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STACHYS COCCINEA. 
Of this class, so useful to cultivators of every grade, and, more particularly, to 
the amateur of small means, Stachys coccmea is an admirable example ; although 
its treatment may be somewhat different, as respects propagation, from that of 
other half-hardy perennials. It is a native of Chili, a fact that goes far to prove 
that it cannot be acclimatised ; and for all garden purposes, it should be placed 
with Verbenas and similar plants. 
The stock reared from cuttings or divisions in the previous autumn, and 
preserved in frames through the winter, can be planted out, either in beds or in 
patches, along the borders, about the middle of May, and the plants will open their 
first blossoms in July ; afterwards retaining their beauty, by repeated expansions, 
till October. The height to which they grow, (a foot or eighteen inches,) renders 
them unfit for filling very small beds ; and it is, therefore, necessary to restrict 
them to larger ones, when the plan of grouping is preferred. In the month of 
August they may be increased by cuttings, planted in a trifling heat, under a 
glass ; or, as a more certain variation of the ordinary practice, the younger 
offsets can be detached, with roots, and immediately placed in small pots for 
the winter. 
There are two varieties of this species in nurseries and gardens. At Messrs. 
Young's, of Epsom, whence the present figure was taken, there is the old kind, with 
dull brick-red coloured flowers ; and a superior variety, with brighter-hued 
blossoms, approaching to scarlet. The last is unquestionably preferable. 
The genus derives its name from Stachys, a spike, in reference to the pro- 
duction of the flowers in what is termed a spike by botanists. 
