PSYCHOTRIA 
187 
are shown life-size in our engraving. 
Introduced nearly 30 years ago (under 
the name of Gloneria) it has remained 
a scarce plant though one of the finest 
of all stove shrubs in the dazzling purity 
of its white flowers and their abundance 
upon plants that are well grown. It is 
however not of strong growth, needing 
some care as to management and of 
difficult increase. The flowers might 
almost be mistaken at first sight for those 
of a Jasmine or a white Bouvardia, but 
they are even choicer than these, covered 
Flowering Spray of Psychotria Jasminiflora. 
on the outside with fine white down, 
and when newly expanded they glisten 
almost as though frosted. They are in 
clusters of about a dozen blooms, last 
a long while, and are beautiful for bou- 
quets and other cut work. Though the 
plants are never long out of flower, win- 
ter and early spring are their best season, 
and this should be followed by a time 
of rest in a cooler house. They do best 
in small pots, for the roots are never very 
strong and are apt to get out of health 
if in large pots or planted out. Of erect 
and bushy habit the plants are seldom 
more than 1 8 inches high, with smooth 
green leaves of about 3 inches long, 
arranged in pairs and covered with a 
whitish down on the under surface. 
Light sandy soil is the best, allowing 
j free drainage with careful watering at all 
j. times, particularly in winter. Not only 
are cuttings very slow to root but they 
are often hard to get,for the plant blooms 
so persistently that growing tips are 
scarce. The best time to watch for 
them is immediately after the resting 
I season in early spring, when plants that 
I are started briskly are more likely to 
furnish them. Taken just as they begin 
to turn woody the young shoots may 
be dibbled singly 
into thumb pots, 
given two or three 
weeks on a shelf 
or cool bed of 
the propagating 
house in order to 
form a callus^ and only after this 
plunged in gentle bottom heat un- 
der glass. This method gives better 
results than when the cuttings are 
put into heat at the outset. The failure 
to bloom sometimes urged against this 
plantis mostly due to neglect of the rest- 
ing time. Syn. G/oneria jas7ni7iiJIo?^a. 
A few other good stove kinds such 
as Psychotria Icucocephala (better known 
as Rudgeamacrophylld) and P. racemosa 
(Syn. Palicoicrea racefnosa) have been 
introduced for their beauty of flower, 
and P. cya7iococca and P. chontalejisis 
for their charming blue berries, borne 
much in the same way as in Ardisia 
and lasting for a long while. Of these 
and the few other cultivated species we 
append brief descriptive notes : — 
