220 OENAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



a-ffording a splendid contrast to the delicate white of the 

 foliage. Garden variety. 



Hibiscus. 



This is a large genus of Malvaceous plants, containing 

 annual, perennial, and arborescent species, some of which 

 ■are hardy and others tender. The beautiful Hibiscus rosa- 

 dnensis is a charming shrub, cultivated for its showy 

 flowers (of which there are several varieties), and the plant 

 here introduced is a variety producing exquisitely varie- 

 gated leaves. It requires to be grown in the stove to 

 develope its full beauty, but during the summer may be 

 kept in a warm greenhouse. It should be potted in the 

 ordinary compost of peat and loam, and is increased by 

 cuttings. 



H. Oooperi. — This handsome plant is most desirable for 

 the decoration of the plant stove, and when nicely grown, 

 it is no mean object on the festive board, its gay and 

 brilliant coloured leaves adding materially to the effect 

 of the table. The leaves are irregularly ovate-lanceolate 

 in shape, cuneate at the base, and bluntly serrated at the 

 edges, the ground colour vivid green, splashed and blotched 

 "with dark olive green, creamy white, and crimson, and 

 margined, in addition, with a broad and irregular feathery 

 border of reddish carmine. The young branches, the foot- 

 stalks of the leaves, and the stipules are of the same 

 •colour. It is easily grown into a handsome bush, and is 

 one of the prettiest plants that can be grown, especially 

 in a small collection. Native of the Tropical Islands of 

 ihe Pacific. 



HiGGINSLi. 



A Rubiaceous genus, better known by the name of 



