i66 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



BROWALLIA SPECIOSA MAJOR. 



This, a native of New Grenada, is, so 

 far as is known, the most beautiful of 

 its family. It is of good form, produc- 

 ing for a great part of the year flowers 

 of a pretty violet-blue colour, relieved 

 by a white throat, and in their size and 

 number remarkable compared with the 

 size of the plant bearing them. It has 

 won its way at once, and is particu- 

 larly useful in late autumn and winter 

 when flowers are few out of doors. It 

 may be grown from seed, or cuttings, 

 which is, perhaps, the better way, as 

 making plants of sturdier habit and 



France, but with only partial success, 

 as it is very liable to suffer from cold 

 rains. 



In flower its profusion is equal to 

 that of Streptosolen Jamesoni, for many 

 years called a Browallia; in fact the form 

 of flower is almost identical. When well 

 grown these two plants alone will go a 

 long way towards keeping a house bright 

 when days are dull. One frequently 

 hears the Streptosolen reproached as a 

 shy bloomer, mainly because, when out 

 of flower in summer, it is temporarily 

 shelved. In the south of France, where 



earlier to flower. It thrives in a light j its growth is fully ripened during the 

 rich soil with all the light and air that longrainlesssummerand sunny autumn, 

 can be given under glass. Stopping to the show of blossom is gorgeous, and 

 ensure a bushy habit is best, as the shoots lasts from February to the end of April 

 are in a hurry to bloom, and run up to unbroken, until every growth has shown 

 a height of il to 2 feet, with a large its head of scarlet and orange flowers, 

 flower in the axil of each leaf in un- i borne, not like B. speciosa on long erect 



broken succession so long as the plant 

 continues in active growth. Propa- 



stems, but in dense hanging clusters. 

 It is no uncommon thing to find not a 



gated from cuttings of partly ripened single shoot without its bud (and so un- 



wood in early spring, and again in the suitable for spring cuttings) until the 



summer, it is possible to have it in bloom plant is sharply cut back. The English 



well-nigh the year round, growing in summer is so different in character, that 



the cold or temperate house according to to obtain such a result is not possible, 



season. In the south of France, though but it may serve to indicate clearly the 



a little difficult to establish at the outset, 

 it grows well outdoors during thegreater 

 part of the year, until checked by the 

 nights of December; but it is best to 



means of success. Cut back the old 

 wood after flowering, and encourage vi- 

 gorous new growth in as light and sunny 

 a position as can be found, gradually re- 



have cuttings in reserve during the win- ! ducing the waterings as the new stems 

 ter, which should not be exposed until j develop and removing anything weakly 

 April is well advanced. It has been that hinders free action of light and air. 

 tried as a garden plant in other parts of With growths thus well seasoned, it will 



* With coloured plate from drawing in Mr. Sanders' Nursery, St. Alban's. 



