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TRIPTILION SPINOSUM. 
the roots. This means of increasing it, however, is a very sparing one. It should 
be divided early in the autumn, that the plants may be established before the damp 
days arrive. It must not from this be inferred that the plant is tender. On the 
contrary, it will resist considerable intensity of frost without injury. It will 
produce seeds, although not freely. The plant from whence your drawing was 
made has afforded me a little seed ; and I have now plants obtained by both modes 
of increase. The seeds should be sown immediately when gathered, in light sandy 
soil, and placed in a warm house. When sufficiently advanced, the plants should 
be potted singly in small sixties, and kept in a dry part of the greenhouse during 
winter." 
The great point in growing the plant is evidently to preserve it from superfluous 
dampness. To aid in effecting this, the heath-mould in which it is potted should 
be particularly fibrous and open, and have a little turfy loam and leaf-mould mixed 
with it, besides a small quantity of broken sandstone. 
The three divisions of the pappus of the flower have originated the generic 
name, which is from treis^ three, and ptilon^ a feather. 
