[Plate 37.] 



BOUVARDIA ALFRED NEUNER. 



A Beautiful Greenhouse Flowering Shrub, of Garden Origin, belonging to the Natural Order 



Cinchonace^e. 



THE plant here figured is a beautiful pure white sport from one of the now tolerably 

 numerous varieties of Bouvardia, than which there are few more charming occu- 

 pants of our greenhouses, or that play a more conspicuous part in the production of 

 flowers in winter where means exist for obtaining sufficient warmth to enable them to 

 open freely. The subject of our illustration is of American origin, having been raised 

 in the establishment of Messrs. Nanz and Neuner, Louisville, Kentucky. The sporting 

 in cultivated plants is mostly confined to a change of colour in the flowers, or of variega- 

 tion in the leaves ; but sometimes, as in the present case, it consists in the multiplication 

 of the parts of the flower, the petals being multiplied in number so as to form a 

 rosette, consisting of three or more rows, in place of the one ordinarily existent. This 

 disposition to double is simply an exuberance of growth resulting from high cultivation, 

 but which more usually shows itself in seedlings that produce double flowers. It must be 

 confessed that in double flowers there is an absence of the elegance that exists in the 

 single or natural state ; but, from the cultivator's point of view, double flowers possess 

 an advantage in lasting, as they mostly do, much longer than the single forms. 



The merits of Bouvardias generally as decorative flowering plants are now being fully 

 realised, their compact habit of growth particularly adapting them for pot culture ; their 

 disposition to keep on giving flowers in succession is such, that almost every bit of growth 

 made produces bloom ; added to which, form, fragrance, and purity of colour combine to 

 make them especially deserving of being grown. Neither must it be forgotten that, by a 

 judicious selection of varieties that will, with the aid of warmth) bloom in the winter 

 season, a continuous succession of flowers may be had all the year round. Their flowers 

 are particularly well adapted for use in bouquets, and other floral arrangements. Their cul- 

 tivation is by no means difficult, but to grow young plants up to a useful size for bloom- 

 ing in winter, they should be struck early in the year. At one time they were mainly 



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