80 
STYPHELIA TUBIFLORA. 
from the bosom of the leaves. They are remarkable for their handsome pendulous 
tube and the delicacy of its colouring, and also for the rolled back segments of the 
limb being furnished with a fringe of numerous crimson hairs. 
The species is found growing plentifully about Port Jackson, in New South 
"Wales, where its flowers are disclosed at a much later period than with us— 
usually between May and August. It was originally brought into cultivation 
in 1802. 
The tenuity of its thread-like roots, combined with the desiccated appearance 
of the hard- wooded brittle stems, unquestionably render it more liable to receive 
harm from a saturated soil ; for a plant incapable of absorbing and assimilating 
or exhaling a large amount of aqueous matter, is proportionately exposed to 
suffer from the lack of effective drainage. To enable water to pass off, an open 
soil should be selected, through which it may percolate freely, and whilst 
it supplies the needful quantity of nourishment to the roots, may not remain 
to stagnate around them. Two- thirds heath-mould, with a small addition of 
thoroughly decayed leaf-soil, and the remainder loam and sand, constitute an 
excellent compost. 
Yearly pruning, and a provision for maintaining the ordinary atmospherical 
conditions essential for the encouragement of vigorous growth during spring, with 
the timely adoption of those alterations which have been so often reiterated in our 
pages as indispensable for the procurance of fully matured wood before winter, and 
to prevent a premature inducement to grow, are points to which the culturist 
must give undeviating attention, if his aim be to produce superior specimens. 
The usual mode of increasing the species of Epacris, by cuttings planted 
in sand in spring or autumn, will be equally successful and easy with those 
of the present genus. 
The family name Styphelia is obtained from the Greek styphelos, harsh, or 
rough, and applies to the harsh or rigid constitution of the stem and branches. 
