n6 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



pots, where possible they might begiven 

 a trial planted out in the border of an 

 airy greenhouse or conservatory, need- 

 ing less attention in this way save in 

 more frequent pinching, as a result of 

 their freer growth. Bushes 6 to 8 feet 

 high and nearly as much through, may 

 be thus grown in a short time, and when 

 so seen, few will deny the real beauty of 

 these Australian shrubs. With the ex- 

 ception of scale, Correas are not much 

 subject to insect pests, nor are they so 

 sensitive to damp as many allied plants. 

 Nearly all may be raised from seeds or 

 cuttings, but the usual practice is to 

 graft the better kinds upon the free- 

 growing Correa alba, which in its own 

 country forms a shrub 1 2 feet or more 

 high, and so grown good flowering 

 specimens are sooner formed. The de- 

 tails of their culture are the same as 

 in most hard- wooded plants. When j 

 in full growth Correas should be freely j 

 watered, with a period of comparative 

 rest after flowering. The best kinds ' 

 are as follows : — 



Varieties.— Most of the finer kinds have I 

 been raised as seedlings or crosses between the 

 red-flowered C. speciosa and C.virens, the green- 

 flowered kind. Fewer sorts are now found in 

 collections than during the great days of hard- 

 wooded plants some half-century ago, but most 

 of the following are still sparingly grown in 

 England and Belgium. 



Pale-flowered AustralianFuchsi a (Cor- 

 rea a/ba) . — A robust plant soon reaching several 

 feet in height, with whitish, rounded leaves, 

 downy and punctured beneath; clusters of 

 small and inconspicuous white flowers at the 

 ends of the shoots, appearing from spring till 

 mid-summer. There is a variety, cotinifolius, 

 in which the whiteness of the foliage is more 

 marked. 



ROSY-FLOWERED AUSTRALIAN FUCHSIA (C. 



bicolor).—K cross between alba and pulche/la, 



bearing white flowers shaded rose, from Janu- 

 ary to April and distinct from its parents in 

 its upright flowers, in which the mouth of the 

 tube is widely open. 



Scarlet-flowered Australian Fuchsia 

 (67. cardinalis), — This is one of the best and 

 most useful kinds, bearing single pendant 

 flowers of bright scarlet, more than an inch 

 long, shaded with pale yellow in the centre 

 and tipped with green. It frequently flowers 

 in mid-winter, continuing in bloom during a 

 great part of the spring. It is a slender-growing 

 shrub, needing careful pinching to keep it in 

 shape without the use of stakes. 



Harris's Australian Fuchsia (C Har- 

 risii). — A garden hybrid not unlike cardinalis 

 (one of its parents), but of sturdier habit. Its 

 lighter green leaves are more pointed, and its 

 growth is finely spreading ; flowers of bright 

 scarlet. 



White - flowered Australian Fuchsia 

 (C. magnified). — The best white kind, with 

 large flowers, has a long pale tube with promi- 

 nent stamens borne on a shrub of strong, free 

 growth. It does well planted out, and is not 

 averse to cutting. 



Coral-flowered Australian Fuchsia (C. 

 pulchelld). — A distinct garden hybrid, bear- 

 ing during the spring single drooping flowers 

 of a pretty pale salmon colour, with a hairy 

 throat. The leaves are oval, waved, and when 

 young covered with down. A strong-growing, 

 beautiful shrub, reaching a height of 6 to 

 8 feet. 



Showy Australian Fuchsia (C. speciosa). 

 — A shrub beautiful in its finer forms but very 

 variable in detail, and commonly regarded as 

 the primitive form of all the garden varieties. 

 Its growth is slender but compact, with leaves 

 variable in shape and size, the stems and under 

 surface of the leaves covered with ruddy hairs. 

 The flowers are tubular or slightly inflated, 

 often borne erect, and usually deep red shaded 

 with green, but sometimes pale or even whit- 

 ish, appearing from winter throughout the 

 spring. The variety major, with deeply co- 

 loured flowers of large size, is the finest form 

 of this kind. 



Yellow -flowered Australian Fuchsia 

 (C. sulphured). — A kind only distinct in the 

 pale yellow colour of its flowers. Syn. C. ochro- 

 leuca. 



