279 
S. parvifo/ia. — Though separated from -5". 
regitice this plant is identical with it in all save 
the form of its leaves, which are so small as to 
show little more than the stalks, though they 
vary in size and shape through several varieties. 
Augustifolia is a form in which, though much 
smaller and narrower than in regina, the leaves 
are still fairly apparent. \x\ parvifol'ia itself the 
blade is so much reduced as to be only a few 
inches long and very narrow ; while parvifoiui 
juncea is an extreme stage in which the leaf- 
blade is either entirely absent or reduced to a 
tiny vestige at the tip of the long rush-like 
stems of 3 to 4 feet, visible when new growths 
old plants grown in this way sometimes making 
upwards of fifty spikes at once in March or 
April. Even plants in small pots seldom fail 
to flower, though the older and stouter the 
plant the finer is the display of orange and 
blue (or purple) flowers, so unlike any others 
in shape and structure as to have earned such 
fanciful names as Bird's Tongue and Bird of 
Paradise Flower. The blooms last fresh for 
a long time even when cut, and the same 
sheath will keep on producing them for weeks. 
In South Africa the plants seed freely and the 
seeds are eaten by the Kaflfirs. Under glass 
they bear seed if fertilised, the pollen being 
first thrown up but dropping as they become i applied after the honey in the nectary has been 
older. These forms are all highly interesting^, 
require rather less heat than other kinds, and 
are of quaint effect when studded with flowers. 
S. Quensoui. — A very rare plant which flow- 
ered many years ago in France, but of which 
nothing appears to have been heard of late 
years. According to a description given in 
vol. lo of the Illustration Hortlcolc, the plant is 
of imposing stature and ample foliage, coming 
near Augusta and Nico/ai in its general char- 
acter but differing from them both in that from 
the top of a single stemlessspathethrg#S^cnd- 
lethrogS^Dnd 
ms iiMk.&^ tr^i 
ary spathes of ample dimensions 
appearance, developing in successiof from on^ 
another ; these spathes are black, covered with 
a pale bloom, and are heavily charged with 
honey. Each of these secondary spathes yield 
three to five large ivory-white flowers, shaded 
towards the base with rosy-violet, and with 
two segments of a fine sky-blue^int. ^ 
S. reghice. — The best known aun most use- 
ful kind, easily flowered, with »ong season 
of beauty, and of a size suited to small houses 
and conservatories. The plant is stemless with 
h4 
lour 
a handsome tuft of oval leaves standi 
5 feet high upon long stout stems, their 
a bluish or grey-green, with a smooth suJ 
and leathery texture. The true season of flowe 
is early spring, but a strong plant grown con 
stantly in one temperature is seldom out of 
flower, the bloom often continuing through 
several months though the number of flowers 
at one time is not great. Under different treat- 
ment, as when grown in the open during sum- 
mer and in a cool house at other times, the 
season of beauty is shorter and more defined, 
removed and while the plant is maintained in 
a high temperature. A good many seedlings 
have been raised and several distinct varieties 
have resulted, among the best of which are: — 
A dwarf form raised in France and 
known as pumila or hum'dis from 
its dwarf habit, with a great number of leaves 
and flowers that are a little smaller and some- 
what paler in colour. Ovata differs ivomregina' 
in its more vigorous growth and flowers of a 
slightly different shape ; the broad-bladed 
glaucous leaves often stand more than 6 feet 
high. A Belgian seedling raised early in the 
last century was named rutilans from the bril- 
liance of its flowers in which the orange be- 
comes scarlet ; if still in existence, this plant 
is exce^ingly rare. The form citrina^ brought 
to Kew rVom South Africa nearly twenty years 
ago by Mr. Watson, is of dwarfer habit and 
is very-distinct in the lemon-yellow and pale 
blue of its flowers. This wild form of the 
plant w^ould seer^ to have also arisen under 
cultivation in var. Jiava and var. Lemoinieri, 
|in each«£which the deep orange of the type 
is repl^SPrby clear yellow. The last named 
is a Belgiar\^eedling raised near Lille and still 
ej^rown in tha^t'town, where the original ph 
•^nas^ rem ain ei ^ in the same hands for many 
\ years, varieties of minor interest are fariuosa^ 
in which the leaves are covered with a hand- 
some greyish bloom which, like that upon 
hothouse grapes, is removed at a touch ; and 
prolifera^ in which two spathes are produced 
upon the same stem, while the leaves are 
shorter in the blade and longer in the stem 
than in the common form. 
