296 OBNJIMENTAL FOLIAGIS PLANTS. 



and the segments arc more pendent, rendering it a beau- 

 tifiil object for dinner-table decoration, or for the adorn- 

 ment of apartments, &c. Native of Japan. 



Rhopala. 



This very ornamental family of plants is met with in 

 South America, a country in which very few of the Pro- 

 teacecB occur. The order contains many plants remarkable 

 for the beauty of their flowers, as well as those whose 

 chief ornament consists in their leaves, but it is not im- 

 portant in either a medicinal or economic point of view. 

 The Bhopalas (sometimes written Eopala) are, however, 

 very ornamental plants, and may easily be grown into 

 good specimens. They should be potted in a soil com- 

 posed of about equal parts of loam and peat, to which must 

 be added a small portion of sand. During the growing 

 season they require a good supply of heat and a moist 

 atmosphere in order to develops their leaves properly, but 

 when growth is completed a drier and cooler house suits 

 them admirably, so that although stove heat is necessary 

 when their shoots are immature, they afterwards form 

 splendid objects for the decoration of the greenhouse or 

 conservatory. These plants are increased by cuttings, but 

 they are somewhat difficult to strike ; ripe lateral shoots 

 form the best cuttings, and these should be inserted in 

 sand, ^nd not kept very warm ; they must not, however, 

 be allowed to remain in a damp state. The old stems cut 

 up into single eyes also produce young plants, but they 

 are not easily rooted. If seeds can be procured in a fresh 

 state they will germinate pretty freely, and produce plants 

 ■of better form than those obtained from cuttings or eyes. 



B, aurea. — A very fine-growing plant, with large, 

 oblong, somewhat oblique leaves, with serrated edges, dark 



