PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



7 



five perfect short stamens, and five long sterile fila- 

 ments. Style divided at the top into five refiexed 

 branches. This is a tree, of quick and robust growth? 

 soon arriving at a height that renders it unsuitable 

 for hothouses of the ordinary dimensions. In the 

 Royal Gardens it has rapidly attained the height of 

 upwards of twenty feet ; but, as it branches freely, it 

 may, with management, be kept within bounds by 

 frequently cutting back the leading shoots. It grows 

 readily in light loam, and should be rather freely 

 supplied with water, as its numerous fibrous roots 

 take it up very quickly, and the size and texture of 

 its leaves present a large and free evaporating sur- 

 face. It is easily increased by cuttings, planted under 

 a bell-glass, the pot being plunged in bottom-heat. — 

 Bot. Mag. t. 4544, 



(alias 



A green-house 



EllEZIERA THEOIDES. SlDaH. 



Eroteum tlieoides Swartz.) 

 shrub from Jamaica, with the aspect of a tea- 

 plant. Flowers white. Belongs to Theacls. 

 Blossomed at Kew in September. (Fig. 114.) 



A Jamaica shrub or small tree, inhabiting the 

 higher mountains of that island, and remarkable 

 for its very near resemblance, both in the 

 leaves and flowers, to the black tea of China. 

 Dr. M'Fadyen informs us, in his useful 

 'Flora of Jamaica,' that the leaves are 

 astringent, and in taste resemble those of the 

 green tea. A smooth shrub four or five feet 

 high in our stove ; in Jamaica, it attains a 

 height of twenty feet. Leaves alternate, on 

 short stalks, leathery, very dark green, ellip- 

 tical-lanceolate, acute, serrated. Peduncles 

 all solitary, axillary, curved down, single- 

 flowered. Flower an inch and a half across. 

 Calyx bibracteolate at the base, five-sepaled ; 

 sepals broad ovate, acute, green, margined 

 with red. Petals cream-white, obcordate. 

 Stamens numerous, attached to the base of 

 the petals. Anthers oblong, opening by two 

 pores, furnished with a tuft or pencil of hairs 

 at the back. Fruit « a berry, the size of a 

 small cherry, globose, purple, juicy, three- or 

 four-celled. Although not a showy plant, its 

 neat evergreen habit renders it worthy of a 

 place in general collections. It resembles 

 the well-known Ardisia crenulata, but grows 

 more luxuriantly ; as, however, it bears 

 cutting back, it may be kept to a proper size, 

 and will form a neat bush. It should be 

 grown in a moderate stove temperature, and 

 will thrive in any kind of light loam, water 

 being freely given it during dry weather in 

 summer. It is readily propagated by cuttings, 

 planted in sand, under a bell-glass, and 

 plunged in a moderate bottom-heat. — ^. 

 Mag. t. 4546. 



