48 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
tural Society, sent by Messrs. Veitch, and also 
well flowered in the conservatory at Kew. In 
its own country it reaches 8 to lofeet high and 
is then very conspicuous with its flowers of 
deep scarlet in large tapering heads, the hooded 
tubes set in a cone-like cluster of bright green 
hairybracts. The leaves are broadly oval,smooth 
and shining, of thinner texture and upon slight- 
er stems than in others of the group. Easily 
raised from cuttings, it is one of the finest of 
winter-flowering plants, blooming and lasting 
well in a comparatively cool house. Cayenne. 
Syns. Justicia coccinea, and Pachystachys coc- 
cinea. 
y. Ghiesbreghtiana. — A beautiful green- 
house shrub long known as Sericographis, 
which will stand rather cooler treatment than 
others of the group, though some heat is neces- 
sary while making growth. Its winter flowers 
of bright scarlet in a half-drooping feathery 
raceme of 6 to 8 inches, are useful for cutting 
or last a long while upon the plant. It may be 
had in bloom from October to December, or 
from Christmas to February, and well grown 
plants from i to 3 feet high are useful in the 
winter months, with their showy flowers over- 
topping the foliage of deep, glossy green. 
Young plants in small pots flower freely, potted 
in rich soil and fed with manure on coming 
into flower. Stopping should be done early and 
the plants grown on in full Hght and a moist 
atmosphere, with a partial rest to ripen and 
develop flower from the end of July. Late 
potting, or shade, means failure. Young cut- 
tings may be potted 5 or 6 together, and older 
plants grown singly. Sudden changes of tem- 
perature, or drought, should be avoided, as 
tending to cause the flowers to fall. Old plants 
may be kept for several seasons, for conservatory 
decoration. Mexico. Syns. Sericographis^ or 
A phelandra Ghiesbreghtiana . 
J. liboniana. — A straggling Brazilian shrub 
of 5 to 6 feet, with bold smooth leaves of deep 
green, nearly or quite 1 2 inches long and about 
half this in width, shaded with purple under- 
neath, the same colour suffusing the stems, leaf- 
stalks,and veins. The flowers are in large crown- 
like headsof soft red, with the curved florets set 
inpurple-tinted bracts. It is a handsome plant, 
beautiful when loaded with flowers in autumn 
or early spring. Where room can be spared, 
it succeeds very well planted out in a warm 
house or winter garden. 
y. Lindeni. — A handsome Mexican shrub 
with angular greenish-brown stems, swollen at 
the joints, and long oval leaves of smooth tex- 
ture, glossy above and shaded violet beneath, 
threaded with conspicuous reddish -brown 
veins. Tubular flowers of 2 inches long, of 
deep orange-yellow colour, coming in showy 
heads during autumn. 
y. magnijica. — A good old plant and one of 
the best known; useful for its long display and 
for the ease with which it flowers at different 
seasons from summer to mid-winter. At Rio- 
de-Janeiro, whence it was brought in 1827, 
it makes a shrub 10 feet high with stout angu- 
lar branches and noble leaves of downy texture, 
a foot long. The flowers are rosy- purple, 
gathered in a dense spike of tubular florets set 
in a cone-like head of purplish bracts. The 
florets are cut into two lobes, the upper lip 
arching, and the lower recurved. This kind 
will stand rougher treatment and a cooler tem- 
perature than most, but is worthy of care for 
its usefulness in rooms and the conservatory, 
the flowers coming in long succession though 
individually short-lived. In warm southern 
gardens it is sometimes stood out for awhile in 
summer, but unless well-sheltered the leaves 
suffer, with loss of effect. It is best under glass, 
where a long season of beauty may be secured 
by growing young plants, and old ones cut back, 
in houses of varying temperature. Old plants 
need a rest before cutting back and should then 
be started vigorously in heat, and repotted into 
rather small pots when growth has well begun; 
fed with soot-water and liquid manure, these 
will bloom freely in a winter temperature of 
5 o to 60 degrees. A variety is sometimes offered 
as yusticia carnea, with flowers of a paler shade. 
Much grown forty years ago, this kind has 
now largely given place to the dwarfer forms 
of yusticia Pohliana. 
y. Mohintli. — A beautiful old plant, but 
rare in gardens and of poor appearance unless 
well grown. Of vigorous growth, it makes a 
spreading bush of i o feet in the warmer parts 
of Mexico, specially abundant in the valley 
of Orizaba and around Cordova, where its 
many heads of orange-scarlet flowers are beauti- 
ful from January to May. Its stems are round, 
