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THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



so few of them being cultivated in private gardens nowadays. Among the best of the 

 species grown, are B. Moreliana, Brazil, flowers red and purplish- violet, bracts large and 

 rosy red in colour, February ; B. rhodocyanea (syn. iEehmea fasciata) ; E. thyrsioides, 

 Brazil, flowers in dense spikes, June; B. vittata, Brazil, flowers indigo blue, with 

 crimson calyces and bracts, March. Billbergias are nearly allied to iEchmea, succeeding 

 well under the same treatment, for which see page 269. 



BOUGAINVILLEA. 



Although classed as stove plants, Bougainvilleas really succeed best, and flower the 

 most abundantly, in a warm greenhouse or conservator It is not the small greenish 

 white flowers so much as the bracts which enclose them that attract attention, these 

 remaining fresh and bright in colour long after the flowers have withered. Only two 

 species are in cultivation, one of them affording two varieties. The most popular for ex- 

 hibition and other purposes is B. glabra. This is a native of Brazil, and produces its inflor- 

 escence in panicles in the summer. The flowers are greenish white, bracts rose-coloured. B. 

 glabra, var. Sanderiana, differs from the type in the colour of the bracts, which is purplish- 

 rose. This variety flowers freely in a small state, and profusely when the plants are large. 

 B. glabra Cypheri is of the same shade of colour as Sanderiana, but the bracts are much 

 larger, and the variety is therefore more valuable for exhibition. B. spectabilis (syn. 

 B. speciosa), Brazil, is the other species alluded to. This, when properly treated, 

 flowers grandly in the spring. The bracts are rose-coloured. 



Bougainvilleas are not difficult to propagate. Cuttings may be formed of young 

 shoots about 3 inches long, any time during the spring, and inserted in small pots of 

 sandy loam, plunged in brisk bottom heat in a close frame, or covered with a bell-glass 

 or hand-light. When well rooted, gradually inure the plants to the sun and air, a light 

 position and an intermediate temperature best suiting them during the growing season. 

 Top to make them branch, and soon afterwards shift into larger pots. Support the 

 growths with a single stake and rama. In the autumn apply less water and rest the 

 plants in a warm greenhouse, giving only sufficient water to prevent the wood shrivelling. 

 In February, prune rather severely, that is if strong growth rather than flowering shoots 

 are desired, and place the plants in more heat, accompanied by a moist atmosphere. 

 On their producing fresh shoots turn the plants out of the pots, partially clear the roots 

 of old soil, and return to the same sized pots as they were in previously. At this and 

 all other pottings the compost employed should consist of two-thirds good fibrous 



