126 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



leaves; the large bracts are deep orange-yellow, 

 tubes yellow, the limb rich scarlet. Winter and 

 early spring months. Brazil. 



A. nitens. — Leaves ovate-acute, thick and fleshy 

 in texture, about six inches long, rich bright green 

 above, port-wine colour beneath ; spikes as long as 

 the leaves ; bracts large, pale green ; flowers brilliant 

 scarlet. Spring months. New Grenada. 



A. piimila. — Leaves ovate, or oblong-ovate, deep 

 shining green, with a pale green band along the 

 centre ; bracts dull brown; flowers brilliant red. 

 Winter months. Brazil. 



A. punctata. — Leaves bluntly-oblong, deep gi'een, 

 the midrib and veins margined with silvery- white, 

 and the margins dotted with white ; bracts yellow, 

 tipped with green ; flowers bright yellow. Winter 

 and spring months. South America. 



A. Sinitzmi. — A bold and handsome plant, with 

 large, broad, ovate-lanceolate acuminate leaves, which 

 are dark glossy green above, midrib reddish-brown, 

 and this with the primary veins are margined white, 

 the under side purplish- violet ; flower-spike long and 

 dense, sometimes having lateral branches ; bracts red, 

 flowers intense scarlet. Winter months. Peru. 



A. sulphurea. — Leaves broadly-ovate acute, some 

 eight or nine inches long, bright shining green on 

 the upper side, paler below ; spikes longer than the 

 leaves ; bracts green, veined and tipped with brown ; 

 flowers golden-yellow, with a small red spot in the 

 throat. Winter months. Guayaquil. 



Aralia. — A genus of very dissimilar - looking 

 plants, which includes the common Ivy ; its deriva- 

 tion is of unknown origin, although it gives its name 

 to the order {Aralia^ea;), none of them are possessed 

 of bhowy flowers, but all the kinds here enumerated 

 are very ornamental-foliaged plants. Aralias should 

 be potted in sandy loam, with the addition of some 

 vegetable mould; some species are temperate plants 

 already noticed in the Green-house section of this 

 work, but the kinds here enumerated all luxuriate in 

 strong heat and moisture. 



A. elegantissima. — This handsome plant has an 

 erect stem and long slender petioles, very dark green 

 speckled with ivory-white ; the leaves are palmate, 

 divided into narrow segments down to the petiole ; 

 these segments are pendulous, serrate at the edges, 

 deep green speckled with white, under side reddish- 

 brown. South Sea Islands. 



A. Guilfoylci. — The leaves of this species are pin- 

 nate, made up of five or seven large oblong- obtuse, 

 dark green leaflets, which are broadly margined with 

 creamy -white, and serrate at the edges. South Sea 

 Islands. 



A. Veitclm. — The leaves palmately di\'ided into 

 narrow segments, which are slightly serrate at the 



edges, bronzy-green above, deep reddish beneath. 

 No description can give an adequate idea of the 

 beauty of this species. New Caledonia. 



A. Veitchii, var. gracillima. — Narrow and elegant 

 as are the divisions of the leaf in the last-named 

 plant, the variety • here named is infinitely more 

 slender, whilst its colour and markings are the same. 

 New Caledonia. 



Aristolochia. — A genus of bold-growing plants, 

 the majority of which are cKmbers ; they give their 

 name to the order, and are popularly called Birth- 

 worts. Aristolochias form magnificent objects upon 

 the roof, or upon pillars in a large plant-house : the 

 flowers are not brilliantly coloured, but their extra- 

 ordinary forms, and large handsome cordate leaves, 

 render them very attractive. Pot in loam, peat, and 

 sand ; and in the autumn when the flowering season 

 is past, cut the shoots of the climbing species back to 

 within a few eyes of the old wood. 



A. Duchartrei. — A somewhat slender species for a 

 climber of this genus. The leaves broadly-cordate 

 acuminate ; dark green on the upper side, paler below ; 

 flowers produced from the old wood ; tube about an 

 inch long, thin, narrow, and contracted, ultimately 

 expanding into a large funnel-shaped limb, some 

 three inches across ; outside of perianth yello^-ish- 

 white, and reticulated with reddish-brown lines ; in- 

 terior or fimnel creamy-white, irregularly blotched 

 with blackish-purple. Winter months. Upper Amazon. 



A. g'lgas. — This is a strong climber, with cordate- 

 acuminate leaves of a deep green ; flowers solitary in 

 long peduncles, flowers when young and before open- 

 ing clothed with a dense tomentum of woolly hairs ; 

 tubular at the base, expanding into a large spreading 

 limb upwards of eighteen inches in diameter, with a 

 tail nearly a foot long ; ground-colour yellowish- 

 white, beautifully reticulated with purplish-brown. 

 Summer months. Guatemala. 



A. GoJdieana. — This is the largest-flowered 

 species known, and unfortunately its disagreeable 

 odour is in proportion to its size ; it is a climbing 

 species, with large and smooth, ovate-cordate acumi- 

 nate leaves. Flowers very large ; upwards of two 

 feet long, and nearly a foot across its funnel-shaped 

 limb ; tube greenish-yellow ; the end bent back and 

 contracted, suddenly expanding into a large campanu- 

 late three-lobed limb, which is furnished with three 

 slender tail-like points ; on the outside it is pale 

 greenish-yellow, with broad longitudinal lines of 

 reddish-brown, which are filled in transversely with 

 finer lines of the same colour ; interior of the limb 

 dull orange -yellow, profusely barred and reticulated 

 with purplish-brown. Summer months. Sierra 

 Leone, and in forests at the mouth of the Old Cala- 

 bar Eiver, West Africa. 



