56 GESNERA DISCOLOR. 
Possessing such a characteristic from its youngest state till it reaches maturity^ 
and developin£![ it anew and more freely each succeeding year, hesides flowering so 
abundantly and continuously, our plant must be regarded as a very valuable stove 
shrub. And the large size to 
which its leaves ultimately attain, 
surmounted as they are with the 
graceful and showy inflorescence, 
render it quite a striking object 
in a stove throughout the prin- 
cipal part of the season. 
It has been grown hitherto in 
an enriched loamy soil, to which 
a little heath-mould is added. 
In spring, after being repotted, 
it is plunged in a bed of fer- 
menting bark, or leaves, and 
kept there till it flowers, or till 
the months of June and July, 
when it is taken to a cooler 
stove, or simply removed from 
the bark, and placed on a stage. 
"When it has once flowered, it is 
probably a good plan to shorten 
the stems a little in winter, by 
which means they will be urged 
— _ ^ to form more lateral shoots, and 
be more likely to flower liberally. 
Cuttings or leaves can be taken from it so very sparingly, that only one or two 
plants have yet been procured from that mode of increase. But, last year, a 
quantity of seed was ripened, from which Messrs. Young have just raised an 
excellent stock of the plant, and it may now be generally difl'used. 
