FLOWERING PLANTS 



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the geranium or the fuchsia, is the so-called 

 flowering maple (Abutilon). The common 

 species or type is A. striatum. The leaves 

 are thin, dark green, about three inches 

 across, five-parted, and very closely resemble 

 the leaf of a maple. The plant will remain 

 in bloom all winter. The flowers are rather 

 odd and very attractive. They are bell- 

 shaped, about an inch and a half across, 

 borne on long, drooping pedicles, and are 

 red or orange, marked with many brownish- 

 red veins. The stamens are borne in a 

 large bunch on the end of a column which 

 is as long as the petals. A larger, stronger- 

 growing kind is A. Thompsont, in which the 

 leaves are only three-parted, and mottled with 

 lighter green and yellow. The flowers are 

 yellow or orange, with red veins. 



In addition to these there are many named 

 kinds in the trade, the most common of which 

 are Savitzii and Souvenir de Bonn. They 

 are used chiefly as bedding plants in the 

 summer, but may be grown for foliage dur- 

 ing the winter. Species can be grown readily 

 from seed, but it is hardly worth the trouble, 

 because they are so easily increased by green- 

 wood cuttings taken at any time of the year. 



