 

 about February or March. They soon 

 germinate, and should be shifted on as 

 quickly as possible to larger-sized pots 

 untU about the first or second week in 

 May. They shotild then be placed in a 

 cooler temperature, and more air may be 

 gradually given to harden them off well 

 previous to planting them out about the 

 middle or end of June, according to the 

 season. 



Grown in beds or masses by them- 



selves, Castor Oil plants lend a luxuriant 

 and subtropical aspect to the flower gar- 

 den. In warm sheltered situations and 

 favourable seasons they usually attain 

 grand proportions, spreading out their 

 beautiful palmate leaves as if to absorb 

 as much sunshine as possible. For this 

 reason it is not well to place dwarfer 

 plants beneath them, as the shade would 

 be m,uch too dense. In hot dry summers 

 the surface of the soil may be mulched 

 with manure, and copious waterings should 

 be given during the evenings i£ the full 

 beauty of the plants is to be developed. 



It may be mentioned here that the 

 plant very often called ' Castor Oil 

 Plant ' belongs to a quite distinct group. 

 It is known as Fatsiajaponica (or AraUa 

 Sieholdt), and is described at p. 471. 



CIV. URTICACEiE— Nettle Tree Order 



An order of trees, shrubs, or herbs, various in habit. Leaves alternate or 

 rarely opposite, entire, toothed, lobed or palmately parted, never pinnate, and 

 very rarely pinnately divided. Flowers 1-sexed or rarely polygamous, regular, 

 or irregular by reduction in axillary clusters. Perianth simple, calyx-like, 

 4 -9-lobed. Stamens 4-9, filaments adnata to the perianth. Fruit superior, 

 1-3-celled, indehiscent, drupe-like or membranous, and often furnished with 

 a circular wing. 



The Common Stinging Nettle is probably the best-known member of this 

 order. The India-rubber Plant {Ficus elastica) also belongs to it, and is often 

 placed in the open air during the milder months of the year, but is in no 

 sense hardy. The Common Pig {Ficus Carica), although sometimes grown 

 as a standard bush in the south, usually requires the protection of a south 

 wall, and apart from its fruit-bearing properties may be regarded as an 

 ornamental plant for covering walls. Its cultivation is more fully dealt with 

 at p. 1096. 



increased by seeds, which should be sown 

 as soon as ripe in spring or early summer. 

 Layering is also employed, in the case of 

 choice varieties, during the autumn, the 

 plants being ready for separation the fol- 

 lowing year. Where suckers shoot up 

 they may also be used for purposes of 

 increase. Grafting is practised, with 

 choice varieties, in spring, as close to the 

 root as possible, so as to avoid the 

 development of suckers from the stock 

 afterwards. A good deal of conftision 

 exists in regard to the names of Elms, 

 and forms of campestris, glabra, and 

 montana have been mixed up consider- 



3e 



ULMUS (Elm). — A genus of un- 

 armed trees with alternate distichous 

 serrate penniveined leaves, deciduous or 

 subperennial, with soarious very caducous 

 stipules. Flowers polygamous, mostly 

 hermaphrodite, in clusters at the leafless 

 joints or in the leaf axUs. Perianth beU- 

 shaped, 4-8- (often 5-) cleft. Stamens 4-8 

 (often 5), at length protruding. Fruit 

 flat, dry, obliquely ovate, with a mem- 

 branous circular veined wing. 



Culture wnd Propagation. — The Elms 

 are well-known ornamental trees. They 

 flourish in rich loamy soil, and may be 

 regarded as gross feeders. They are 



