RHO'DANTHE. 



243 



rhodochi'ton. 



down roots become new plants while 

 yet adhering to the parent branch. 

 This singular property makes a grove 

 of Mangroves have the appearance of 

 a single tree ; and we read of parties 

 sent to explore the rivers of East 

 Africa having found it impossible to 

 penetrate through the Mangroves, with 

 which the rivers are lined. In Eng- 

 land the plant is a stove shrub, which 

 it is extremely difficult to keep alive, 

 on account of the warmth and mois- 

 ture it requires ; and which is not 

 worth growing for either its flowers 

 or fruit. 



Rhoda'nthe. — Composites. — A 

 beautiful little annual plant, a native 

 of the Swan River, whence its seeds 

 were imported by Captain Mangles, 

 who so well merits the gratitude of 

 every lover of flowers for the nume- 

 rous beautiful plants which he has 

 been the means of introducing. The 

 Rhodanthe is generally treated as a 

 half-hardy annual, being sown on a 

 hot-bed in February and planted out 

 in May ; but it may be grown to an 

 enormous size by the following treat- 

 ment. The seed must be sown the 

 first week in April, in a soil com- 

 posed of three parts of heath-mould 

 and one of loam ; and the young 

 plants pricked out the first week in 

 May into small thumb pots or sixties 

 filled with a similar soil. In a week's 

 time they should be shifted into pots 

 a size larger ; they should then be 

 suffered to remain a fortnight, after 

 which they should be again shifted 

 into larger pots and the blossom-buds 

 pinched off. This shifting may be 

 repeated five or six times, always 

 pinching off the blossom-buds, till the 

 plant has attained a large size and 

 shrubby character, which will gene- 

 rally be about the middle of August, 

 and when it may be permitted to 

 flower. A plant which had been 

 treated in this manner, and which 

 was given to me by Captain Man- 



gles, measured a foot and a half high, 

 and four feet in circumference ; it 

 had above a thousand blossoms on it 

 expanded at one time ; and it conti- 

 nued producing a succession of flow- 

 ers from August to the middle of 

 November. 



Rhodi x ola. — Crassidacece. — Rose- 

 root. There are only two species of 

 this genus ; one of which is a Bri- 

 tish plant, strongly resembling the 

 House-leek, with a thick fleshy root, 

 smelling so much like a Rose as to 

 have given the name to the genus. The 

 flowers are yellow and terminal. The 

 plant is a perennial, and should be 

 grown in a moist situation on rock- 

 woik. 



Rhodochi^ton. — Scrophularinece. 

 — R. voliibile, formerly called Lo- 

 phospermum Rhodochiton, is a Mexi- 

 can climbing plant, with abundance 

 of very handsome flowers. It was at 

 first kept in the greenhouse, but it is 

 now found to flourish most in the 

 open air, as it will not flower well 

 when its roots are confined. It should 

 be planted in spring, in a pit about 

 two feet square, formed in the open 

 border, and filled with loamy soil, en- 

 riched with leaf-mould or rotten ma- 

 nure. As the plant grows, a little 

 leaf-mould may be added from time 

 to time over the roots ; and the plant 

 must be trained up a wire frame, or 

 against a conservative wall. When 

 it has done flowering, it should be 

 cut down to within a few inches of 

 the ground, and covered with tan or 

 sawdust, and a pot turned over it, the 

 hole in the pot being stopped up to 

 exclude the rain ; or what is better, 

 the plant may be wrapped in moss 

 and thus protected. The species is 

 propagated by cuttings struck in spring 

 or autumn, or by seeds sown on a 

 hot- bed in February and planted out 

 in May. When wanted for a bal- 

 cony or gi'eenhouse, it may be grown 

 in a pot, all that need be attended to 

 R 2 



