36 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



January 15, 1898. 



Some Carrion Flowers. 



Lovers of the 



curiosity ? 



curious in plants — and who is not attracted by a 

 have always had a strong regard for the succulent stemmed, 

 apelias ; South African plants, producing fairly large, showy 

 flowers that give forth such a foetid odour as to bring upon themselves 

 the designation of Carrion Flowers. The genus is an extensive one, and 

 includes, among its larger members the interesting Stapelia gigantea, S. 

 Asterias, S. gnindiflora, S. Hayfieldi, S. glabri flora, S. normalis, and S. 



unguipetala. As a rule, the carrion flowers grow best in a warm, dry „ „ - r .„ V-J 



house, in a light and sunny position. They should be potted in a also the peculiar form of growth and flower revealed by stapelias would 

 compost of sandy loam, to which has been a.lded a large proportion of * '* ' * 



brick or mortar rubbish broken up rather small. In addition to this, the 

 pots must be well drained, or damping will be the result ; water is needed 

 in moderate supply during summer and when growth is most vigorous, 



marked with red. In this species, as in S. revoluta, the margins of the 

 five radiating segments are fringed. 



During a period of thirty-three years, that is from 1790 to 1823, no 

 less than twenty species of these remarkable plants were figured in the 

 Bo/. Mag., commencing with S. variegata in the first vol., and concluding 

 with Stapelia or Huernia barbata in vol. 50. Many have been figured in 

 later times, but this period seems to have been specially prolific in these 

 and other Cape Plants, as doubtless there were better facilities for dis- 

 covering such, and succulents and bulbs would travel better in those 

 times of long journeys than would shrubby or soft-wooded plants. Then 

 also the peculiar form of growth and flower revealed by stapelias would 

 commend themselves to plant lovers of seventy-five or a hundred years 

 ago, just as a new orchid does at the present day. The following 

 cultural particulars given with the description of S. variegata give us an 

 insight to the methods then obtaining : " If these plants be kept in a 



X 



/' i 



I 



Sl'AI'KMA PAT ( ' I . \ 



Stapelia rkvoluta. 



bit scarcely any is necessary during Avintcr. S. gigantea succeeds 

 under conditions of moic moisture and heat than would agree with the 

 majority. A shelf on the lightest and warmest side of an intermediate 

 house, especially if the house is kept moderately dry, will be an excellent 

 position on which to phce a few specimens of these most interesting 

 subjects. W ith respr. t to propagation, most |>eople fail because they 

 are too careful and insert a cutting as soon as it is taken. The result is, 

 that the growth damps at the lu e, rot sets in, and no new plant is 

 formed. W hen a rutting is taken from a plant put it on the shelf for a 

 few days, where it will not be moistened in any way, but where the influ 

 ence of sun and dry air will dry up and heat the cut. When this has 

 happened, and not till then, is it advisable to insert the cutting in any 



compost. 



Small growing species are at present most in request by amateurs 

 and others, and the following four combine with that quality a wonderful 

 degree of quaintness in stem and flower, and while the colours of the 

 latter are most attractive. Stapelia revoluta is remarkable for its turned- 

 back segments and for the club-shaped glands that fringe their margins. 

 The colour is decp-rcd-purple, with a dull yellowish, ten-lobed centre, 



•4 



A 



few 



A 



r 



Siwrm.i \ 



\l IMC \NS. 



has 



surrounded by small marks and dots of a similar colour. This 

 long been in cultivation, for the species is fibred in the liot. MaZ 

 724, published 1804, from a plant that flowered in a Yauxhall garden 

 ikiSEE r S ^ . mUCh k ,T n L bul ^ i» distinct by reason of the waw 



wh.tenes. of i s stems and the brown colour ..f its very starry Howe* 

 »s very free flowenng, small and freely branched. S. verrucosa" of 

 peculiar growth, the stems being more or less quadrangular and furnished 



:i'? m ho T m i 5* ° f C °™**™H C s.,e. Its .lowers are of a 

 deep yellow colour, freely spotted with very dark purple ; the corona 

 consists of five lower dark iniml. ' •-• - 1 K < orona 



a 



It 



wicn five upper and yellow 

 {lam ous hue in the stems. 



very show 



i has very e 



n 



111 



inc 



very moderate stove in winter, and in summer be placed in an airy glass 

 case, where they may enjoy much fresh air, but screened from wet and 

 COld, they will thrive and flower very well ; for although they will live in 

 the open air in summer, and may be kept through the winter in a good 

 greenhouse ; yet these plants will not (lower so well as those managed 

 the other way. They must have little water given them. Kspecially in 

 winter. It is very seldom S. variegata produces seed vessels in this 

 country. Miller observes, in upwards of forty years that he cultivated it, 

 he never saw it produce its pods but three times, and then on such plants 

 only as wnc plunged into the tan-bed in the stove." 



Karl Prosper, jun. 



■ 



CCELOGYNE CRISTATA AT DEVONHURST. 



Dkxonhurst, Chiswick, the residence of E. H. Watts, Esq., has a 

 pretty garden attached to it, and one that backs on to the R.H.S 

 Ciardens. Indeed, some part of the Devonhurst gardens were formerly 

 part of the original R H.S. establishment, as the many fine and some- 

 what rare trees testify. Successive gardeners at Devonhurst have faith- 



Stapklia verrucosa. 



fully upheld its traditions for good gardening, and Mr. James Gibson 

 nas even enhanced its reputation. He is very widely known as an excel- 

 lent vegetable cultivator, and with his exhibits has beaten all comers 

 alter travelling as far north as Edinburgh. Orchard house fruits art 

 always a success here, and plants are not forgotten. Among the latter a 

 tew spenes of the most useful orchids are cultivated, and these in due 

 season give results such as any well-known orchid grower might be 

 proud. A good batch of G. logyne cristata is cultivated, and ™° st ™ 



... 18 spent in an intermediate house where ferns, palms, and 

 "!f"J*r»!! C! i:.-- e<1 " ir f d for decorating have to be cultivated. Cooler 



The oclogynes invariably do »*elli 

 in early summer, as a dance at the specimen 



their time 



quarters are given in hot weather. 



and (lower profusely 



ngureu «n the present issue will show. This example, grown in a com- 

 itively small pan, carried about thirty spikes of fine flowers, ind 



oai 



