STA TICE — STREPTOSOL EN. 



*37 



freedom in flowering and the durability of their flowers. Statices are sometimes effec- 

 tively displayed at exhibitions. S. Halfordi, a garden hybrid from S. imbricata — a 

 species from Teneriffe — is of strong growth and produces largo branching heads of blue 

 flowers in the summer. The more popular S. profusa is a hybrid between S. puberula 

 and S. Halfordi, than which it is of a more branching and shrubby habit of growth, 

 and also much more florifcrous. S. p. intermedia and S. p. Gilberti have larger flowers 

 than the typ?, and for exhibition purposes must be regarded as distinct advances. 

 S. Halfordi is often raised from seed. Fine bold plants can be grown in one season, 

 for flowering strongly the following summer. In February or March sow the seeds in 

 well-drained pots or pans, filled with sandy soil, cover with glass and shade heavily ; 

 with uniform moisture, germination is free in a temperature of 55° to G5°. 



When large enough, insert the seedlings an inch or two apart in pans filled with a 

 mixture of fine loam, peat, and sand, and place them in gentle heat not far from the 

 glass till they are well established, when they ought to be moved singly into 2|-inch 

 pots. They must be assigned a very light position and kept growing in a temperature of 

 55° to 65°, gradually shifting them into larger pots till the 9-inch size is reached. 

 These and the other kinds succeed well in a mixture of three parts fibrous loam to one 

 part each of peat and good, natural leaf soil, with sharp sand and nodules of charcoal 

 freely added. Pot firmly. The more shrubby kinds are principally increased by cut- 

 tings. These should be inserted singly in small pots during February or March, 

 covered with a bell glass or handlight, and kept in a temperature of 55° to 65° till 

 rooted. Subsequent treatment is the same as recommended for seedlings, only the 

 plants from cuttings will not grow so rapidly, nor, consequently, require such large 

 pots the first season. Any flower heads that show ought to be pinched out at once 

 when the plants are young, this invigorating them and causing them to branch strongly. 



During the summer a cold pit or frame is the best position for young statices, taking 

 care to keep them well supplied with water, and worms out of the pots. Winter the 

 plants on a light, airy stage in a cool greenhouse. Older plants requiring more pot 

 room should have a small shift in March or April ; others with their pots well filled 

 with roots, but not standing in need of a shift, ought to have weak liquid manure 

 occasionally. The flower heads will develop to their full extent in an airy greenhouse, 

 and may be regulated or trained to a globular form. 



Streptocarptjs. — Sec Florists' Flowers, page 111. 



streptosolen. — There is only a single species belonging to this genus — S. Jamesoni 



