268 THE PLANT DECORATION OF APARTMENTS. 



uppermost point of the Cane leaves to the floor nothing was 

 seen but fresh green foliage and graceful forms, enshrouding 

 the ordinary flowers of our greenhouses, that are infinitely- 

 more attractive when thus set in the verdure of which 

 nature is so profuse, and which is always so abundant where 

 her charms of vegetation are at their highest. 



A scene such as this explains the prevalence of these 

 graceful and noble-leaved plants in Paris gardens and in 



Fig. 106. 



iEchmea fulgens. 



Parisian flower-shops and windows ; for you may frequently 

 see elegant little Dracaenas ornamenting windows there, and 

 as they look as well at Christmas as at midsummer, I need 

 hardly suggest how highly suited they are for purposes of 

 this kind. The number of Dracaenas cultivated in and 

 around Paris is something enormous, and among the newer 

 species of these — not alluding to the coloured-leaved kinds 

 — are some that combine grace with dignity as no other 



