8 
ADAPTATION AND TREATMENT OF COMBRETUM PURPUREUM. 
newest and rarest flowers ; but we will venture to say, that gem most prized amidst his 
varied and valuable possessions, is the one called into existence by his own powers : it 
becomes at once an object of ambition both exciting and gratifying, and speaks more for the 
good taste of its owner than all that wealth can purchase of the works of others. Ask the 
first gentleman you see, if the flower which adorns his coat is a self-created variety ; and 
should it be so, watch with what earnestness he alludes to its properties and describes its 
beauties ; and, even admitting that it prove but an adopted pet, you will see how readily its 
owner will enter on the discussion of its merits, comparing it with others in his collection or 
in those of his friends, obliging you with its botanical nomenclature, and such other 
information, as will convince you that he wears the floral gem with due appreciation of 
its value, and not as the mere toy of a moment, of which he knows nothing and cares less. 
If the pursuit of Floriculture requires any further advocacy, let it derive its crowning 
inducement from the favour it has found in the estimation of ladies of rank and talent, who 
have not hesitated to adopt the science as their own. Health may have dictated it — taste, 
we know, has fostered it ; and it is equally certain that fashion, in the nineteenth century, 
has stamped the wanderer her adopted. As such, I present it to the world — assuring 
my readers that it shall be my constant and undeviating practice to offer such seasonable 
suggestions on the choice and management of flowers, as will not fail to facilitate their 
cultivation, and secure ultimate perfection. Having occupied the limits assigned for 
this portion of the work, I have only to submit my intention of bringing under the notice 
of my readers the Auricula, the Polyanthus, and the Primrose, in the next Number, when 
I shall enter upon their history, cultivation, and choice of varieties, inclusive of their 
diversified habits and requisite treatment : hoping by such means to convince the admirers 
and patrons of Flora, that they have at least one faithful servant. 
ADAPTATION AND TREATMENT OF COMBRETUM PURPUREUM, 
AS AN EXHIBITION-PLANT. 
By Mr. W. Wood, Fishergate Nurseries , York. 
.Amongst the many ornamental exotic sub-climbers adapted for the hothouse and warm 
conservatory, there is perhaps not one within the compass of our experience that has, since 
the period of its introduction, won a greater share of admiration than the one to which 
the following remarks are given, — not one more unique and beautiful in its large and 
brilliantly-expanded racemes of starry purple crimson blossoms, and none which prefers a 
stronger claim, or produces a higher interest, when seen as a first-rate specimen of culture. 
Almost the only position in which it has hitherto been successfully grown, is, when 
planted within the pit or ground-border of a hothouse or warm conservatory, where, if 
placed under proper conditions, it appears in its season, as an indispensable ornament. 
The principal reasons assigned for its slighted interest as a plant for pot-culture, are, 1st, 
the comparative difficulty of obtaining an annual extent of growth equal to the desired 
amount of bloom ; and 2ndly, the occasional absence of bloom when sufficient growth is 
obtained. Admitting these reasons as the cause of its general absence in nearly all the 
plant-collections for competition, up to the present period, the following explanatory 
remarks are offered, in relation to the essential condition for its successful culture in pots, 
— practically, and physiologically considered. 
Although it is generally admitted, that a modified temperature is the principal agent, 
for obtaining a maturity of growth most favourable to fertility in plants generally, it is a 
fact, which yet remains to be duly appreciated, in its application to the highest results in 
culture, that there are a select number of tender exotic plants, which demand an unusually 
high temperature, during their primary stages of periodic growth, to ensure that extent 
which is equal to a due amount of bloom ; — and hence it is inferred from all sound practice, 
based upon undeniable principles of physiology, that where the progressive vigour and 
health of plants is sought, in connection with their annual amount of fertility, the extent of 
annually re-accumulated vigour, equal to its production, can only be attained by their 
exposure to a given degree of heat for a given period, previous to that requisite modification 
