30 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXG. 



of culture, also with blue flowers and similar in 

 character, are M. hastata {31. hastccfolia) and M. 

 raginciUs. Both are natives of tropical Asia. A 

 variety of the last, 21. Korsakoivii, figured by Dr. 

 Kegel in the " Gartenflora," is a native of China 

 and Japan, and is perhaps hardy. 



MyrwphyUnm proserpinacoidcs. — This is a most 

 lovely foliage j)lant, and of the easiest culture. In 

 summer it does well out of doors, and survives our 

 milder winters. The flowers are quite inconspicuous. 

 Its leaves are produced in whorls of four, they are 

 oblong in outline, and are divided, feather-like, into 

 many narrow segments. The habit of the plant is 

 creeping, and the shoots are extremely graceful. 

 Cuttings root with the greatest facility. It has been 

 known as Scrpestcs rejlexa, but that name was 

 ventured upon before the plant had flowered. It 

 belongs to the Haloragacea;, and is a native of Chili, 

 though it was introduced from Brazil, where also 

 perhaps it is native. 



Ndumbinm luteum (Golden Swamp Lily). — Of the 

 fine plants which most tax the skill of the cultivator 

 this is one of the finest, and no water-jDlant better 

 deserves the skill that can be brought to bear upon 

 it. It is difiicult to cultivate except under just the 

 right conditions, and when it does flower the blossoms 

 are smaller than they are in the wild state. Those 

 who know N. speciosum can conceive what this is like, 

 as it differs most conspicuously in the colour of the 

 flower, which is similar to that of a Marechal Kiel 

 Rose. The wild flowers are ten to twelve inches in 

 diameter, and have been compared to a semi-double 

 Pfcony ; they have a delicious perfume, and when 

 half open are like baUs of gold. They are poised on 

 tan stems, among leaves of striking character, in the 

 form of immense discs, one to two feet in diameter, 

 supported on erect stalks attached to the centre 

 below. It may be grown successfully ixnder glass, 

 but although the winters of its habitat are colder than 

 ours, we fail to grow it out of doors from the fact 

 that we have not its hot American summer. At Cape 

 Cod it was grown from seeds, and flowered in three 

 years, in a shallow mill-pond, where the ice freezes to 

 one foot in thiclmess. To grow it in oiu- country, a 

 house lower in temperature than the tropical aqua- 

 rium is necessary, especially so perhaps as regards 

 the water, which should not exceed TO'', or 75° at the 

 highest. In the Cambridge Botanic Garden it has 

 grown and flowered in a tub fourteen inches deep and 

 two feet thi-ee inches Avide at the top, standing on a 

 shelf close to the light in the Cactus House. Seven 

 flowers were produced in succession in 1884. The 

 soil in this tub is eight inches deep, and consists 

 of two parts fibry turf, one part rotten cow- dung, 

 and one part rough sand. The sand should be rubbed 

 up or thoroughly mixed with the dimg, in order to 



finely divide the latter, for complete incorporation 

 with the loam. Three tubers were planted early in 

 April, and in July the result was about three dozen 

 leaves and five flowers in different stages at the same 

 time. In the Jardin des Plantes I have seen it 

 groA\ing about three feet high above water in a kind 

 of weU, which in winter is covered with glass. It is 

 only in the South of England that its culture is worth 

 attemptmg out of doors, and then probably a rougli 

 glass structure would greatly assist grow^th in sum- 

 mer. The tubers will not surAive frost ; but in water 

 of proper depth they would be safe from it. F. 

 3Iiles had this plant in his pond through the winter 

 of 1881-82 without injm-y. Seeds germinate readily, 

 but it is not easy to make the young plants fonn 

 tubers, by which alone they can survive the winter. 

 The hard testa of the seed must be cut through before 

 sowing, or they will remain unaffected for a length 

 of time. Of course, natm-ally, the seeds fall into 

 water or mud, and probably never get so exceedingly 

 hard and dry. It is figured in the Botanical Maga- 

 zine, and an illustration will be foimd in The Garden, 

 vol. XX., p. 501. It is wild in many parts of Xoi-th 

 America, chieflj' in the South and "Western States, 

 and is sometimes called the "Wampapin Lily. An 

 interesting account will be found in the Gardeners' 

 CJtronicIe, vol. x^-ii., X.S., p. 2. K. jamaicense, 

 which gTOws freely in the cooler parts of Jamaica, is 

 a form of this species. The genus forms a section of 

 the Ni/mphceacc(€. 



Xehimhinrn f<pcciosum. (the Sacred Lotus). — The 

 splendom- of this Old ^"orld species has made it re- 

 markable from ancient times to the present, and for- 

 tunately there is no diSiculty in its successful culti- 

 vation. At Kew it is finely grown in the small 

 corner tanks of the AVater-hly House, and it has also 

 been well grown in large pots. To these tanks, which 

 are not heated, water is admitted from the central 

 basin during the season of growth, and it is allowed 

 to run off for the resting season, but the mud is 

 never dry. It is covered with water in the summer 

 to the depth of only a few inches. The leaves reach 

 a diameter of more than twenty-eight inches, and the 

 stalks attain a height of four and a half feet, or more. 

 Stems bearing the obconical seed-vessel have been 

 measured seven feet high. Sound and complete 

 tubers are easily transplanted, but there is some diffi- 

 culty in establishing plants from seed. If the hard 

 coat of the seed is cut thi'ough or chipped a little, 

 they germinate very readily; but it is generally 

 found at the end of the season that no tubers have 

 formed, without which the plants cannot survive the 

 winter. The soil recommended for -V. Intcum, with 

 rather less manure, is used also for this. The winter 

 temperature should not go below 45°. There are 

 several good varieties. 



