206 
HIBISCUS ROSA SINENSIS. 
The catalogue in the EncyclopcBdia of Gardening, p. 586, enumerates one 
species, and four varieties, namely, 
H. Rosa Sinensis, single rich red ; from East Indies in 1731. 
ruhro plenus — double red . . . ditto — 
Jlavo plenus—&o\xh\Q hwWedi . . ditto — 
variegatus pleniis — double striped . ditto — 
luteus — double yellow . . . ditto 1823 
and there we read that, " although its native country is unknown, it is spontaneous, 
as well as cultivated, both in China and Cochin China, and that it is so common in the 
latter that they have entire hedges of it in their gardens/' " The variety with double 
flowers is most frequently cultivated, both in the east, and in European hothouses ; 
the plant is indeed rarely seen with single flowers." 
The latter is a circumstance much to be lamented, for the single greatly surpasses 
any of the varieties with full flowers (double is an incorrect mode of expression). 
The blossom is large, mallow-shaped ; the petals, while not fully expanded, folding- 
over one another in rather a spiral direction, of a gorgeous deep scarlet colour, 
approaching to crimson, each having a large spot or patch of a deeper hue near its 
base. The figure and splendour of the flower, the tubular column supporting the 
stamens, and the five velvety stigmas, altogether present a structure of fascinating 
beauty. The only defect which we have to complain of is the fugitive nature of 
the blossoms ; they seldom continue open more than thirty-six hours, even in the 
shade ; but then the succession is numerous during the three summer months, and 
the rich glossy foliage is durable, and elegantly disposed. 
The reader who can refer to the first volume of this work, page 77, will find, in 
the figure given of Hibiscus Lindlei, a faint resemblance of Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis / 
but the former, though a handsome plant, is much inferior to the latter. 
All the varieties are of ready culture, easily raised by cuttings, either of the 
younggreen wood of the spring, or of the half-ripened wood of the summer; but 
that which renders the plant extremely estimable is its hardihood of constitution. 
It was long believed that the temperature of the stove during winter (from55 to 
65 degrees) was indispensable to its safety ; but our experience during the very 
severe and fitful winter of last year (1835), taught us a useful and gratifying lesson. 
We possessed six or seven plants of the single red and full-flowered bufi" ; our house 
underwent an alteration, which required the absence of all the stove plants during 
several weeks. They were exposed, unavoidably, to severe attacks of sudden frost, 
and finally were deposited in a cellar. Some perished ; but although the Hibiscus 
lost their leaves, we perceived a firmness of the wood, and a healthy hue on the 
bark, which led us to entertain hope. At the turn of the year the plants were 
taken into the vinery, and after remaining torpid a few weeks, evinced signs of 
vegetation. The leaves gradually expanded, and have subsequently attained a size 
and richness of verdure far surpassing those of former seasons. 
Pure loam is recommended for the shrubby Hibiscus ; but loam is an ill-applied 
term. Our treatment consists in striking some young plants, by cuttings of rather 
young wood, taken off a little below a leaf, and inserting two buds in the soil com- 
posed of a light sandy loam and heath mould, in equal portions, having first formed 
