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MUSSAENDA ERYTHROPHYLLA. 



This superb shrub has been one of the attractions of 

 the Botanic Gardens in Singapore for some time, and last 

 year small plants were sent to Kew which on flowering 

 attracted the notice of many cultivators. The shrub is 

 naturally a climber and is allied to our common white and 

 yellow species, M. glabra, commonly known here as Balik 

 Adap, ill. erythroyhylla is a slender woody climber with 

 soft hairy leaves, and terminal corymbs of fairly large 

 yellow tubular flowers. The flowers are borne on short 

 branches in threes, and in one flower of each three, one 

 sepal is developed into a large oval leaf often five inches 

 long, and of a superb crimson or rather cherry-scarlet. 

 Grown as a bush this splendid plant is in flower all the year 

 round. It is easily reproduced from cuttings and can be 

 grown either as a pot plant, a shrub or a climber. The 

 history of the plant is rather curious. It was discovered 

 by Thonning on the Gold Coast in 1827, and the first live 

 plants were introduced into England by Gustav Mann from 

 the Cameroon s in 1863, but does not appear to have been 

 established. Mr. Micholitz reintroduced it to Mr. Sander's 

 firm in 1886, having found it on the French Congo, where 

 he says it climbed to the tops of the highest trees covering 

 them with a dazzling wall of scarlet. The plants were 

 transferred to Mr. Bull of . Chelsea, who distributed it in 

 1888. On Sept. 25th, 1889, two plants were received from 

 Mr. Bull at the Botanic Gardens in Singapore, and were 

 planted out scon after. The soil in which they were planted 

 was probably too dry, and the plants though constantly in 

 flower did not make any great growth. A year or two ago 

 it was taken in hand, and propagated by cuttings. It then 

 began to thrive in cooler and slightly shadier spots, and 

 big bushes were formed. The stock was then worked up 

 till an abundance of plants was obtained and two plants 

 were sent to Kew in 1907, where thev flowered and were 

 figured in the Botanical Magazine (t 8222) (Nov. 1908). 

 The plant seems to have entirely disappeared from cul- 

 tivation elsewhere, and does not seem to have been ever 

 seen in flower in England before. It is a plant that should 

 l)o in all gardens in the tropics. The magnificent red of the 

 sepals is much more brilliant here than represented in the 

 Botanical Magazine, doubtless on account of our more bril- 

 liant light, and is less glaring than that of the Poinsettia 

 having a pink tint through the scarlet, which softens the 

 colour without interfering with its brilliancy. The habit 

 too of the plant is good, and its soft green leaves, and 



