HENFREYA SCANDENS. 
131 
“ The best way to treat all the kinds is to plant them in a light rich soil in a border 
within a glazed pit, which is just heated sufficient to keep out frost in winter. Here they 
will grow with great vigour, throwing up strong suckers in all directions, and flowering 
beautifully : their leaves will not, on the one hand, be parched by the drying cold winds of 
April, nor on the other, scorched by the sun at Midsummer. Thus protected, they will 
perform all their natural functions as if in their native soil ; and an abundance of food 
will be sent down into the roots, which will be thus prepared, upon the return of the 
growing season, to send up new shoots with the greatest vigour.” — Mag. Bot. v., 1. 199. 
Many of the kinds may be considered quite hardy, and will endure several degrees of 
frost ; but when planted in the open borders it is always best to select warm situations, 
and during the winter season to cover the crowns of the plants when the tops have died 
down, with leaves or long litter, to keep out the frost. 
Propagation is effected by seeds, which always do best when sown immediately 
after they ripen, and the young plants should be kept in a growing state until they have 
perfected their first year’s development, and the stems die down naturally ; then keep them 
dry until the growth again commences. 
The generic name is given in honour of Baron Claudius Alstromer, a Swedish 
botanist. 
HENFREYA SCANDENS. (Climbing Henfreya.) 
Class, Didynamia. Order, Angiospermia. Nat. Order, Acanthaceaj.- — (Acanthads, Veg- King.) 
Generic Character Calyx five-parted. Corolla funnel- 
shaped, bilabiate ; segments unequal. Stamens four ; anthers 
bristled at the base. Ovary two-seeded. Stigma small, 
two-lobed, obtuse, equal. Capsule clavate, stipitate, the top 
only seminiferous. Seeds (immature) round, margined, 
smooth. Lindley in Bot. Reg., v. xxxiii., t. 31. 
Specific Character. — Plant a shrub. Stem climbing, 
round, smooth, dark green, tinged with purple at the parts 
of the junction of the leaves. Petioles short, smooth. Leaves 
opposite, ovate-lanceolate, deep rich green. Racemes axillary 
and terminal, naked, many-flowered. Calyx segments 
narrow, acuminated, clothed with bristly hairs. Corolla 
funnel-shaped, lower part of the tube narrow, dilated from 
the middle upwards ; limb two-lipped ; upper lip two- 
parted ; lower lip three-parted, middle lobe largest, white 
tinged with pale rose underneath. Stamens four, inclosed. 
Anthers deep purple ; lobes short, blunt at the point, but 
bristled at the base. Style about the same length as the 
stamens. Stigma pale, two-lobed. 
Authorities and Synonymes Henfreya, Lindley. Dip- 
teracanthus scandens of the Nurseries. Henfreya scandens, 
Lindley in Bot. Reg., v. xxxiii., t. 31. 
Under the name of Dipteracanthus scandens we first noticed this very handsome plant in 
our “ Magazine of Botany,” vol. xiv, p. 68, as blooming in the stove of Mr. Glendinning, 
Nurseryman, Chiswick, by whom it was first flowered in March, 1847, and was exhibited 
at the spring show of the Horticultural Society at the Gardens, Turnham Green, when it 
was awarded a Knightian medal. 
The plant is a climber with a very handsome habit, the leaves are large, and of a rich 
deep green ; the racemes grow to about four inches in length, and contain in each eighteen 
or twenty white mimulus-like flowers, about six or eight of which are expanded at one 
time ; and not being fugitive, the flowering season is extended over a considerable period. 
It is a native of Sierra Leone, where it grows very common, and where it was discovered 
both by Mr. George Don, and also by Mr. Whitfield, the latter of whom introduced 
it to our collections. 
Our drawing was made at the Nursery of Mr. Glendinning in April, 1847, and by 
whom the following rationale of its management was furnished : — 
“ In the spring or beginning of summer, when the plant has ceased to produce flowers, 
turn it out of the pot, and divest it of the greater part of the old soil ; after which repot 
in fresh turfy peat and loam in equal parts, intermixed with a small portion of silver sand. 
The pot should be rather small in proportion to the size of the plant ; plunge in bottom 
heat in a house where the temperature is humid, and ranges from 75° to 80° during the 
night, and with a partial shade from bright sunlight in the day. As the roots fill the pots shift 
into larger, using the same kind of compost as before ; a few neat sticks should be placed round 
