28 
HARDEN BERGIA COMPTONIANA. 
description, peculiarly fitted for growing in pots ; and producing, like many of the 
Kennedyas , a gay profusion of lovely blue blossoms. It has, however, some 
peculiarities by which it may be easily recognised. Its stems are strong, smooth, 
and usually green ; the leaves are scattered or distant, in threes, long, and somewhat 
reticulated ; and the floral racemes are particularly large, lengthy, and composed of 
an astonishing number of flowers. 
Still, what it gains in comparison with some Kennedyas from the abundance of 
its blossoms, is detracted from it on account of the rarity of their production, and 
the fact that young and small specimens seldom flower. From this circumstance, 
and from the remoteness of its leaves, it seems to us ill-fitted for planting out in a 
border, or training to the pillars or rafters of a greenhouse or conservatory ; as it 
is admitted that plants whose roots are confined generally flower soonest, and it is 
also desirable that those fastened to the frame- work of an ornamental house should 
be well clothed with foliage. 
The ordinary mixture of loam and heath-mould forms a suitable compost for 
this species and its allies. In accordance with the opinions above declared, we 
should prefer confining it to a pot, and training its branches pretty closely round a 
circular, square, or hexagonal trellis. In fact, we have observed that it always 
flowers more freely, and maintains the neatest and best appearance, when so treated. 
How far pruning or shortening the shoots would assist in facilitating the develop- 
ment of blooms, we are not prepared to state ; but it would possibly be found 
beneficial. 
This species is propagated by cuttings, which are most frequently taken off in 
the spring, and placed in pots, beneath a glass, in a house that is kept closed and 
shaded, though not supplied with artificial heat. It may likewise be increased, by 
the same means, in either summer or autumn, and both with or without fire-heat. 
In the gardens of Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart., at Cheam, Mr. Green cultivates 
H. Comptoniana with remarkable success ; and from a handsome plant which 
bloomed there during last summer, the drawing now submitted was made. As it 
can be procured cheaply in almost all the nurseries where exotics are grown, it 
should be secured, in conjunction with the valuable species of Kennedy a, for every 
greenhouse in Britain. 
