24 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
EUPATORIUM : WITH A COL- 
OURED PLATE OF EUPATO- 
RIUM lANTHINUM.* 
EuPATORiuM includes about 400 species, 
mostly found in the warmer parts of 
America, related to Ageratum and 
Stevia, and among them shrubs, ever- 
green sub-shrubs, and perennials . While 
many kinds are of no garden value 
others are pretty border and green- 
house plants, easily grovv^n, and useful 
for cut bloom. As pot-plants the 
dwarfer tender kinds are profuse in 
flower and often fragrant ; the taller 
shrubby kinds are more awkward in the 
greenhouse unless planted out, when 
they are very useful for cutting. Save 
in a few cases they are best grown 
cool, lasting longer and of better habit 
than when in heat. By a selection of 
kinds it is easy to have abundance of 
flower from early autumn, when there 
is such a demand for harvest festivals, 
right through the winter to the follow- 
ing March, and while not showy, their 
lightness and free flowering adapt them 
for all the uses for which cut flowers 
are required. They last well in water, 
throw long and graceful stems, and are 
a great aid in setting brighter flowers 
to the best advantage. 
No plants are more easily grown. 
The perennial kinds are of stout growth, 
thriving beside water in the wild garden, 
where those of tall habit are effective 
and the feathery heads of E. agera- 
toides2cs\diE. aromaticum most welcome 
when flowers are wanted by the armful 
for church decoration. The greenhouse 
kinds are all easily raised from eyes or 
cuttings, rooted in pots of sandy soil 
with bottom heat, during early spring. 
It saves labour to grow the young plants 
in the open ground through the summer, 
making bushy plants for the autumn and 
winter. Early in September they are 
lifted, and potted firmly in good soil : 
stood in a north aspect to recover for 
a few days, they must be housed before 
risk of frost to which the buds are very 
sensitive. They then flower in suc- 
cession, beginning with E. micranthum 
in late autumn, followed by riparium^ 
vernale^probum^2LX\^di other kinds which 
prolong the season into March. Some 
sorts need a little warmth at the finish 
to bring their flowers to perfection, and 
all are much improved by a little liquid 
manure on coming into flower and 
should at no time suffer from drought. 
With care in this respect, red spider — 
the only pest to which they are much 
subject — is easily kept at bay. After 
flowering, the plants may be cut hard 
back and will make large spreading 
tufts in their second season, yielding 
plenty of bloom somewhat smaller than 
before. The quick-growing kinds are 
often raised afresh every year, where size 
of flower is of importance. In the south 
of Europe many of the shrubby kinds 
are seen in gardens and sow themselves 
freely, but cuttings grow with a neater 
habit. 
The large-leaved section of Eupa- 
torium (once known as Hebecliniufri) 
to which the plant shown in our plate 
belongs, contains the finest of the group 
— shrubs beautiful in leaf and like a 
giant Ageratum in their mauve and 
purple coloured heads, coming in early 
spring and unlike any other flowers 
* From a drawing by H. G. Moon at Warley Place, Essex. 
