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CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENIXG. 



about snow. A pair of bellows is an invaluable 

 tool to the grower of Succulents in rooms, for it 

 should be in frequent use to keep the plants clean 

 and free from dust. 



Amongst Succulents the most easily procurable 

 belong to the Crassulaceous order. Bnjophyllums 

 are curious, with greenish-purple flowers appearing 

 in June, and grow two feet high. Cotyledons are 

 summer-blooming, growing about one foot high, and 

 having flowers either red, orange, yellow, or white. 

 Crassulas are mostly white-flowered, and generally 

 bloom from June to August, though one species 

 (C. lactea) flowers in December and January, and is, 

 therefore, especially to be recommended. Very few 

 exceed nine inches in height. Echeverias are larger 

 plants, growing from one to two feet high, and 

 flowering principally in the autumn ; their colours 

 are scarlet, red, orange, or yellow, and they are 

 always admired, Crassula [Kalosanthes) coccbiea has 

 grand trusses of crimson or scarlet flowers, and lasts 

 a long time in bloom, beginning in June. It grows 

 about one foot high. Fachyphytum is grown princi- 

 pally for the thick, fleshy glaucous leaves, which are 

 very singular. Crassula falcata, also known as Rochea 

 falcata, has curious hatchet shaped leaves of a mealy- 

 green, and very elegant trusses of showy scarlet 

 flowers in July. It will grow to the height of four 

 feet, but blooms freely when only a foot high. 

 Sedums are almost endless in the number of species 

 and they are mostly white-flowered, though some are 

 yellow, pink, and purple. They are very dwarf, 

 principally from three to six inches high, and very 

 interesting. Sempo'vivums are chiefly yellow, al- 

 though species occur with, purplish and reddish 

 flowers. They bloom in June and July, growing 

 from six inches to two feet high. 



Another very numerous group of Succulent plants 

 occurs amongst the Cactacece, most of which are 

 covered with spines or prickles. "WTiilst the Crassii- 

 laccce are remarkable for the curious forms of their 

 leaves, the Cactacece are noteworthy for the singular 

 growth of their stems and branches, and for the 

 absence of any leaves. Cereiis is a large genus, con- 

 taining many stately plants, with magnificent flowers, 

 and also some dwarf species, not ex^ceeding two feet, 

 suitable for rooms. Amongst the latter the colours 

 of the flowers are various enough to please most 

 people, scarlet, red, rose, pink, purple, orange, yellow, 

 white, and most of them flower during the summer 

 months. Echinopsis and Echinocactus may be taken 

 together, being very much alike. Most of them are less 

 than six inches high, and the flowers are chiefly yel- 

 low or red, and very beautiful. Epiphyllum has a 

 very peculiar arrangement of jointed leaf -like stems, 

 looking just like a flattened green worm, and remind- 

 ing a zoologist of an enormous Tjsnia. From the 



very dwarf growth of these plants it is usual to graft 

 them on an allied plant called Pereskia, known also 

 as the Barbadoes Gooseberry, from its having globose 

 fruit. Placed upon these stems, nine or ten inches 

 high, the Epiphyllum grows into an umbrella- shaped 

 head, and its pink or crimson blossoms hang from 

 the ends of the branches and produce a very lovely 

 effect. Though it is doubtful if they would form 

 flower-buds in a room, yet plants in bloom can be 

 Icept so for a long time. They bloom from June 

 until late in the year. JIammillarias form' a strong- 

 contrast to the plants last mentioned, since they are 

 I'areh' more than a few inches high, and are a 

 globular mass of nipple -formed projections or 

 tubercles, with a few bristles at the point of each 

 nipple. The flowers of the majority of the species 

 are white, yellow, or red, and they are summer- 

 blooming, the flowers coming up between the 

 tubercles in a most singular way. Melocactm much 

 resembles Echinocactus in general form, and the 

 flowers are usually red. Opuntia, of which the 

 Cochineal plant and the Prickly Pear are examples, 

 has branches composed of ovate flattened joints, and 

 flowers principally yellow. Pereskia is distinguished 

 from most other plants of the Cactus family by 

 having a woody stem instead of a fleshy one, and by 

 having leaves ; the plants are curious, and the flowers 

 are either white or red, coming out late in the 

 autumn. Phipsalis has curious long, slender, jointed, 

 leafless green stems and branches ; flowers minute, 

 and yellow ; these are very singular plants, 



Cacalia and Kleinia are members of the large 

 natui'al order Conqjosita, though no one would 

 ever guess such to be the case unless they examined 

 the flowers. The jointed stems of Eleini'( articulatn 

 are so perfectly round that it has been called the 

 Candle Plant, Flowers yeUow, 



Agave is the genus to which the American Aloes 

 belong, and is j)laced in the natural order Amaryl- 

 lidacece, while Yucca and Aloe are members of the 

 Lily order. Plants of these three genera have 

 such a strong general resemblance that they arc 

 often confounded. The Aloes (which are Cape of 

 Good Hope plants) and the Agaves are only suitable 

 for very large rooms, halls, or porches ; but the 

 Yuccas are smaller, and of a more useful character 

 for ordinary rooms. 



Gasteria and Hau-orthia are the last Succulents 

 which we shall mention ; they are Liliaceous plants, 

 both from South Africa. The former has its warty 

 leaves growing alternately in the same plane, and 

 looks as if it had been pressed into this form between 

 two boards. There are many different species, all of 

 which have pretty scarlet or red flowers on long 

 slender stems, all blooming in July. On the othei- 

 hand, the flowers of the Haworthias are all grey auLi 



